Orbs: how can one tell the difference?

The problem with the phenomenon known as Orbs is that there can be several explanations for a false Orb. Before I continue, let me assure you that I welcome people sending me their photos at: a r oo lu-d e a dco n v e rsa t i on s@yahoo.ca
(no spaces in that email address, I just have to add the spaces so that spammers can't auto-copy my email)
Add in the subject line "Ghost Photo" or "Ghost Photos" or "Ghost video" so I know to open up my graphics program to check the signs. And I will absolutely publish them here if I determine they're really spirits or if I just can't tell.

So let's go through things that are not orbs in the first list:
1) Dust motes. In darkly lit areas, you can't see floating dust very well unless you have a good flashlight. Then you'll be able to see the tiny flecks. They reflect extremely well at times creating a very bright little orb. Dust motes follow certain rules when photographed up close: no dramatically jagged edges, they don't cluster into neat groups but more in a chaotic fashion, they don't cast a shadow on the ground or walls that should be easily visible. If your orb casts a shadow, send it to me or Art Bell asap ;)
2) Water droplets. Rain photographed with flash will make beautiful looking orb-like motes. Mist and fog is the same. They make for excellent fake ghost photos, and I've seen plenty of them. Now this doesn't mean that if you took a photo of a ghost during rain, mist, or fog that it's not a ghost. All it means is you have to be careful and closely analyze the picture. I use Adobe and carefully look at edges (blurred or sharp), reflections, shadows, and colour. Shutter speed is another thing to take note when you consider. A long exposure will show the directionality of the rain, and any small wind variance in fog and mist. So if all the rain is going one way, and your orb is perfectly still - you might have something there.
3) Dirty lens. Easily checked, as things on the lens will have a blurry border, fairly uniform in the blurring. It's best when taking ghost photos to take several photographs in order to see if the orb appears in the exact same place in the composition, denoting fixed matter on the lens or a problem with the camera itself.
4) Distant light source. If you're taking a photograph in the day and the orb is bright and has the pattern of light on the inside to duller on the outside, you must consider distance light sources such as far away traffic lights, street lights, house lights, or even someone with a flashlight. Take another photo at night and you'll be able to see if it's a light better. Or take the photo on another day and see if the light is present in the same area of the composition.
5) Water reflection. This can make for spectacular orbs, especially at night. You might be taking a photo downward and not know you're in a bog, marsh, or there's just a leaf with dew collected on it. Dew drops are great for mistaken orbs. If the photo is taken early in the morning or very late at night, consider dew.
6) Glitter
7) Confetti
8) Bioluminescence (From fish, invertebrates, to bacteria - examples are fireflies, glowing mushrooms, ocean glowing algae)
9) Glow sticks or black light paint
10) If you're using a road flare or old fashioned flash powder or flash bulbs.
11) Embers and sparks
12) Volcanic activity (Very nice photo anyhow)
13) Lightening. Sometimes lightening balls/fireballs.. but those photos are cool by themselves.
14) St. Elmo's Fire (again very cool anyways)
15) Vehicles on ground, in the air, underwater. For example, a hot air balloon in the distance can make an interesting orb pattern if blurred in the background, and air planes can look very suspiciously alien or ghostly in the right conditions.
16) Personal air filters that need to be cleaned sometimes produce an interesting cluster of dust motes.
17) Fibreglass insulation. When taking photos in attics, basements, or a place being built or renovated: small particles of the insulation can make great faux-orbs.

There are many other things that could be orbs, such as mirrors or shiny surfaces, etc, that must be taken into consideration when I look over orb photos but I don't want to harp on for days. Now we'll move on to suspicious orbs, or orbs that I'd more closely investigate:

1) Orbs with jagged or non-blurry borders.
2) Orbs with little drooping lines of "ectoplasm" appearance, like melted wax dripping down from the orb - but sometimes translucent or transparent. As a Medium, I don't call such things ectoplasm because it's a synthetic term for something so hard to label. Somethings I don't put labels on to remind me of how undefined the spirit world can be. Anyways, those drippings are a big sign that the orbs merit much further investigation.
3) Orbs with very defined colour patterns or very defined markings on it. The most suspicious orb I've seen (in my personal collection) had defined markings inside that looked organic and impossible to pass off as any of the aforementioned items on the first list.
4) Rays or appendages coming from the orb, and by appendages I don't mean arms and legs. You'll know what I mean if you see them.
5) Orbs always around a certain person in any location.
6) Orbs clustered unnaturally, in some kind of order. For example, if they're in a circle or square formation, or in dense clusters but all around them is empty air.
7) Orbs with faces. Yep I've seen these, and sometimes they're photographs in the background that conjunct with dust motes or water etc - a great coincidence. But sometimes orbs truly have faces in them.
8) Orbs with writing. Extremely rare, I've only read about one that had the word "Glory" in it, which was pertinent to the home owner's family.
9) Orbs bleeding (any colour, any texture)


So I hope this is helpful to new investigators, and I welcome your ghost photos.

