Episode Transcript
00:00:09 Hello, and welcome to this bonus episode of Common Mystics. I’m Jennifer James. I’m Jill Stanley. We’re Psychics. We're sisters. And we are Common Mystics.
00:00:19 And we're here today to talk to you a little bit about our mother Stella. Jen, will you refresh the audience’s memory regarding why we're doing these bonus pods? Yeah, absolutely. After we did our first episode of Common Mystics, we shared it with family and friends and they thought that it would be really helpful for listeners to hear a little bit more about us and our origin story and how we ourselves quote unquote became psychic. And as we said before, it really isn't about us becoming psychic. We just had the benefit of being around women, strong women, who dabbled and were very connected to the spiritual side of life who raised us really with an eclectic sort of approach to the spiritual world. So Jen, tell us a little bit about Stella, our mother and her origin story. Well, both of her parents were Polish and lived in Poland before World War II, but during World War II, they were in Germany in a work camp and that's where they met.
00:01:18 After the war they moved to Belgium and that's where our mother was born. So her English name is Stella, but her Polish name is Stanislawa and she went by Staś. She likes Staś or Stasiu. Yes. So her mother, our Gramma Irene, was a very strict Catholic. And if you want to know more about our Gramma Irene she also had a profound influence on our upbringing and we actually have a bonus pod about her. So look that up. But our mother pushed against that whole strict Catholicism. Wouldn’t you say? I would. I think that she saw it as a great foundation, but she encouraged us not to take what people told us as truth, but to see if it fits with how we felt about what we were being told, be critical thinkers, and have an open mind at the same time. And so she really developed a very eclectic spirituality. Wouldn’t you say? I would.
00:02:12 So she took us to shaman. She took us to spiritual healers. It's true. We saw palm readers, coffee ground readers. We sure did. Psychics all, all the time, like every day, you know, not every day, but like every other. Friends that were psychic would just, like, come over for tea. Right? So psychics were always coming to our house or we were going to other places to get psychic readings. So that was huge. But also, um, she did retain some elements of Catholicism. For instance, she had a really strong devotion to St. Michael the Archangel and the blessed Virgin. She did. And she took us to the local shrines. And if there was a crying Madonna in the Chicagoland area, we were there. Right. Exactly. Do you want to talk about what you would describe as mom's expertise? Mom was an astrologer and she was an astrologer before there were computer programs that did all the work for you.
00:03:17 Well it's true. Like these days, all you have to do is put in someone's date of birth, time of birth, location, and it will spit out a chart that shows where the planets were. And it will also split out, spit out an interpretation for you, right? Not our mother, not our mother. She would lay down on the rec room carpet with all of these books in front of her. And by hand, she would do the math, the geometry, behind where the planets were in the sky at the time of someone's birth. And then she would use her intuition to interpret that information. And based on that natal chart, she was able to give someone a personalized horoscope in modern day and that's called a progression, right? So she spent a lot of time doing astrology and because she could do it, because she had this gift, she did everybody's. Right.
00:04:04 She did mine. She did yours. She did charts for all of her kids and her own siblings and her parents. Right. It was very special. It was. So there was a time right in 1985 that I remember pretty distinctly that mom found out a commonality between the events and some of the charts that she was doing. So in February, there was something big that she saw in her chart and her parents’ chart and two of her sisters, Genie and Janet. And so I remember her talking to grandma about it and she was like, “Mom, it's going to be big. It's going to impact you and dad. And it's going to impact me. And it's going to impact Jan, and it's going to impact Genie, but it's not going to impact Irene” <mom’s sister Irene>. Right. Right. And, um, grandma was like, “Well, what is it?” And mom was like, “Well, hell if I know, but it's going to be big.”
00:04:56 So come to find out in, in February of the following year, what happened was grandma's house burned down. And that house was a four flat. And grandma and grandpa obviously lived in the house, but also Janet and Genie lived in that house. So they lost their homes and almost everything. And then my mother, our mom, was affected because grandma and grandpa and Genie came to live with us at that time. So that was huge. That's crazy. It is crazy. One of my favorite astrology stories about mom was Sonia, Jessica and I, our sister, Jessica and I were watching The Man Who Saw Tomorrow. And we were... The Man Who Saw Tomorrow is an old movie with Orson Wells. And Orson Wells is narrating Nostradomus's quatrains in the scariest possible way. It is freaky. But it's from the eighties. And it's very dated today. It is freaky today.
