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“Wake up, Sally. Wake up!”

Posted in Life Plan, Our Life between Lives, Physical Phenomenon, Soul's Journey, Spirit visits, Spirits' Creative Methods of Communication, tagged , , , , , , on January 4, 2016| 5 Comments »

Happy New Year, my friends! To start the year, I have a very special story to share with you – one of deep love, inspiration, and enlightenment that I’m certain you’ll enjoy.

Sally’s Story

Sally

My dear friend, Sally.

In early November, my college friend Sally kept popping into my head. We hadn’t checked in with each other for a while, so I wrote a quick “How are you?” email. To my surprise,  Sally responded with an extraordinary story of Spirit communication! And the wonderful news is that she has generously agreed to let me share it with you.

Sally has had one of those years. You know what I mean: when the Universe throws everything at you all at once. Sink or swim in the deep end of life. But just as the Universe takes away, it inevitably gives back in unexpected ways, often accompanied by the realization that all is as it’s meant to be.

Here is Sally’s incredible story that lies at the intersection of love and faith.

The Pact

Last winter, Sally moved in with her elderly mother, Donna. At 81, Donna was becoming increasingly frail and needed some loving assistance. The blessing in this arrangement was that for the first time in decades, Sally

SONY DSC

Sally’s mother, Donna

and her mother were able to spend leisurely evenings and weekends together, exploring all manner of topics in a way they had never done before. One evening, the conversation moved to the topic of “what happens after we die.”

Mother and daughter decided to make a pact: whoever died first would try to communicate across the veil to the other. Sally and Donna didn’t go so far as to set up a code word or even a specific means of communication; they just decided they would try, because they believed it was possible.

Donna passes into Spirit

In March, Donna took a fall that put her in the hospital. It was a fall from which she would not recover, and Sally’s mother passed unexpectedly, yet peacefully into Spirit. Donna had  often said over recent years that she was happy to go on to the realm of Spirit, that she was ready. For Sally and her siblings however, it wasn’t so easy.  The experience of losing one’s mother can leave one feeling like a ship without anchor on wind-tossed seas, but one miraculous event in the midst of Sally’s grief gave her strength she didn’t know she had.

Breaking through the Veil

It was 10 days after Donna’s passing, and two weeks before a larger memorial service was to be held. Sally got into bed that night, leaving her laptop within reach. Normally, the laptop spent the night on the dresser, but this was no normal night.

In the wee hours of the morning, Sally was woken by her mother’s voice, “Wake up, Sally! Wake up! Sally, wake up!” The voice got louder and stock-footage-hands-typing-on-a-laptop-keyboardlouder until it pulled Sally out of a deep slumber. At the urging of her mother, Sally felt compelled to turn on her laptop.  She opened a blank document and just started typing and then her mother took over. The words flowed rapidly through Sally’s fingers and onto the page. The awaited contact!

Now, if this were to happen to me, a trained medium, you might think it wasn’t anything particularly out of the ordinary. But Sally is no “traditional” medium. In fact, despite being a good friend of mine for over 30 years, Sally wasn’t yet to the point of feeling comfortable sitting for a reading with me. I just waited for the day she might be. And never did I imagine, and certainly nor did she, that Sally would be her own medium!

Below is the dialogue that ensued between Sally and her mother, Donna (in Spirit) on Sally’s computer. Ellipses (…) represent comments personal to Sally that I removed.

April 2, 2015 – 3:18am 

Sally: OK, here’s some weird stuff. I feel like Mom is channeling through this computer to me. I feel like she is keeping me from falling asleep. She is trying to tell me…

Mom: I love you all so much. I know you did your best for me. I tried to do my best for every one of you, but I had to go. Take care of Tom (Sally’s brother). … You and I said that we would try to contact each other once I was dead, so this is what I’m trying to do. I am happy. My soul is happy, but I’m trying to do what I can for all of you. Just take care of Tom. You will know how to do it when you have a question, because I will speak to your soul. I love you all.

Sally: What else can I do mom? What should I do?

Mom: Know that I am watching you, all of you. Don’t fight. Keep everyone together. Know that I am here. I love all the grandkids, every one of them the same. Help them all, trust your instincts.

Sally: Mom, help me give you the best eulogy I can.

Mom: I will and you can do it well. You can be a writer if you really want to be. I am with you. I will help you.

Sally: What was it like to die?

Mom It was weird. I went on a journey through a tunnel. I am on The Other Side but I can try to communicate with you once in a while, if you are hearing me. And you are hearing me, Sally. Sally, you wanted me to try and communicate with you, so I am.

I am excited to go to the next step. It is so great not to hurt anymore. I hurt more than I told any of you I did. 

I am not your mother anymore. It is wonderful here. It is wonderful where I am going. I’m still not all there yet.

Sally: Can I go to sleep now? What else do you want to say?

Mom: Just that you should do your best by everyone. Don’t forget. Now go to sleep.