"Sept Oranges de Beaulieu"

Sometimes the messages from the dead are not as clear as I'd like. Personally they make me feel either stupid, crazy, or lame at times, as I say to/ask people the weirdest things. Yesterday I had a spirit tell me to say to one of my aunts in Quebec: "Sept Oranges de Beaulieu" (Seven Oranges of Beaulieu)
Today, this became clear on Quebec news. The picture to the right shows a Fire (orange) that took place on the street of Beaulieu, the people - "septuagénaire" (in their seventies) escaped. Click on the photo for the article it is attached to.

When I got the message I got a sense of urgency and a sense of heat - so I threw caution to the wind and told my aunt. We aren't sure what her connection to this is, besides geography, but we're looking into it. We also only saw this on the news channel that we all watch.

I was also asking spirits whether or not I should continue my path of Spiritual Communication. Sometimes I need proof they're still there, I need proof in their power. Something like this premonition puts a little faith back into my path and makes me feel a little more comfortable about continuing.

So that was my quick note post for today. Time to get back to what it is I do. ;)

Another Note on Hell

Our eyes open up, shedding their lids, when we cross from "living" to "dead". If anything, this place is a womb - and the place outside life is as big as this universe is compared to a human womb. Although being here is certainly no waste of time. We must learn, we must shed our guilt and doubts before we die, and we must help other people do the same. If we have lots of guilt and doubts.. well we're going to have lots of schooling to do upon the last breath in our lungs. Of course this afterlife school isn't so bad for most of us.

Hell
Murderers, Rapists, and generally people who hurt others in malice.. well they have quite a lot of time in what I like to call "Boot Camp on Crack". Most people call it Hell. Boot camp here on Earth would be a Disney vacation compared to the Crucible of Purification that comes after evil doer's death. Souls can spend centuries getting "fixed" by spiritual teachers. This fixing can be agony, it can be a constant loop of the crime or crimes that continue until the soul sees what it did wrong. It can be their idea of Hell: fire and brimstone, ice and isolation, whatever the mind fears. "Scare them straight" says one spirit.

More on this later, as I'm fascinated by it, and spirits have a lot to say on the subject.

A message from Escobar to his Sweetheart and Family.

Long time no post.. sorry about that. It's not that I haven't had anything to write about, that's for sure, just that busy-ness has kept me away from my computer.

Escobar came to me a week and a half ago. He's dead of course, as I rarely speak of discourse with the living here. When he was alive, he spoke only Spanish - and perhaps a little Portuguese (I'm not good with discerning languages I don't know.) He was fairly tall, from 5"10 to 6"1. He had chocolate coloured hair, curly - kind of sticking up in a square sort of shape. His face was rectangular, long that is, his jaw was square but soft. Brown eyes, but I can't see what shade of brown. Pouty lips. Heavier eyebrows.
Escobar died feeling very nauseous, a heavy weight on his chest and neck. I can't speak his language so I have to go by what he shows me. It felt like he was being crushed or pushed down in some way, but this may be an internal feeling. You know, how heart attacks can feel like your chest is being compressed. His last thoughts were about his "Mamma", holding her soft and wrinkled hand - a hand that was alike to the hand of God in his eyes. He loved her, and he never got the chance to be really affectionate and let her know how much he loved her. He wishes that he could tell her.
He was young when he died, in his thirties I think. He had a bit of a baby face so it's hard to pinpoint the age. He was a strong man with a big heart.
He wants to tell his girlfriend that the baby will always be under his protection. That he will watch over her and the baby all the time he can. He wants her to know that he was going to propose properly, that they were going to have a beautiful wedding with lots of magnolias (or flowers that look like magnolias), that there was going to be dancing under the stars. He was also going to build a house for her, or really renovate the house they were getting - so that it would be alike to a palace. He loved her very much, and warns other lovers not to take their true loves for granted as he did. He shows me this, he's very good at communicating without words. I would say a spirit this apt has been dead at least five years, or he was already quite psychic in life.
He says "Marquis" is an important way to identify him. He wasn't a marquis. He may be referring to a theater marquis- he worked at a theater for a while. Movie or live show, I don't know, I'm leaning towards movie.
He says he's always with his father, learning from him still. There's so much to learn after death.. it's only a beginning that will make you fall to your knees when you see how much there is to do After.
Escobar is also against smoking, so maybe he died of lung cancer?

If you know Escobar, talk aloud. Call his name and speak with him. He's always watching his loved ones. Although he's a ghost, a very happy ghost, he's always present and always trying to help you. He also hears when you tell funny stories about his "campo" ? (Now I'm going to google Campo)

It's great to have Escobar around. Yep ghosts can be in more places than one or two at any given time.