00:06:02 Watch it today. Don't watch it today. You should watch it today. Do not follow that recommendation. It is creepy. So I'm pausing the movie downstairs, while mom's upstairs. And I'm giving her the positions of where the planets are at a specific event as Nostradomus describes it in a quatrain. So I'm giving her the planets and what this was supposed to be. The position of the planets of this time was when there was an attack on the New City that they interpreted as New York. Right? So I'm yelling where the planets are. And she's like, “Say that again.” And I'm saying, well, this and this and this. And she's like, “in what year?” And I said 2000. She said, “Well, that's not what I'm seeing.” She's like, “Based on my books, that's 2001. Say it again.” And I'm like, mom, this is what it is.
00:06:53 And so she was right. Because the attack on the New City based on that quatrain, I think could be describing 9/11, which of course happened in 2001. Uh, that's crazy. That is crazy. That's crazy talented. What else did she do? Mom also did earth magic. Care to tell? Well, I remember one time I was in high school and I came home and lo and behold, our mother is on the front porch and she's washing the front porch and she's got one of those scrub brushes with a long handle on it. And she's scrubbing and she's pouring onto the front porch lye. You know what lye is? It’s extremely caustic. So she's pouring this caustic liquid on the front porch and she's scrubbing, but she's scrubbing in a very systematic way, stroke by stroke from the house end to the street end. Right. Do you see it? It's a stroke by stroke, the front porch and all the way down the stairs, cross the sidewalk, all the way to the street. So I come home and I see this very unusual sight and I'm most concerned about what the neighbors are thinking, but you know what? I didn't interrupt her because she looked like she was into it. Do you know what I mean? I think she was in the zone and she was muttering something that I couldn't understand. So I like gave her some space,
00:08:24 The old girl’s finally cracked. Exactly.
00:08:31 Afterwards. I was like, um, what was that? And she said that she did a spell to keep our dad out of the house. And what you have to know about our dad was, they were separated, almost divorced, and not long afterwards, the divorce was final and he actually left town. So there's something.
00:08:56 Wow.
00:08:57 One of my favorite stories about mom and her earth magic is I, um, came home from Sonia's house (big shout out to Sonia on this episode) and I go through the front door and I walked through the house to the kitchen and my mom, my sister, my sister's boyfriend, and my cousin are sitting in a circle, palm to palm, but not touching palms, just the palms facing each other and their eyes are closed and it's quiet. And I was like, Hey…
00:09:26 Hey guys, what you doing?
00:09:29 And one of my sister's boyfriend’s eyes opened and he muttered, “We're feeling our life force.” And I was like, Oh, I'm gonna, I'm just gonna leave it to it. Well, that explains everything. It's like, I'm just ,that’s great call me when you're done. Don't want to interrupt you. And I just kind of walked out the house backwards. That is awesome. Thank you for that.
00:09:53 Mom also had some psychic abilities. Tell me.
00:09:58 Well, I'll go first. You know, later in life she dated a man named Frank and Frank was a widower. And Frank also was very proud of the fact that he took care of... how many graves? 24 graves. 24 graves at Resurrection Cemetery. So shout out to Frank. Thanks Frank. Anyway, so, uh, Frank and mom were at Resurrection Cemetery and they were checking out the graves, you know, because he took care of them. Right. And they were at his, his late wife's grave and he and mom were kind of sitting quietly in the car and just contemplating, you know, I mean, it was, that's a sad situation, right? So they're sitting in the cemetery, Resurrection, mom and Frank quietly in the car. And she suddenly looks at him and says, “You're such a pain in the ass.” And Frank looked stunned. And he said, “Why would you say that to me?” Inappropriate.
00:11:02 Right. And she said, “It just popped into my head and I had to say it.” And he said, “You know, my wife used to say that to me all the time.” And it was, for them, a term of endearment. Hmm. And I remember that Frank would repeat this story because he was so impressed that mom was able to psychically pick up on something... so personal. Right. I got goosebumps. I did. You're welcome. One of my favorite stories about mom getting something just popping into her head is kind of a sad one. It's when, um, and Genie died and she was really close with Genie and Genie died suddenly, unexpectedly, out of nowhere. It was like left field. And no one could figure out why. She was 43. And she was found in her bathroom and she collapsed and she couldn't breathe, but no one knew why.