Did you just say, “Wow”? Because that’s what I said when I read it. It’s a fabulously clear communication filled with love — and it provides us a rare insight into what happens to a Loved One after so-called death.

There are many lines of communication from Donna that support, in surprisingly candid terms, much of my own work as a medium and Life-Between-Lives hypnotherapist, reaffirming the work of Dr. Michael Newton, as shared in my favorite metaphysical book, Destiny of Souls.

So, let’s break this conversation down a little bit, and see what Donna is really saying.

On Spirit Communications

“You and I said that we would try to contact each other once I was dead, so this is what I’m trying to do.”

“You will know how to do it when you have a question, because I will speak to your soul.”

“I am on The Other Side but I can try to communicate with you once in a while, if you are hearing me. And you are hearing me, Sally.”

Contrary to the premise of the once popular TV show, Ghost Whisperer, where Spirits finally cross over to The Other Side never to be heard from again, this message from Donna makes clear that our Loved Ones in Spirit are as near as we need them to be, for as long as we need them to be. In truth, our Loved Ones speak to us often in response to our needs or prayers. All we have to do is to find the quiet within and listen when they speak to our souls.

Did you notice the time? 3:18am. Spirit is most active between 2am and 4am,when the ambient noise and Earth energy is at a low, so it’s not surprising that Donna chose this time to communicate. Meditating in quiet and calm nature settings may also bring you the same ease of communication.

On Spirit Presence

“Know that I am watching you, all of you…Know that I am here.”

When we call on our Loved Ones, when we grieve them or just think of them, they are immediately at our sides with love and support for all we do.  Have you ever experienced the sudden shift in emotion when you think of a Loved One? One moment you’re fine, and the next you’re crying, and you say to yourself, “Where did that come from?” It’s the energy of pure love that those in Spirit share with you when they are close – it opens and softens our hearts, and tears often follow.

Now, there is what mediums refer to as a “black-out” period, which extends somewhere between 2 weeks after one’s passing to as long as 6 months, when the Spirit is less communicative. Why? Because they are busy reintegrating their current life soul-energy into the whole of their soul, and moving through life review and reflection with their Spirit Guides and counselors. Don’t be dismayed; he or she will be back and around as soon as their own energy is whole and healed again. When they come back, however, they will be communicating with you from the a much higher perspective, and undoubtedly with greater knowledge of your soul’s goals in this lifetime. The personality may persist, but the level of spiritual awareness and light energy is significantly heightened.

On Spirit Support

“You can be a writer if you really want to be. I am with you. I will help you.”

All we need to do is ask for our Loved Ones to help us, and to be very specific with our requests. They happily volunteer their time and work in tandem with our band of Spirit Guides for our benefit. All those synchronicities that happen to you…give thanks and gratitude to your Loved Ones and Spirit Guides for lighting your way!

On the Process of Passing into Spirit

“It was weird. I went on a journey through a tunnel. I am on The Other Side… I am excited to go to the next step. It is so great not to hurt anymore.

Donna, as all souls, went through the tunnel of light to The Other Side. The next step she refers to is the reintegration of her current life energy and personality with her Oversoul or Higher Self, the greater part of her energy body that always resides in the realm of Spirit.

YoungFamily

Donna holds Sally in this 1962 family photo. Sister Sue and their father hold baby Tom.

 

She comments on the physical pain being gone, now that she’s out of the body, which served as the vehicle for her Spirit while on Earth. Donna chose the family she would be born into, her husband, her children – all prior to this life. They would provide her the opportunities she sought for spiritual growth.

On Soul Re-integration

“I am not your mother anymore. It is wonderful here. It is wonderful where I am going. I’m still not all there yet.”

I was especially excited to see this concept shared by Donna. It’s another reference to Donna reintegrating with her Oversoul – the larger and complete soul that recalls all lifetimes lived, including time lived on The Other Side. Since it had been several weeks since Donna passed, she was already mid-process and therefore cognizant of this fact as she speaks to Sally. Donna clarifies that she “is still not all there yet” meaning, the re-integration is not yet complete, but she shares with Sally that it’s a wonderful process and place to be.

Donna

Donna

Donna would be known on The Other Side by her soul name. That said, the love she feels for Sally and her other children in this lifetime does not reduce, but rather grows as she goes through her transition. Mostly likely, Donna and Sally lived many lifetimes together, and have loved each other through their various roles, relationships and experiences. We don’t choose our family members lightly prior to birth;  there’s history and deep abiding love developed for other souls through millenia. We enter into Sacred Contracts with these souls to play various roles in our Earthly lives, roles that help each member learn and grow spiritually. Donna is now again privy to all this hidden knowledge.

Donna’s State of Being

Just look at the various adjectives Donna uses to describe her current experience of transition: happy, excited, wonderful, great.

Joyful, indeed! 

