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Back in 2012, I had the opportunity to travel on a cruise around the Mediterranean and then a Transatlantic cruise back home. We flew into Rome to catch the cruise a day early. What little did I know is what adventure laid ahead of me on this journey. I was excited for this cruise because I got to see some sights in Italy and a few other countries and Carthage. I could hardly contain the excitement. We boarded the cruise and got to stop first at Florence, Livorno and Pisa. Wow. What awesome energy and feeling of being home again when walking through these streets. I could feel the history around me. I got to see many sights in Florence, Livorno and Pisa and was amazed. I could feel the buildings around me telling me their stories of history and the land revealing its gifts. This was quite a couple of days. I felt like this was going to be quite the journey. 

We did have one upset moment when they announced we could not dock or tender into Carthage. I was so looking forward to this location as is part of my ancestry. I could feel the pull but could not do anything about it. We had seen many great buildings and architecture in many locations such as Monaco and Sicily. We then docked back in Rome and took a tour of Rome before returning to the ship for our transatlantic cruise. This tour was quite the experience.

We went to all the famous sights of Rome and was saddened to see the true history of the land being removed by an organization based in Rome. I was truly sad to enter the Pantheon and walk inside to find all the statues that I remembered being there were destroyed. My heart sank and felt a deep sadness. In their place were statues of saints and angels I believe. I felt an anger in me that they would come in and destroy these monuments. I went to other sights like the Circus Maximus which was huge historical significance to Rome and the Roman Empire was nothing but a circular dirt patch. Do not get me wrong, many significant places were preserved like the Forum and Colosseum. It was a mixture of emotions that day for sure. I have since learned to let the anger go from them destroying the statues and many other things done to erase almost the memory of the Rome of the Roman Empire. One thing that made me sad was to see the mark of the Legionnaire on the sewer covers. SPQR used to stand for honor and brotherhood. I have since also made that mark in my heart and in my energy field and come to peace knowing it is enough. The past is done with and to be learned from, not kept alive everywhere it was. If that was the case, we would have no room for new cities and new adventures. So yes, I have found peace inside myself being able to let that memory and feelings out there where they belong.

We then sailed to Spain. This was where the biggest impact was that I was yet to experience. I was going into port and got to see many great locations in Barcelona, and Alicante. It was a rainy day when we put into port where the day is about to get mystical. To set the story for this encounter I must take a moment and go back in time one year. This story ties into the Hawaiian Experience I have shared in a prior article in that my leg had healed up and was walking without crutches and the Orthopedic said just be careful not to fall on it as it could redamage my leg. Now that is all the backstory we need for this experience to make sense to you reading this. I walk off the cruise ship and walking through the terminal trying to stay dry. I found a metal strip as I round a corner and I feel my leg slip out under me and I landed on my knee. Yes I landed on my knee that I was told not to. I went into panic because I just fell and my parents helped me back onto the ship.

I found myself laying down on the sofa in the room and my mom went to get ice to make an ice pack or get an ice pack. That detail escapes me honestly. I was laying on the sofa hearing the ocean waves and all the sudden I closed my eyes. I heard a booming voice come from the ethers. The voice called out saying “Who are you?”. I was quiet unsure what I had just heard. Again the voice cried out, “Who are you?”. I answer back, “I do not understand you.”. The voice simply boomed out again, “Who are you?”. I simply replied back saying “I am Michael Kopf”. The voice called out saying “That is your name not who you are, Who are you?”. Something clicks inside of me and I respond back, “I am a Reiki Master and Healer”. The voice cried out a new question. “What element heals you?”. I responded back saying “Water can heal me sometimes”. I stood there in the quiet of my mind expecting the voice to bellow back the question again thinking I got it confused or wrong. I got an answer back from the voice that I did not expect. The voice then bellowed out, “Where are you?”. I answered back “I am on a cruise ship on the water.”. I then felt something click inside me and say to myself I am on water. I then called in the water energy and surrounded my leg and whole body. I could feel my fear of damaging my leg fall away. I could even feel the pain and tightness of my leg start to give way. I will never forget this moment when my guides gave me insight into how I can use the elements to help me and others. This adventure was far from over though.