00:11:58 And so before the autopsy came back, mom was at grandma's house laying on the couch and it was bothering her like, what happened? She had just gone to the doctor a couple of days before, like, what is this? And just popped in her head: left lung, left lung. And mom knew that there was a blood clot in her left lung. And she told me that before the autopsy came back and, um, sure enough, the autopsy came back confirming that she died from a lung clot, a lung clot in her left lung. A blood clot. You, I knew it sounded funny. You got it. We got you. We got you. You're welcome. So I also love that mom had such spiritual strength and you have a couple of really good stories to exemplify that. So let me give you a little background. Our aunt Janet. Love her dearly.
00:12:51 Little crazy, just to tell ya, um, in a good way, but she cares about people so much that she had gone out of her way when I was having trouble as a teenager to try to seek protection and spiritual strength for me. So I came home from school one day, and this is during a time where Janet was living with us. Because we had the basement apartment and I walked in the back door and Janet's in the hallway with her dog who lives downstairs. And she said, “You know what, you're going to be okay.” And I was like, “Well, thanks.” And she goes, “No, my friend, she did something for you and prayed about you. And I know you're going to be fine.” Now tell us a little bit about this friend she was talking about. So her friend- who we shall not name because the last time we used her name in a conversation, she called us and told us to stop talking about her- true story, really creepy...
00:13:45 She, um, has been known to dabble in things that we don't and would not recommend specifically Santeria and those kinds of spiritual arts, dark arts. Right. So I'm like, “Oh, okay.” So Janet goes to work that day. And I go down to her apartment, knock on the door and I'm like, Hey cousin, can you fetch me what your mom was talking about? That her friend did for me? And so my cousin brings me a little four inch statue of Saint Michael, and I'm looking at this thing and I'm like, well, this doesn't seem right. So I bring it upstairs, charge it upstairs to mom. And I'm like, Hey mom, Janet said that I'm going to be okay because her friend did this for me. And mom said, go to my room, get the holy water from my headboard and bring me a compact and old compact case, like a makeup compact, like an old cover girl pressed powder case.
00:14:42 So what did it look like? Describe this little statue. So it was four inches tall and it was a statue of Saint Michael. There was a, a piece of paper with some writing in it, taped to the bottom. But also the statue itself was taped. It was wound and tape almost like a mummy. Oh. So I hand it to mom and mom is saying something, cuts it open. I don't know what she was saying, was cutting open the tape. She's dipping Saint Michael into the holy water. She gives Saint Michael back to my cousin to put it back where she had found it. Then takes the piece of paper that was taped underneath Saint Michael, puts it in the compact, facing the writing on it, facing the mirror image, closes it, facing the mirror part of the case, closes it, handed to me and said, put it in the freezer and don't touch it.
00:15:35 And I was like, Ooh, okay. I don't know what she did, how she knew what to do, what she did, but I'm fine. And I was okay, but that was scary. And she, I remember her telling me, um, that it wasn't right. St Michael's should never have wings bound. Wow. Yeah. Now I have goosebumps. It's your mama. It's your mama. So tell me about the story. Um, well, yes. I don't want to give it away. Okay. So I am sensitive to energy and sometimes I don't know if I'm just being crazy cause I have anxiety. Sure. I don't know. Um, as a test to that, I was living in a townhouse with mom and I had our dog Kindle with us. And Kindle is a German shepherd mutt. And her ears are very flopsity and not standing up because they were never clipped. So if Kindle hears a noise, Kindle's ears will react to that noise.
00:16:44 So I'm like, Hey girl, we're sleeping in my room tonight. Me and you because I kept hearing things outside my door. So I bring Kindle in my room and I'm laying in bed and I'm hearing things. And I look at Kindle and her ears are up and she's looking at the door. And I was hearing as if someone was walking back and forth outside my bedroom door and I was like, screw this girl, we're going to mom's room. I was like, nuh uh. So I run out of the room, Kindle in tow. And I jump in mom's bed and I'm like, mom, there's a ghost, mom! There's a ghost! And then all of a sudden her blinds (she had vertical blinds on her window and her window was closed) start rattling. And I don't mean like I walked by it and it was like the wind blew a couple. Like they, it was like, someone was disturbing these blinds. And I'm like, I told you, I'm like, something's happening. And she goes, “Enough.” And I thought she was talking to me. So I was like, okay, but...