Sally’s State of Being

I asked Sally if she remembered typing the document. She replied, “I remember opening a blank Word doc, then started typing. I only remember writing the first entry, then I was suddenly SO tired. I do recall typing, ‘Can I go to sleep now?’ Then I closed the computer and fell into a really deep sleep. Not until I opened my computer the next day, did I remember I’d had this experience. Usually I have my computer on the dresser, but that night I had it on the floor before I went to bed.”

Best guess? Donna had a hand in guiding Sally’s decisions before bed and keeping the computer nearby — all so that Sally would stay in a semi-conscious state while typing. The simple action of Sally getting out of bed to get her computer from the dresser could have brought her too close to full conscious awakening and thereby less effective as a Spirit channel.

“It was the only thing that kept me going.”

In the initial email from Sally, she spoke of the role her mother’s communication played in her own healing process:

I would read the message over and over. It was the only thing that kept me going. I don’t even know why it kept me going, but it did.

Sally keeps a copy of the channeled dialog with her mother on her phone and pulls it up whenever she needs a little  extra dose of the strength and inner peace it brings. Works every time.

There haven’t been any more late-night chats with Donna, but I won’t be too surprised to hear from Sally that Donna has come through again. When I was home for a family Christmas last month, Sally and I finally sat for a reading. In the reading, Donna came through and offered some suggestions on various means of more conscious communication. I’ll let Sally share any updates in the comments section below.

SONY DSC

Sally and Donna

Granddog Rainy knew…

On the last day that Rainy, the granddog, would see Donna, he refused to leave Donna’s side. And much to the amusement of all, he insisted on sitting very close to her on the sofa, protecting her. Did he know Donna was headed for a fall? Perhaps. Our animals have a second sight that goes beyond the average human, and Rainy is clearly no exception.

Donna_with_dog

In closing

Despite the “sink or swim” string of events of early 2015 (of which Donna’s passing was just one), I am happy to report that Sally has swum to shore and has found firm footing once again.

Sally, thank you from the bottom of my heart for sharing your story with me and my friends around the globe. It is filled with love and hope and strength for us all. And it reminds us that there is no death, only a transition to a “wonderful” place, where our lives continue with great purpose.

Love and light to you all, my friends~

Renee

 

 

 

 

 

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“Hi Honey!”

Posted in Life Plan, Our Life between Lives, Physical Phenomenon, Spirits' Creative Methods of Communication, tagged , , , , on February 14, 2013| 12 Comments »

Today is Valentine’s Day—the day in which millions of people around the world celebrate love in all its glorious forms. My story today is about a romantic love that flourished through almost 60 years of marriage and the raising of a large family. It was a love so powerful that it conquered death; a love so true that it proved to a strident disbeliever that love does go on. This, my friends, is the story of the love between my mother Elva, and her husband—my father—Dennis.

My mother, Elva.

Mom on Valentine’s Day 1993

It was the fall of 2007, a few months after my mother had passed into Spirit, when she apparently decided it was high time to visit my father—then bedridden and severely depressed, suffering a slow death of his own from emphysema. It was a difficult time for all of us, learning to come to terms with the passing of the woman who was our sun—the center of our familial universe. But for my father, it was particularly trying, for when his beloved Elva died, his love of life passed with her.

Dad’s greatest fear was that his Elva was lost to him forever. Unlike my mother, whose faith in God and belief in the afterlife was unshakable, Dad openly questioned whether there was such a thing as life after death. And for years, he wasn’t just disbelieving of Spirit communication, he was adamantly opposed to the idea of it. During the years I was developing as a Medium, I would regularly call home and share with him and my mother my amazing journey, and what I was learning about life on The Other Side. Dad’s reaction was often to hang up the phone on me, leaving my mother and I to recover from the obvious “click” of his receiver, and to continue our conversation. There was a time when my father stopped speaking to me altogether in protest of my continued exploration of Spirit communication. I felt sad that this amazing new experience was going unshared with him—especially since his own mother (my paternal grandmother), Irene, was very actively communicating through other mediums to me and my family. And

Christmas 1964

Christmas 1964

of course, his two children, Susan and Merle, who’d been in Spirit for decades, came through regularly with highly evidential messages filled with love, healing, and support for him. Why wouldn’t he want to hear these messages, I wondered. Maybe one day, I told myself, he would come to accept, and to believe, and in doing so, to release his fears of death.

When my mother was alive, I’d call my parents in Minnesota several times a week on my way home from work in Boston. We’d chat for the 45 minutes it took me to get home, covering every topic you can imagine; it was our time to be together. After Mom passed, I continued the tradition with Dad, and found that in my conversations with him, he had softened his position on Spirit communication. He allowed me to share with him messages from Elva received via other Mediums. He didn’t say too much about the messages, but he listened. He seemed more open to the possibility, and I sensed that he wanted to believe.  What was still required for him to really believe, however, is what most people need to believe—a personal experience.