Yes my leg was fine and I was able to continue the cruise without medical attention but it was when we got onto the Atlantic Ocean that we realized what we were in for. Many may remember a huge hurricane that swept through the Atlantic that year. That is right. Hurricane Sandy was in the Atlantic and as we returned home, we sailed the cruise ship right through the tail of the hurricane. I never seen water waves so high before and was amazed the ship could feel so steady. The water would rock in the glasses but not enough to spill out. I was grateful for the Captain that trip for sailing us through a hurricane and yes even though was the tail, you could feel it all around. What a trip this turned out to be.

I am so grateful for this trip and many more I have been on as they helped me to not only gather pieces of myself I have left in places, but also learn more about my gifts. I have grown much in my Reiki since then and also in my faith in my surroundings. I no longer fear hurting my leg as I know inside me is the energy to regenerate it. I have also started to learn from these trips to let go of many fears I had around myself and to realize that the fear was only my ego afraid of what I might become without the fear. It is amazing how when our fears keep us scared and limited, it keeps us from growing. Some fear is necessary but it is when the fear takes over us it becomes no longer an aid but a hinderance. That is the true lesson of fear. We must learn to harness the fear and make it part of us and not what drives us.

Thank you all for reading this story. This story is my personal truth and is my gift. Please do not expect this to work for everyone, we all have our own paths to live. I do not share this for any other reason that to inspire people to start to look within themselves and see what gifts and lessons they have for themselves. Blessings to you all.

As I write this account of my journey in October 2013, I find myself remembering this trip and how it made me feel. This trip had an effect on me that lasted for many years. I will share with you this account and also share with you why I was on this trip. This trip was hosted by my friend Lillis, who also happened to be one of my teachers in metaphysics. This journey begins at the foot of the sacred city of Rennes-le-Château.

To accurately begin this journey, I feel a need to take a step back for some of the readers to explain who and what a Cathar is. This is an important key element to this experience. According to https://chateau-marcel.com/history-of-the-cathars-2/, The Cathars (also known as Cathari from the Greek Katharoi for “pure ones”) were a dualist medieval religious sect of Southern France which flourished in the 12th century CE and challenged the authority of the Catholic Church. Cathar priests lived simply, had no possessions, imposed no taxes or penalties, and regarded men and women as equals; aspects of the faith which appealed to many at the time disillusioned with the Church. Cathars rejected the teachings of the Catholic Church as immoral and most of the books of the Bible as inspired by Satan. They criticized the Church heavily for the hypocrisy, greed, and lechery of its clergy, and the Church’s acquisition of land and wealth. Not surprisingly, the Cathars were condemned as heretical by the Catholic Church and massacred in the Albigensian Crusade (1209-1229 CE) which also devastated the towns, cities, and culture of southern France. https://www.cathar.info/cathar_origins.htmalso states that Perhaps the easiest way to trace the origins of the Cathar Church is to work back from the Languedoc.  Catharism appeared in Western Europe in the eleventh century.  Cathars beliefs seemed to have popped up around the same time in many countries, not only the Languedoc but also France, the Netherlands and various German states. The Inquisition set up in the Languedoc was not the first Inquisition set up by the Roman Church. Bishops' Inquisitions had existed for centuries, but being local, never had the impact of later Papal Inquisitions. The Inquisition which is the subject of this page was the Medieval Inquisition, established informally by Dominican under Pope Innocent III in the early thirteenth century and formalized by later popes. Cathars were Gnostic Dualist Christians who claimed to retain many of the beliefs and practices of the early Christian Church. All of their beliefs stemmed from logical deductions from a combination of these three fundamental beliefs (Gnosticism, Dualism and Christianity). For example they displayed contempt for everything material, a position with enormous ramifications, based on their Dualism. You are free to look up the Cathars if you wish but for me it is time to share my journey.

This journey was my first and only trip into France so far. I was blessed and excited to be on this journey. I had just returned from doing a weekend adventure with the Mankind Project right before I left. I thought I was ready for anything but will soon find myself mentally tested and spiritually tested. The is trip was one I could not imagine being on and I am not sure if I did this trip another time, I would have had these experiences.

We were in Southern France, or aka Cathar France, and visiting locations that were tied to the Cathars and also tied to the Mary Magdalene story. I do believe she came to France but why is for an article another day. I am on this journey with my friend Brian and Lillis. I was excited to be in a new place and seeing new things. I would never imagine all that was before me. This land was beyond beautiful. The energy there was on another level and I could feel certain areas call to me and other areas rejuvenating me. The places we went did such a great job preserving the history of these people. Wow. The personal experience I am about to share starts when we get to our final resting area for our trip. We were at the foot of the sacred city of Rennes-le-Château. I could not believe I am at such a sacred and historic place.

