Friday, March 26, 2010

Meeting Lillian Gish and D.W. Griffith


A couple of months ago, I visited a renown medium named Liam Galvin who, among other things, informed me that I not only had my two dead grandfathers "with me" as spirit guides, but also the spirits of John Cassavetes, Alfred Hitchcock and a beautiful actress from the early 1900s whom he wasn't able to identify. (To read about this story, visit this link: http://thenattyicediaries.blogspot.com/2010/01/meeting-my-guides.html)

Curious about the actress' identity, I went home that night, lied in my bed and thought about who she could possibly be. Little did I know that I wasn't going to have to wait very long for an answer. As I was laying against my pillow - trying to get some sleep - a name suddenly entered my mind: Lillian Gish.

Now, when I say the name 'entered' my mind I mean, literally, it seemed to just pop into my head. The best way to describe the sensation is that I felt as though I didn't think of the name myself. As corny as it may sound, it was almost as though the name was inserted into my mind, like from some unseen force.

Oddly enough, Lillian Gish wasn't even an actress who I was very familiar with. I remembered hearing the name here and there while I was in film school and when I used to research the history of Hollywood, but I actually thought she was an actress Charlie Chaplin used in a lot of his movies. In fact, I was literally saying inside my head, "Hmmm...Lillian Gish...wasn't that the actress in all of Chaplin's movies?" And it was at this point that another name immediately entered my mind, as though it were a response to my question: D.W Griffith.

Griffith, if you're not familiar with the name, basically started Hollywood. I mean, obviously there were several different pioneers involved with putting Hollywood on the map, but Griffith was a sort of godfather of the Hollywood film movement. His film Birth of a Nation in 1915 was the highest-grossing movie of its day and revolutionized the art of filmmaking with its innovative cinematic techniques. Birth was the film that inspired Louis B. Mayer to enter the movie business and start MGM studios. It was the film that made people realize the pictures was not some superficial fad or silly novelty but a serious art; the wave of the future; a respectable means of individual expression (and, in the eyes of people like Mayer, a way to make some serious cash).

Anyway, Griffith's name came into my head differently than Gish's did. Where with Gish I simply got the name in my head, in Griffith's case, an actual image of his face entered my mind. It was a B&W photograph that flashed in my mind's eye for about one full second and I immediately identified the person in the photograph as Griffith. Just like with Gish's name, it was as though some unseen force planted this photograph into my mind. I did not consciously think up this image. It was very different from how I knew my brain and thought processes to operate. I realize this may sound wacky and somewhat crazy, but I do not know how else to explain it.

The next day, I woke up, Googled the two names and discovered that Gish and Griffith (much to my surprise) had a big connection with one another...like, a really big connection. In fact, Gish starred in pretty much all of D.W Griffith's significant films, including Birth of a Nation, and also films like Intolerance and Broken Blossoms (two other Griffith masterworks). The director and the actress were like how Scorsese and Deniro were in the 70s/80s, or how Tim Burton and Johnny Depp are today. They were basically a package deal.

Needless to say, I was intrigued by this discovery: how odd it was for these two names to pop into my head when I wasn't even consciously aware that they had such a connection with each other. What did it all mean...if anything? Was Gish the actress who Liam Galvin thought was with me as a spirit guide? And how did Griffith fit into this picture? Was the image of Griffith in my head just Gish's way of helping me identify her as a spirit guide? Or was there something more to this? Was Griffith another one of my guides???

There were a couple of ways I went about finding answers to these questions. First of all, I tried a method that is commonly used by meta-physicists to communicate with the spirit world; it is a technique called 'dowsing' (read about it at this link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dowsing). There are several tools one can use when they 'dowse' but I find that the one that works best for me is a pendulum. What you essentially do is hold the pendulum in your hand and ask your spirit guides 'yes' or 'no' questions. Usually your guides start moving the pendulum in a clockwise direction if the answer to the question is a 'yes' and in a counter-clockwise direction if the answer to the question is a 'no'. However, I find that you can calibrate the pendulum in any fashion you want to. For example, sometimes I ask that the guides show me a 'yes' by simply moving the pendulum and a 'no' by not moving it.