And Mom knew that, too.

I’m going to let my sister, Connie, tell the rest of the story, because she was there, and I love how she tells it.

My sister, Connie.

My sister, Connie

Connie: It was about 10:00am and I was in the kitchen when I heard Dad call out from the bedroom, “Connie! Connie, come here! Connie!”

I ran down the hallway to see what was wrong, because Dad couldn’t move around very easily on his own. He was in bed, leaning up against the headboard, his eyes large and wild.

“Dad! What? What’s wrong? Are you ok?” I said, standing in the doorway to his bedroom.

“Mom!”  he sputtered. “Mom was here!”

“What? Mom? Dad, Mom’s not here. She died, remember?” I thought he was dreaming.

“No!” he insisted and pointed in my direction. “She was right there—just like you are!” His voice shook with emotion. “She…she came in the door and  smiled at me and said, ‘Hi Honey!’ and then she came over to the bed and leaned down and kissed me, and I yelled because she scared me, and then she was gone!” he said, still looking about the room, as if he might find her back again. 

I smiled. So, Mom made an appearance. Great. I went over and sat on the

Elva Buck

Elva Buck

bed with Dad. “I wish she’d appear to me like that, Dad,” I said. He just looked at me, still deeply shaken. “So, what did she look like?” I asked. I could tell Dad wanted to talk about it.

“Well, she was wearing a blue and white striped blouse, and white pants,” he began. “Her hair was all fixed up and she had lipstick on. She looked beautiful,” he smiled wistfully and his eyes became moist.

“That’s how I see her in my dreams, Dad,” I said. “She’s glowing from the inside out, hair and makeup just perfect.”

“Yes, she looked perfect,” he nodded. ”And I could feel her kiss. It scared the heck out of me!” he laughed, now that the shock was wearing off.

“You see, Dad? Spirits can visit us, and communicate with us—like Renee has been saying. Mom’s telling you that she’s alive and will be there for you when it’s your time. There’s nothing to be afraid of, Dad,” I said, hoping my words would comfort. Dad shook his head slowly, trying to let it sink in.

“Well, maybe it was all a dream, but it sure felt real,” he concluded, and lay slowly back against the pillows.

[Thanks, Connie!]

Over the last year of my father’s life, he would smile when we talked about “Mom’s visit.” He wasn’t ready to tell the story himself, but he wanted it told. He wanted to share the joy he felt in knowing his beautiful wife, Elva, wasn’t really gone. He liked to hear us say that she was around him, and would be waiting for him on The Other Side.

Dad became a kinder, gentler man in his final year with us, and I believe it had a lot to do with him relaxing into the inevitable. He’d been ill with emphysema for so many years and by that point had a poor quality of life on most days, struggling to breathe and needing help with the most basic of routines. Dad had lived for so long in fear of leaving Earth for the unknown, in fear of being apart from his Elva, but Mom’s surprising visit on that sunny October morning changed all that.

The following September, his health continuing to fail, Dad made up his mind. He called his family together and said, “That’s it. I’m done here. I’m leaving.”

“Uh…what do you mean, Dad? Where are you going?” asked my brother, Jim.

“It’s time to set up hospice,” Dad said.  “I want to be with my Elva.” He pointed to their 40th wedding anniversary photo on the wall of his bedroom.

Hospice was set up that day, and my father was reunited with our mother the next. It was that simple. Dad left us, secure in, and comforted by his own certainty that Mom would be there to take his hand at the moment of his passing, guiding him toward their continued life on The Other Side.

The last photo of Mom and Dad July 2007

The last photo of Mom and Dad together, July 2007

These days, on my way home from work, I still miss my phone calls with Mom and Dad, but I sense their presence, and see their smiling faces in my mind’s eye, side by side in Spirit. We choose each other in love before our lives on Earth, and we can choose to pass back into Spirit through the comfort of that same vital energy. Yes, true love does go on.

Happy Valentines Day, everyone! As always, if you have a story  of enduring love across the veil, please share in the comments below.

~In Love and Light, Renee  

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The Adoption Pact

Posted in Life Plan, Our Life between Lives, Soul's Journey, Spirits' Creative Methods of Communication, tagged , , , , , , , on March 29, 2012| 5 Comments »

Adoption is not so black and white.

A man, whom I’ll call Paul, recently came to me for a Messages from Loved Ones reading. He’d never had such a reading before, and admitted some doubt about the process itself, but the opportunity presented itself, and so he was going to take it. His open-minded attitude was enough for me to feel comfortable proceeding.

Paul had one very specific question in mind: Why did his birth parents give him up for adoption? Both his birth parents were in Spirit, and so he couldn’t ask them directly. No one had ever come to a reading with such a question, so I had no idea what might come from it, but I was interested to see where this question would take us.