00:17:40 And then the blinds started moving faster and more violently. And she said, “I said enough!” And they stopped. And I was like, yeah, get out of here. What I love about that story is that mom wasn't surprised by you jumping in her bed. But also that there was a ghost rattling, her blinds. She wasn't scared. And she took command. She did. That's crazy. That's impressive. That is impressive. That's why I run to her room at night. That's why I do that. Okay. Yeah. No, I don't blame you, Jen. I know mom will be gone four years this year. So although she's been gone, have you experienced her love and her spirit in your life since then? Absolutely. And you know, I am, I am 100% positive that I can communicate with mom and that she can communicate. There's no question in my mind that it's her.
00:18:53 Um, let me give you an example when I was considering doing this podcast with you and I was hesitant about it, but it was, but I kept getting these signs that I should do it. So we decided to do it. And I had a conversation with mom in my head basically. And I could picture her and she was on my left, clear as day, sitting next to me. And I said, okay, mom, if I'm supposed to do this, you need to help me because I don't know what I'm doing. And she said, Jennifer, I'm going to help you. And I said, great. What about grandma? And mom turned and looked into the light that was shining above her left shoulder. And then she said, your grandmother is going to keep you two safe. And I was like, okay, that, that makes sense. What about grandpa? And she said, your grandpa is going to bring the fun. And I was like, yeah, that makes sense. What about Genie? And she said Genie is going to keep things moving. And I was like, okay, that checks out. I like the sound of this. And then I turned to her and I said, but mom, what if you are just a figment of my imagination? And without skipping a beat, she said, I'm going to give you the figment of my hand upside your head.
00:20:21 And there's so much that's funny about that because that's mom. That's exactly what mom would do. And what you would think? No, not at all. Nah, that's not comfort. You know what I mean? That's not comforting. I would not imagine my own mother saying that, that's not what I would want to hear from her. I'm asking for something. I hear you. I see you. You are right. Yeah, no, she's going to hit me upside the head. That was so her. And I'm just sure, like things like that happen. And I know it's mom. I love that. I have a story about, I was buying a new car after she had passed away. And I had a thing where if I'm researching a car online and I go to the dealership, I have to see a hawk. I'm a way to the dealership specifically for me to know that that was the car I should buy because a hawk is your sign for mom. Because the Hawk, it tells me mom's with me, get this car.
00:21:24 So I find a car in Battle Creek and I didn't see a Hawk on the way there, but I'm there and I'm pretty close to signing the deal. And then I'm like, Oh, there's another car in Ann Arbor. That's like a thousand dollars less. And it has less miles on it. So I'm like, I need to go to Ann Arbor, but I'm working like, technically, I shouldn't be here. I have a job to do. And I work from home and someone might notice me just not answering calls. So, uh, I was like, okay, I gotta go. I didn't see a hawk. I gotta go. So I get in my car. And I'm driving as fast as I can to Ann Arbor to look at this car and I'm looking out the window and I'm like, come on mom, come on, show me a hawk. And without skipping a beat, as if she was sitting right next to me, she said, I don't know about all that, but you need to slow down.
Speaker 1 00:22:17 And I was like, and she was right. I was going a little fast, but it felt like one, she was in the car with me, like literally in the car with me and two again, it's not what I would, if my mom is going to speak to me from beyond the grave, it wouldn't be to stop driving fast. Right. At least not what I would hope it would. I would imagine it to be. Right. Right. So I did see the Hawk right before I got off the expressway on 94 and I did end up buying the car and I still have it. Well, thank goodness you, you finished up that story. Yeah. I was dying to know. Just the other day. Oh my gosh. This is so funny. So just the other day, Jen and I are trying like, we're doing a practice recording at my house and Jen was walking around like, where do you want me to sit?
00:23:02 And I hear mom in my head as a message to Jennifer “On your ass.” Again, that was our mom. So Jill, what do you say to people who ask you… When I'm having a conversation with likeminded people and they bring up those things that pop into their head that seem to them, it's too good to be true. And they think this is a coincidence. It's what I want to hear. And I'm constantly reminding people. No, that's real. And if you start to listen to it and you're acknowledging like, yeah, it is you, they'll keep doing it more and you'll have more of those experiences to enrich your life. Absolutely. I think that's great. Hopefully some of our listeners will take that to heart and start to believe that they really do have the ability to communicate with their loved ones. They're not gone. They're not. Thank you so much for listening. Thank you, Jill. Where can people find us? Well, you can find us on our Facebook page, Common Mystics. On our website, commonmystics.net and on Apple, iPad, iPod.
00:24:18 I'm going to get it right. I'm going to get it. Apple podcasts. Yes. You can subscribe.
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