Graveyards in disrepair, especially abandoned ones, often attract more entities than those that are vigorously maintained and manicured. I find cemeteries that are at least 150 years old are often more busy with such activities than those that have been established relatively recently.

The straightness was thought to encourage the spirit to make a beeline to the cemetery without deviating beyond its predetermined route.įrom my own experience, older, smaller cemeteries are usually more likely to attract disincarnate entities. People would avoid crossing or walking along these roads, because the chances of meeting a ghost was considered to be high. In medieval Holland, it was illegal to carry a corpse to burial in anything but a straight line (Devereux, Re-Visioning, 108). Cemeteries can therefore function as gateways to ethereal realms-although not necessarily the type you might want to connect to.Īncient roads upon which funeral processions traversed were built to follow lines of energy (or ley lines) that converged upon graveyards, and were actually called “death roads.” According to renowned earth-mysteries author Paul Devereux, fragments of these roads have survived till this day in Western Europe, and are noteworthy for their straightness ( Devereux, Earth Mysteries, 106). The veil or boundary between the grosser material sphere and the spirit world is thinner here, representing a kind of twilight zone, where the two dimensions can interact more directly. Located at the intersections of energy currents that result in a strong magnetism in the air, such settings have attracted disincarnate entities of all types. Many burial sites have been chosen because they are high-energy environments. These styles reflect the diversity of the cultural practices that surround death.Printed in the Winter 2019 issue of Quest magazine.Ĭitation: Shahar, Charles, 'Spirit Life in Cemeteries' Quest 107:1, pg 36-38Ĭemeteries can be very vibrationally active or quiet, depending on a number of factors. There are various different cemetery styles in use today. They therefore provide services to people of different cultures and beliefs.

They are independent of churches or religious organizations. They are often located outside large cities and town centers. Modern day cemeteries are usually expansive landscapes located far away from heavily populated areas. These were run by government bodies, private companies and sometimes private citizens. Garden cemeteries were therefore adopted by the end of the 18th century. This became even more urgent as the health risks of overcrowded graveyards became apparent. Graves were sometimes even dug up to create space for the burial of other bodies.Īs a result, people began to seek new places to bury the dead. People were being buried on top of each other. Graveyards were no longer sufficient as a burial place. However, as the population in Europe began to grow, the capacity of the graveyards was quickly surpassed. Part of the churchyard was therefore converted into a graveyard. There were no other grounds to bury the dead in aside from the churchyard. The church was the only institution allowed to bury the dead. A graveyard refers to the burial ground within the churchyard.Ĭemeteries are thought to have first come about in the 7th century when burials were firmly controlled by the church in Europe. Although the word graveyard is often used interchangeably with cemetery, a graveyard is only a type of cemetery.

The word cemetery is taken from the Greek word Koimeterion, which is the word for ‘sleeping place.’ The word implies that the land has been set aside as a burial ground.

Cemetery vs graveyard