Now, Paul wanted me to understand in advance of the reading that he’d had a very good life, with very loving adoptive parents, and never lacked for anything growing up. He said that he bore no ill will toward his biological parents for their decision, whatever their reasons, but nevertheless he was curious, and if he could know the answer to this question, he could stop wondering about it. He added that he had never, throughout his life, felt strongly compelled to discover his biological roots. And yet, in recent years, due to a near-death medical emergency, Paul found himself propelled along the journey of family discovery in middle age.

And so, there we were, about to answer a question he had held in his heart for his entire life.

I placed our chairs facing each other, knees to knees, close enough to take his hands in mine. I led us through a relaxation and pillar-of-light visualization that I do for all my clients prior to a reading. Usually, after I’ve finished with visualization, I release my hands, we both sit back, and within a minute the Spirits approach slowly, and begin the communication. But this case – this case was different.

I’d barely begun the pillar-of-light visualization when one set of parents slid into place along my right arm and Paul’s left arm, still joined at our hands. Suddenly, another set of parents slid into place to my left, facing the first set of parents. It was as though we were at a card table, all facing in. I was still talking Paul through the visualization, even as I was observing these two sets of parents taking their seat at the table, so to speak. As I was finishing the visualization, the two parents reached across and through our hands, and joined hands themselves. Imagine if you will, six pairs of hands joined across the table, energetically merging. Clearly, this was going to be a very special reading.

I finished the introductory visualization, and explained to Paul what had just happened. Before Paul could say anything in response, the woman to my right identified herself as his birth mother, and  began speaking.

“It was a pact, Paul,” she said. “A pact, or agreement, that we all made prior to your birth.” When she said “all,” she waved her arm in an arc to include his adoptive parents, Paul himself, and she and her husband, the biological father. “It was a part of your life plan that we all agreed to—I and my husband agreed to conceive you, and then to give you up for adoption. Your adoptive parents across from us agreed to adopt you and to provide you the life situation that they did, a life situation that you sought. Of course, on the Earth plane, we forget this agreement, but our souls do not, and so we are driven toward these decisions, despite the grief and sadness that we are left with. Let me say however, that it has been such an amazing relief—and I speak for myself now—to have the opportunity here (on the Other Side) to meet your adoptive parents again with my husband, and to share our experiences. To know that the sadness I felt at giving you up was balanced by the immeasurable joy your adoptive mother and father experienced reminded me once again, why I agreed to it. Much of my life plan was about personal loss in this lifetime, and about finding the courage to work through it, to move through it, and to continue to thrive for the sake of my other children. It was a very difficult life for a variety of reasons, and yet when I see now how the gains balanced the losses, I understand it, and am able to release the sadness and guilt I carried with me for so many years.”

I paused as Paul let this sink in. His biological father spoke briefly of his role in the decision to give up Paul, and that he was motivated by practical reasons, but that later in life he would feel the regrets and the pain of loss rise up again and again. He said, “It helps to understand that I played the role that my soul agreed to, difficult as it was, and as my wife said, to see the wonderful life you’d been given by your new parents eased the difficult and lingering emotions around that decision.”

Next, Paul’s adoptive parents spoke. It turns out Paul’s adoptive father was the head of the county social services, where Paul’s biological mother gave birth to him. His father made sure that he would be well placed to receive Paul when it was time for him to be born, and he was! The adoption was handled directly and efficiently. His adoptive mother spoke of the joy they felt when Paul became their son, and no love could be greater than that which they felt for him. He had made them so proud. There were more lovely memories shared in this part of the reading, and Paul was taken back, albeit briefly, to his happy childhood.

The adoption was my idea?! Paul wanted to know why he, himself, would choose to be given up for adoption. Could they tell him that? So I asked the parents, and what came forward was a new aspect to pre-birth Life Planning that I had not understood up to this point myself.

A clipboard holding a checklist floated into view before me. I’m not sure who brought it forward – his biological parents or whether it came in from a Spirit Guide. Both sets of parents seemed to be privy to the information on the paper.

Paul’s biological mother spoke again, “Paul, in this lifetime, you wanted to explore the expression of familial love and bonds outside of genetics, outside of the biological stream, if you will. You wanted to know if you could flourish in the same way raised by those who were biologically unrelated to you. You were seeking to understand the nature of family and love, and what are the determining variables. It’s quite clear on your checklist.”

My attention was drawn again to the clipboard, upon which was a list of Paul’s life goals—goals that he had written for himself. There was a long list of goals that appeared in dark type; most of them had checks next to them, marking accomplishments. Near the bottom, however, was a dotted line, and below it were a few more items, but they were grayed out. His biological mother continued, “You see the items at the top were all part of your pre-birth Life Plan—as that of a child given up by us, and taken in by your adoptive parents. You’ll see key benchmarks in career, marriage, children – it’s all there. You have followed your life plan quite skillfully, Paul—better than most.”

