It was midnight on July 20, 2017, or July 21, 2017, to be precise. The moon was in Gemini. The same place where it was when I was born on November 18. And in eighteen days, there was going to be a lunar eclipse, and in exactly one month, on August 21, 2017, there was going to be a total solar eclipse - the first of its kind to cross the United States in 99 years. And nine plus nine, well, that equals eighteen.

But at midnight on July 21, 2017, I didn't notice any of this. Instead, I turned off the lights to go to sleep.

I lay in bed, covered in the comfortable weight of blankets, and I closed my eyes. That was when my skin began to crawl.

I felt something around the corner - just a few feet from the foot of my bed, in the square space between my closet and my bathroom.

I tried to ignore it. I told myself there was nothing there. I told myself I was safe. I told myself it was all in my head.

But the feeling only grew stronger. It felt like there was a man standing just a few feet from my bed. I sat up straight and turned on the light. I didn't see anything, but I could feel it.

I spoke out loud: Okay, I'm trying to go to sleep. Can you please leave me alone?

It was then that I sensed that it wasn't just some man - it was my grandfather. As soon as I realized this, my heart stopped racing, and my head became flooded with information - information that he was sharing with me.

Because in that moment - at midnight on July 21, 2017 - my father's father, who died when I was eight years old, came to me and shared with me a special ritual that I could do to harness the power of a historic eclipse.