Anyway, by means of dowsing with my pendulum, I was able to come to the conclusion that Lillian Gish and D.W. Griffith were, indeed, "with me" as spirit guides. As you will see in the video demonstration below, I simply asked my pendulum to move as much as possible if the spirits of Gish and Griffith were with me; and sure enough, the pendulum moved like crazy - on its own - without my help or the help of any force in the real world. In other words, the movement of the pendulum was completely "paranormal".

Watch and observe the phenomenon in this video. And, by the way, anybody can do this. All you need is a pendulum of some sort and an open mind:




So, yes, the dowsing yielded some very interesting results, but I still didn't see it as conclusive evidence proving Gish and Griffith were my spirit guides. First of all, I didn't completely trust my dowsing skills. And I also worried that the movement of the pendulum was potentially created by my own subconscious energy, not by the energy of a spirit guide independent from myself. What I needed to do was get a neutral, third-party to dowse for me. This way, I could definitely rule out the possibility of my subconscious skewing my results.

So I consequently consulted a more experienced dowser (and also a medium) whose full name I cannot publish right now, so I will simply call her Jan. Jan has significant psychic abilities and has been dowsing for several years now, almost always with successful results. I contacted Jan via email, told her my dilemma and had her dowse for me. Here is our email correspondence:




----- Original Message -----
From: Matt
To: Jan

Sent: Monday, March 22, 2010 9:29 PM
Subject: two questions

Hi Jan,


I have two random questions that I thought your dowsing may be able to shed some light on. Please understand there is no rush in answering, as it's no emergency. I'm just trying to fit some pieces into a puzzle here and I thought you may be able to help. I don't even know if these questions are answerable but I thought I would give it a shot.


1. Is the former actress Lillian Gish "with me" as a spirit guide?

2. If so, do I have a past life connection with her?


I ask these questions after seeing a medium and he said I had an actress from the early 20th century "with me". He also said I had a past life in California. I was just curious to see what kind of answers you could get for me. Again, no rush. Just curious if you have a moment.
Thanks so much! -Matt

----- Original Message -----

From: Jan

To:
Matt
Sent: Thursday, March 25, 2010 5:06:41 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern

Subject: Re: two questions 

Hi Matt,
If I'm dousing correctly, yes on #1 and no on #2. I hope this helps with the puzzle pieces. I think you also did have a past life in Calif. I don't know how to explain past lives. I don't think it's reincarnation, but I don't know that we can truly understand what past lives means. I'm glad you weren't in a rush because I was busy this week and didn't see your email right away.
Take care!
Jan


----- Original Message -----
From: Matt
To:
Jan

Sent: Friday, March 26, 2010 1:16 PM
Subject: Re: two questions

Thanks, Jan! That's a good source of confirmation for me. Lillian Gish popped into my head the night after I saw the medium and I felt that she was the actress who was with me. There's just one other name that's been popping into my head, a former director named D.W. Griffith (i.e. David Llewelyn Wark Griffith). I'm not sure if it's because he worked with Gish a lot or if he is also a guide. If you have a spare moment could you ask if he is with me as a guide? Griffith is the last name that has been puzzling me. I'm probably going to try and talk to Beverly about the past life stuff.

Thanks so much!

Matt


----- Original Message -----

From: Jan

To: Matt
Sent: Saturday, March 27, 2010 10:25:06 AM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern

Subject: Re: two questions




He's one of your guides too. But no connection in a past life. I'm glad to be able to help!

----- Original Message -----
From: Matt
To: Jan
Sent: Saturday, March 27, 2010 2:02 PM
Subject: Re: two questions

Thanks Jan! That's incredible. Very flattering to have these people at my side. The medium told me I had Alfred Hitchcock with me as well, which basically shocked the both of us. Thanks so much for your help! I really appreciate it.

----- Original Message -----
From: Jan

To: Matt

Sent: Saturday, March 27, 2010 2:15:24 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern

Subject: Re: two questions


I guess you should keep writing - with an entourage like that behind you!!! Good luck and may God bless your work - and you!!