Not all life goals are created equal:  She then pointed to the bottom of the page and said, “The two grayed-out items at the bottom of the page are those items that you did not want to include as pre-specified goals prior to being born on Earth. You wanted the flexibility to determine if each would be a goal or not–in real-time–while living your life on Earth. One of these items was to find your biological family. You didn’t want the insistence of your soul to do so; you wanted to let free will and circumstance lead you there—or not. So you see Paul, this is the reason that we, my husband and I, never told our children about you, or sought you out. Our souls knew it was to be your decision, and we had no right to take that from you. As hard as it was at times to not seek you out, to learn how your life was unfolding, we did not break our pact with you, because we knew in our hearts that we should not.  I hope that you can understand and appreciate this fact.”

At this, Paul nodded. He seemed to understand it completely. The two sets of parents then showered Paul with love, and pulled back (or rather floated back) from the table, allowing other Spirits who were waiting to greet Paul to step in, and the reading proceeded as any other.

The Adoption Pact: Because of the unique nature of the discussion of Paul’s Life Plan, and the “Pact” he had made with both sets of parents regarding his adoption, I asked him if I could share that part of the reading, so that other readers, who may be experiencing one side or another of an adoption may find comfort in this story.  Adoption is a part of so many families’ experience today, and yet the attendant emotions continue to be complex, sorrow- or guilt-ridden, or simply confusing in a culture that places a high value on knowing our roots, our family story, our biological lineage. No adoption is like the next, and yet all adoptions may share the common event of a pact between all parties prior to life here on Earth.

Once again, we are reminded that we, as individuals, are the architects of our own Life Plans. We have a voice in all significant events that will occur in our lives, the goal being our soul’s continued growth and evolution. So when life seems really hard, or throws that unexpected curve ball, take a moment to reflect and to assess the learning that is happening. In quiet meditation, ask your soul, your higher self, why you have been put in this situation, and how it will serve you though the rest of your life? The answers are there, you just need to listen for Whispers from the Light…

Do you have a story of adoption to share, a story of love, or courage or learning that was possible because of an adoption? Please feel free to comment below.

With Love and Light ~ Renee Buck


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Exploring the Mystery of Parallel Lives

Posted in Life Plan, Our Life between Lives, Soul's Journey, Spirits' Creative Methods of Communication, tagged , , on March 10, 2012| 3 Comments »

How many of you have seen the new TV drama “Awake” starring British Actor Jason Isaac? It’s a story about a homicide detective who lives in parallel realities. The story begins with a car accident involving himself, his wife, and his teenage son. In one reality, his wife survives but his son does not. In the other reality, his son survives and his wife does not. He sees a therapist in both realities, who assure him that their reality is the only reality, and that the other is a dream.  Interesting premise, huh?

I’m thrilled to see one more mainstream drama explore more aspects of our multi-dimensional “reality.” I can’t say I’ve ever known or read about a soul who is aware on a daily basis of the two realities, but it’s a fascinating premise, and I look forward to see what the writers of the show bring us.

Or better yet, do you have a story of parallel realities to tell?

  • Have you ever had a vivid dream that revealed an ongoing thread of your life that was discontinued in your waking reality? Perhaps it was about a relationship that ended either by choice or by death. Is that person still in your life when dreaming, as if nothing had changed to end it?
  • Do you have a career that shifted from one path to another in your distant past, yet in your dream the path not taken is the reality?
  • In your dreams, do you live in another country or city with friends or family unknown to you in this waking life?
  • Do you connect with other realities in meditation, or other ways?
  • Have you had a hypnosis session that took you to a parallel life?

According to many who work in or study the metaphysical realm and the nature of a soul’s journey, parallel realities, and parallel lives occur for all of us. Seth (as channeled by Jane Roberts), Dr. Michael Newton, Dick Sutphen, and others describe the Universe and our activity within it, in such terms.

Were you a LOST fan? That drama also wove these concepts of multiple realities into the storyline, but didn’t ultimately provide very much explanation around the conclusion—so it was something of a learning opportunity LOST on us, so to speak.  No, life is not a TV drama, but the value of these programs is that they create an awareness of the possibility. They get people thinking, guessing, wondering about the metaphysics of our universe and their place in it. And wondering is the first step to exploring the possibilities—and that openness to a new understanding of our reality is important during this “age of enlightenment.”

Why? Because when we haven’t been introduced to a subject in a way that draws us in (like a TV drama or a movie), we dismiss windows to our other lives as “crazy dreams” and don’t think through what it might actually mean to us. So, let me share a few of my experiences, and perhaps one of them will jar an “aha” moment for you—a new way to understand what your soul is telling you or experiencing in parallel.

