Six Things Every Paranormal Investigator Should Know

1. Know your team. Make sure you understand the individual qualities and skills each member has before you even begin to enter into an investigation. These members are your lifeline if things get dangerous, and sometimes they do. Don't overestimate the skills of a member if they haven't proven themselves to you multiple times. What someone says they are... is not always the case. Team members are much like a military unit...you must trust each others' abilities and capabilities. Will they have your back if things get ugly? Will they fall apart when an apparition comes directly at them? Will they follow the protocols of their training and maintain their unique part of the team. I stress the word TEAM.

2. Know what you are doing before you go into a situation. Do background research, get the necessary permissions in writing for entrance into a haunted location or site. Have regular meetings in advance so team members know the boundaries of their individual assignments. Know who is driving and who is in charge. Usually it is  the team leader.

3. You alter the energy of a location simply by coming into it. Make sure to keep your psychic imprints low. Keep your movements minimal, and do not allow other people into the scene to "observe." This is not a picnic outing. This is serious business. Alot of people think investigations are "cool." They are, but understand that it is also dangerous and fluid. Situations can change in a heartbeat from mildly interesting to downright life threatening. Don't take your best friend in just because they are curious. Keep your own individual energies centered and calm. The situation could change on a dime. Be ready.

3. You will experience the most results by expecting the least. Go with the flow. No preconceived notions about anything. All team members should keep an open mind.

4. Bring no outside ideas or beliefs to the site. Stay neutral so that you can process what you are getting to the very best of your abilities.

5. Leave your negative beliefs and behaviors outside the door. Sometimes a team member will have read a certain book or have taken a certain class outside the team's knowledge. That's fine, but they run the risk of bringing that energy to the site and passing the information that they get through the filter of their frame of reference. Not a good idea. Make sure that whenever a team member expands their abilities or extends their knowledge they don't pass the paranormal encounter through that lens.  Don't bring the crazy goth chick with you. She will see everything through the lens of daemonic energy when it's probably just a clanking radiator. 

6. If you think provoking spirits by being mean is a great idea...stay home. I have watched various shows on tv with members of a paranormal team actually insulting and provoking energies they haven't truly investigated fully. This brings a certain lethal energy to the site. Team members have become possessed by doing this.  How would you feel in the living world if someone insulted you? Keep it neutral and in control, unless you honestly feel you have cornered a malevolent energy and controlling its abilities is the only way forward.