From here we were able to visit some famous cities such as Carcassonne and Foix. The food was amazing. One night my roommate and friend Brian and I went exploring after dinner around the fields and up to Rennes-le-Château. We found ruins that were possibly Roman built and other interesting things. We decided to walk up to the city when I started to hear strange sounds in the trees along the sides of the winding road. I had in my gut a bad feeling and said to my friend, I think we need to turn back. He said is nothing and we are almost there. I start to walk up to the entrance of the city when I feel something pulling me back as if to say do not enter. I convince my friend we need to go back. So he agrees and we walk away from the entrance to the sacred city and go back to our room to sleep. I wake up the next morning and we go travelling to different cities and come back. We decided to either that night or the next night to retry walking up to the sacred city of Rennes-le-Château. 

This is where the night adventure truly begins. We start walking up and notice there are mountains in the distance looking like they are lit up as if daytime behind them. I notice and point out to my friend that I see lights moving on the mountain. I do not hear the rustling though in the trees so we decide to go further up the mountain/hill. We get half way up to the entrance of the city on the winding road and I notice what I can only describe as a Fire Worm (from 13th Warrior movie) coming down the mountain towards us. It moved like a straight line coming towards us and there were trees in the area that did not seem to phase them. I felt if we were going to get to the city, we needed to hurry. We start to get further up the mountain and still no rustling and I have no sense of turn back in my stomach. The guardians of the city are allowing us to approach this time. I keep an eye on the Fire Worm as it approaches closer but still in the distance some. We get to the entrance of the sacred city and of course stop to take pictures at the entrance sign. Forgive our touristy moment. We then quietly walk through town and the city is barely lit up at night. We get to the back of the city and look out and see the mountains lit us still and thinking this is odd or maybe just large cities there. I honestly have to say, I did not look to see where the Fire Worm was at this point of the adventure.

Standing before us is the sacred building that makes this town/city so famous. The Tour Magdala. This building is unique and beautiful at night. I took a photo here to show was there at night and for personal memory. I then walked to my friend and we started to walk around the Tour and see what was behind it. He heard a noise on the path that I missed and went to check it out. I then started to walk forward some and saw before me an apparition of a White Woman float across the path. I must say I call her White Woman because all I could see was her in white clothes and her skin white and her hair white. She was indeed a Woman in White. I watched as she looked at me and floated inside the Tour. Just as she disappeared inside the building my friend approached me and said what he heard must have been nothing because could not find anything. I asked if he saw anything on the path just now and he said only you. I could not believe what I had just witnessed.

We walked a few paces down the path and both looked ahead and could not believe our eyes. There was bushes ahead of us at the end of the path, a pretty decent distance yet away mind you, but what we saw made us stop in our tracks. In the bushes was two red eyes looking right at us. I knew could not be a car at this hour because there was no road at this point there. So if was a car, the car would be a phantom car, and was slightly quiet. I do not recall if we heard a growl or any sound honestly. I knew when I saw the red eyes, we needed to go back into the city. We walked back into the town/city and began to walk quietly back to our room. I heard nothing follow us and we went straight to sleep. I had little idea what tomorrow would bring me.

The next morning we awoke and went to the castle at Puivert. On a sign at this castle was a legend that gave me chills and made me quiet about this experience for eight years. The legend was of a Woman in White spirit that is said if seen, is an omen of death. I felt I was marked for death reading this story and with what I witnessed the night before. I toured the castle and looked around and was thinking in my mind, if I am marked…..what will I do. I decided to tell no one as I did not want them to risk themselves to try and keep me safe. I just went about each day of this trip being mindful and careful. I was amazed at the sights we visited. We even got to experience the last stand location of the Cathars at Montsegur. There was quite a view there on top of the ruins and the 360 panoramic view was breathless. I then went walking back down to the car and slipped and fell on my butt. This time I just said to everyone I am okay, my leg is not hurting so all is good. I did not panic this time remembering what happened to me in the prior year. I enjoyed the rest of the trip and yes it had its ups and downs but that is to be expected when you are in a sacred space that has connections to your chakras. This location was tied to the root chakra and some people could process it and others were having stuff come up. It did get emotional but in the end was a blessing.