Can we really take both forks in the road? During most of my undergraduate years at the University of Minnesota, I was preparing for a career as a orthodontist. I completed the entire pre-med/pre-dent curriculum and took the Dental Admission Test (DAT) just before heading to Germany to study for a year (against my advisor’s advice—he must have known something I didn’t at the time). I knew that a study year abroad would not be possible once dental school started, so away I went, planning to apply when I got back. However…I had an epiphany of sorts while in Germany, and decided that I really wanted an international career; staring into people’s mouths my whole life suddenly sounded terribly uninviting to me. So, I returned to the U of MN, finished up my BA, and pursued an international career and graduate study in other fields.

Window to my parallel life? Twenty five years later, I had a very vivid dream, in which I sat for a reading with a psychic. She closed her eyes for a moment, holding my palm. She wasn’t really reading my palm, but rather seemed to be reading my energy, my aura. After a few minutes, she opened her eyes wide and said, “Oh, you have such a lovely life in London!”

“What? London? I don’t live in London,” I said.

“Why of course you do, dear. I see you’re a dentist, and quite well to do at that.” She sounded congratulatory.

“No, I was going to be a dentist, but –“

“Oh, and I see you have quite a handsome husband working in the finance world, and such pretty little girls. Oh, my. You’ve been quite blessed in this lifetime,” she said, as she patted my palm.

“No, really…I am not married. I have no children. I have never lived in London.” I objected.

“Oh yes, dear. It’s all very clear. You just don’t remember,” she smiled indulgently, as though speaking to a child. I don’t remember? As I was taking in this information, I woke up.  So, I never actually saw or experienced the alternate life I was apparently living in my dream, as the character in “Awake” does, and yet here was a “seer” in my dream describing my other reality—the potential reality, the probable life, I had rejected at the age of 23.

It was shortly after this dream that I read Seth Speaks, and learned about the potential for our souls to take both paths in the road, creating a new dimension of experience, so that we might learn from them both. Hmm….so was my dream just a dream, or a brief opening in the veil to another dimension in which I lived another life, or both? What do you think?

And what about Merle? In the fall of 2007, shortly after my mother passed into Spirit, I had a vivid dream in which she and my two siblings in Spirit, Susie and Merle, played a part. It was one of those dreams in which everything looks and feels very normal, nothing oddly out-of-place, no sense of the surreal—like watching a movie of one’s life. The dream begins with my front doorbell ringing. It was late afternoon in the dream, and as I came down the main staircase from the second floor, the sun was shining in the bay window of staircase landing and flowing into the front foyer.

I opened the door and there stood a tall, slender, attractive man about my age with sandy brown curly hair. He was wearing dress pants, a turtleneck sweater, and a brown tweed jacket with a leather collar and elbows. Behind him, I saw the car that dropped him off, and my sister Susie looked up at the house from the passenger seat. I ducked down to see the driver, and it was my mother. When they saw I had answered the door, they pulled the car into the driveway to park.

I looked back at the man before me, mystified.

“Nene,” he said softly, using my family nickname. “It’s me, Merle.”

“What? Merle? But you died years ago…”

“Well, yes and no,” he said. “I’ve been living in Sweden. I’m a professor there, in engineering research.”

“Really? You’re really Merle? Wha–?”

“Yeah, really. It’s really me,” he said and smiled. I knew that smile.

I pulled him by the arm into the foyer and we hugged each other tightly, the tears flowing. I pulled back and looked at him, “You got so tall. I always figured you’d be a tall man—and an engineer!” He laughed. I knew that laugh, and my heart felt full.

At that moment, my mother and my sister, Susie came up the porch stairs to the open front door. “Mom, it’s really Merle!” I said, only partly registering that both she and Susie had been dead and were also quite alive there on my doorstep. I hugged and kissed them both, and ushered them into my living room to catch up.

We began swapping stories of our lives…and then, I woke up.  It was one of those dreams you don’t want to end, and you try to get it back, for just a few minutes more, but there was no more.

I think of the dream often as I read more about parallel lives, and I wonder if Merle wanted to share his other reality with me, the “what if he’d lived ” story of Merle that I always wondered about, and sometimes talk about with my sister, Connie. Could he be living another reality in which he did not die at 14, but rather went on to pursue his love of mechanical and electrical systems? Did he become one more teacher in a family full of teachers? Could it be that I had become a married, London-based dentist with children in that reality? And were Mom and Susie still alive in that reality? If so, were they just visiting me in this reality? And why? Was it to help me understand the concepts that I was struggling to embrace as I read about parallel lives and probable lives? And if so, why is it important that I understand it? So that I can teach it to others—once I make sense of it?  Maybe.

Or maybe…it was just a dream, another opportunity for me to be with my Loved Ones in Spirit. It could be as simple as that. I won’t know for sure until I pass into Spirit, but it had all the qualities of a Spirit visit dream. Hmm…this does add a new meaning to the term, Spirit, doesn’t it? Maybe we don’t just die and go to The Other Side. Maybe we live out another reality elsewhere and still have a portion of our soul’s energy on The Other Side.