----------


So there it was: confirmation from a reliable third-party source that Lillian Gish and D.W Griffith were two of my spirit guides, in addition to John Cassavetes and Alfred Hitchcock, not to mention others whom I have not identified and am not sure if I ever will.

As I mentioned in the above emails, I felt extremely flattered by such a discovery. First of all, Lillian Gish is an icon of the silent screen. She was the star of some of the most significant films of the silent era. Hell, Smashing Pumpkins named their first album after her (Gish)! She was an absolutely beautiful woman (just look at her photo above). It's like having a beautiful metaphysical girlfriend with me all the time, which probably sounds like a pathetic thing to say, but it is kind of a cool feeling I must admit.

And then, of course, there is Mr. Griffith, who is basically Mr. Hollywood. His film Birth of a Nation was essentially the Titanic and Avatar of its day (only much better). And his film Intolerance - a huge and enormously expensive epic film - will always be remembered as being Hollywood's most ambitious project in the industry's history. How honored I am to have this man as a spirit guide.

So, yes, identifying Gish and Griffith as my guides is an incredible feeling, but I think what's even more incredible about this whole experience is seeing how my guides were able to telepathically communicate their identities to me. I mean, never in my whole life would I have ever thought that Gish and Griffith were two of my spirit guides, but then their names randomly popped into my head while I was in bed that night. Honestly, at first I thought my brain was just getting wacky on me, but I guess I was actually experiencing a form of direct communication from the spirit world. My guides were speaking to me.

Furthermore, it's nice to know that Gish and Griffith are together again on "the other side". Gish has actually only been dead for seventeen years - she died in 1993 - but Griffith died way back in 1948. In fact, his death was rather sad and tragic. Supposedly, he was somewhat depressed, still in debt from Intolerance (one of the most expensive films ever made in Hollywood) and also disgruntled with the direction in which the film industry was going at the time. One July night he was drinking at the bar in Hollywood's famous Knickerbocker hotel, got up to go to his room and was found a while later unconscious on his floor. He died on his way to the hospital from what was reported to be a cerebral hemorrhage.

Anyway, it's somewhat comforting to know that Griffith is OK, still alive (in spirit form) and has seemed to have reunited with one of his soul mates. They may not like me saying this, but there were actually rumors of Gish and Griffith being romantically involved at one point or another, though they never admitted to being an official couple. Neither of the two ever married anybody, so maybe they were secretly in love with one another but didn't know it...or just couldn't make the relationship work during their time on the earth. Romantic or not, one thing is for sure: Gish and Griffith were extremely good buds. And if they are, indeed, my spirit guides, I guess it's pretty safe to assume that they're still really good buds in the spiritual dimension.

So now the question lingers: why the hell have these people chosen to be my guides? I mean, we're talking John Cassavetes, Alfred Hitchcock, Lillian Gish and D.W. Griffith. These are some really big names. They were really good at what they did. Why did they choose me? Or why did I choose them (many theories suggest that we choose our guides before we are born)? Who really does the choosing? How does all this stuff work??? I have so many more questions, but the fact of the matter is that I'll probably never get them all answered...not while I'm alive, anyway.

My guess is that they're with me - more or less - because of one particular project I've been working on that I won't say too much about other than that it does involve Hollywood, the film industry, the media, our celebrity culture and just the American culture in general. Judging from what I know about Griffith, Gish and the others, I think they would probably believe in the project and be supportive of my purpose in doing it. Hopefully - some day - I will be able to get this project out to the public; but until then, I simply appreciate the fact that I'm having some great people help me with it. At the risk of sounding looney and weird, I would like to now thank my invisible friends. Thanks, dudes! I appreciate your support.

Now I really only have one more thing bothering me: who I was in my past life. In her emails, Jan told me I didn't have any past life connection to Griffith or Gish but confirmed what Liam Galvin told me about having a past life in California. Honestly, I don't really know who I could have been. It's possible I was just some anonymous Native American or Mexican or something. I'm not sure if I will ever find out. Maybe I'm not meant to find out. Who knows....

To be continued. Maybe.