I will always remember with fondness what I experienced. And if you can believe it, I finally in 2022 opened up and shared this with Lillis who hosted it and she could not believe I kept quiet all this time. I finally feel free of the mark as I am still here and writing of this experience. It is amazing the power of the mind and how it connects things for us. Perhaps I did see the ill fated omen of the Woman in White or perhaps I just saw a regular spirit of a Woman in White going through her day. Either way, I have no fear over the situation anymore and happily tell this tale. I will say I am always prepared to enter sacred space now and I am ever mindful of the guardian spirits. Not all places are meant to be explored on your time and is something to consider when next you are in sacred space and hear something that defies all senses. 

Why does one choose to be a paranormal investigator,

Is it for the fame and recognition on the streets?

I dare say no because this is the wrong field for that…..

Is it for the mystique, history and mystery?

Again I dare say no because that is only a small part for some…..

Is it for all the fun?

I dare say no again however it does have some fun in it……

Is it for the challenge?

I dare say it could be as we are undefined and a new frontier……

Is it to answer deep unknown questions we all seek answers to?

I could dare to say yes but not all seek answers in this field……

Is it for all the fun toys/equipment we get to use?

I truly dare say no because not all can afford all the equipment…..

Is it for the money?

I can only laugh and say if you find a way, share it with all the rest of us please……

Is it for the discovery of and visiting cool locations?

You know I could say yes but yet there are some who are not in it for that……

Is it for the Adventure?

I dare say many will seek the adventure to escape the drama …….

Is it because paranormal investigators are gifted and special?

I have to say for some yes and others no, but we are still all equal……

Why then please explain why we are paranormal investigators?

I dare say because it is where we are free to be ourselves……

Do all paranormal investigators support each other?

Sadly I have to say no and that is where drama comes in……

What then draws people to become paranormal investigators?

I dare say is because no matter background, gifts, styles or knowledge, we are all an equal community

Why do people always look away or laugh when here the word paranormal?

Why do we mock that which we do not understand?

I know many people think paranormal is looking for ghosts and spirits,

But that is because of the tv shows.

Paranormal is defined as something that is unexplained,

But that cannot be why people are afraid and mock can it?

Paranormal to me is the ability to look beyond the surface,

To delve into topics like Stargates, Angels, UFOs/UAPs, Reincarnation, Dimensions, Alien Races and more.

But can this be why there is so much drama and mockery of the paranormal?

Is this why people turn a blind eye to experiences they have had?

When one smells a flower in place where there is no flowers,

One is having a paranormal experience.

When one feels a loved one that has transitioned to the next journey of life,

One is having a paranormal experience.

When one feels drawn to a place they have never been before,

I feel that is a paranormal connection and experience to be had.

Is Déjà vu simply a random phenomenon?

Or could you be having a paranormal experience.

These are but some of the questions of those who investigate and delve into the paranormal.

But this still does not explain the paranormal.

What about those who have gifts and abilities?

Does that make them more connected to the paranormal?

If we look back and see how paranormal is defined for each of us maybe our answer is there….

For me the definition is simply this:

The paranormal is anything and everything we experience all around us every day.

One just needs to be open to the experience.

What about those who believe the paranormal is scary?

Well I wish I could say that is not true but sometimes it is scary.

How does one become comfortable with the paranormal?

How does one become comfortable living in society?

I do not have all the answers but I will say this,

Life is much more interesting when one takes the moment to look within and beyond the surface.

The paranormal if broken down means amazingly this:

Para means “beside”, “next to”, “near, from”, “against”, “contrary to”, “next to”, “beyond”, “beyond, past, by," "moving or going beyond," and "abnormal or defective."

By looking at this alone it starts to paint in my mind an interesting train of thoughts,

But it also shows is based on perspective of the individual.

We all think we know what normal means but let us look anyway,

Normal means “Conforming with, adhering to, or constituting a norm, standard, pattern, level, or type; typical”

But did you know it also means “conforming to a type, standard, or regular pattern : characterized by that which is considered usual, typical, or routine.”

And can also mean that what is normal today may be "abnormal" in the future.

With so many ways to define paranormal, who is to say who has the right answer?

Who am I to even attempt to define paranormal for everyone?

Simply put, I am a spiritual being having a human experience who is looking beyond the surface,

And I hope that in this you might be inspired to become one whom also looks beyond the surface.

For a flower, plant, vegetable, grass, weed, tree, rock all have something in common with us humans,

We opened our mind to something more and grew from a seed.

Now I am not saying humans come from a seed but our ability to think does come from a seed planted and nurtured,

For in the end, we are all connected in ways we have yet to learn.