Ghosts make great Halloween decorations and whimsical costumes. How many of us dressed up in a sheet to go trick or treating?

Yet, the origin of the word from the old English word gast, meaning breath, spirit or soul. A German word which may have also been a root meant guest. Another root word contributed to the origins of a word that meant excitement or terror or an old Norse word meaning rage.

The origin of the spelling with the h in it originated in 15th century England when a printer who used Flemish typesetters who used the term gheest, a Germanic spelling.

Originally it did not mean haunting, but many years of literature and stories fashioned that sort of aura about it with a big wave of popularity spewing from the seances and spiritual movements of the Victorian era.

When we consider these roots, there is another aspect that is part of our consciousness at this time of year, when we have just celebrated Halloween, Samhain and Day of the Dead.

Jack-O-Lanterns were originally carved and and scary costumes put on to scare away evil spirits during the darkening nights leading into the cold winter.

But the Day of the Dead altars were created to honor the memories of the spirits who recently departed, to wish them well on their journey.

When we work with our spirit guides to help us gain guidance and insight in our desires and efforts to make the best of our efforts in life, we are indeed connecting with the spirits of non-physical characters who once were very real, inhabiting bodies like ours.

In this way, we can interpret a positive meaning from someone ghosting us, as our spirit guides enter our space to help us and protect us. How many times did you have an accident, but not get injured seriously? The ghost of one of our protectors inserted themselves in there.

The idea of being able to communicate psychically with these influencers is seen in a different light after such an encounter.

Interestingly, technology offers us practical explanations for all this. Here the ghost in the machine takes on a few new twists.

For example, we accept the fact that invisible waves of energy can connect our phone calls through the air, though walls and over great distances. So if our phone calls can penetrate physical barriers to bring us messages, why not messages from the spirits of people who are no longer in physical bodies?

Spider webs are like the world wide web. Somehow, when we type and send a message to someone who lives somewhere else in the world, somehow that message finds its way through the whole world and goes exactly to the at person. Spider webs connect things that are not usually connected, and their lighter than air fabric catches their lunch for them.

So if we can send messages to another person in this world, who is nowhere near us, with no physical connection to them, why is it difficult to believe that spirits of ancestors and relatives who we knew and loved in this lifetime cannot continue to communicate with us even after they are no longer living in their bodies?

Kind of funny how in modern uses of the word, we now say that someone ghosted us if they just go away with no further messages.

Obviously, sometimes we want to leave situations that are not serving us well. Ghosting is leaving without notice, rather than giving someone the courtesy of a farewell message. And sometimes ghosts come to serve us with no formal advance or farewell message.

Certainly, we prefer some ghosts over others.

From present to absent, we all have ghosts.

Sometimes we get ghosted and sometimes we are the ghost.