So the above discussion was about souls taking both forks in the road. Next, we’ll discuss another kind of parallel life, in which each life is separate and whole unto itself.

Parallel Lives Hypnosis:  Last summer, I attended the Annual Conference of the National Guild of Hypnotists. Dick Sutphen was presenting and is a fascinating lecturer. Dick has been researching and practicing mediumship, meditation and hypnotherapy in a variety of metaphysical areas for decades. I was looking forward to seeing what he would share with us on the topic of parallel lives. But the session was short, so he didn’t really tell us much. Rather, he took us into a deep hypnotic state which allowed us to briefly explore various parallel lives that our soul was living right now on Earth—lives completely separate from the current life. As I understand it, if our current life is not so emotionally and spiritually draining as to require all of our soul’s energy, we can learn more by dividing that energy into multiple parallel lives.

So here’s what I experienced in hypnosis.

Parallel life No. 1: I found myself in the body of a ten-year old girl in what felt like the Midwest. I was slender, yet nimble and athletic. It was summer and my skin was tanned. I wore shorts, a sleeveless plaid cotton top and sneakers. My hair was white blond and cut Cleopatra style. As I came into my body, I was crawling through a wooden ranch-style fence, and then continued walking through a field on some type of path—it might have been a cow or tractor path. It was a rural area. I didn’t see my house, but it was nearby. I was happy; I felt safe, and I loved being out in the sunshine, exploring on my own. Unfortunately, that was as much as I could discover before Dick pulled us back to our present life and then out again to another parallel life.

Parallel Life No. 2: In this lifetime, I found myself in the rather stout body of a 55-year-old French man, with thinning black hair and olive skin. I was a “man-servant” to the Lord of a wealthy country estate in France.  As I came into my body, I was looking out the window of my master’s bedroom. It was morning and the sun was shining. The mansion was in a rural setting, but with grand, spacious, well-tended gardens surrounding the home. I heard my master calling from the bathroom. I turned around to gather the clothing I’d selected for him for the day, thinking to myself, that I was glad that the only decisions I needed to make on a daily basis were around another person’s needs. I had been alone my entire life, and it suited me. Major responsibilities were things I avoided at all costs, and so I was very good at being indispensable to my master.

Now, it’s very strange for me to think that at this very moment in time, I’m a woman, a child, and a man in three areas of the world, with very different outlooks on life. If we are to believe this is possible, then what is my soul, my higher self, seeking from this tri-part experience? Is the little girl my insurance policy? Will she carry through on things I chose not to in my life as Renee? Is the French man-servant the antidote to taking on too much work-related responsibility in this life? What roles do they play for each other? Or is there no real relevance one to the other, that we in our limited awareness would be able to ascertain? It is a little weird that my name derives from the French male name, Rene, and that crawling through someone else’s fence isn’t something I’d think twice about as a kid, but I diverge…

Oh so many mind-expanding questions to explore… But I want to hear about you! Please, share your experiences and let’s get this conversation going.  What books or literature would you recommend for me and other readers to explore on this topic?

With love and light ~ Renee Buck

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The Story of Susie

Posted in Life Plan, Our Life between Lives, Soul's Journey, Spirits' Creative Methods of Communication, tagged , , , , , , on February 19, 2012| 12 Comments »

My sister, Susan Buck 1954-1973

I have been blessed to be born into a family whose genetic makeup allows for a comparatively advanced psychic experience. On the other hand, some might say I’ve been cursed to be born into a family where death seems to visit a little too often and a little too soon. Blessings and curses, gains and losses, gives and takes–life is a story of balance. Yes, we’ve lost plenty, but the silver lining in the storm clouds is that we’ve also been able to communicate across the veil in ways that ease our pain, and help us to know that our Loved Ones are still there when we need them.

So it’s perhaps no surprise that Spirit communication has been occurring in various ways for each of the members in my family for decades. Today, I’m going to talk about my sister, Susan, who died 39 years ago, and how she has actively communicated with us since her death.

Susie died in a car accident at age 18. She was on her way to work at sunrise on January 6th, 1973 and was hit head-on by a drunk driver who’d fallen asleep at the wheel. Susie died instantly. It came as a tremendous shock to our family, following so quickly on the heels of my brother’s death, just 16 months prior. I had just turned 14 at the time of Susie’s death, and once again, the various explanations for her death came from all sides.

The story of Susie’s passing holds a key message from Spirit, which manifested in quite a different manner than the 30+ years that we waited for brother Merle’s message to come through a Medium. (See Blog Post of 10/20/2011 – Merle’s Choice)

I was the last one to speak to my sister. The bedroom I’d shared with her was just off the dining room. The morning of her accident, I woke up at about 6:20am, and saw Susie sitting in the dark at the dining table. The light above the stove in the adjoining kitchen was the only illumination; her face was in shadow. An account of Sue’s passing and a visit from her Spirit is chronicled in my personal diary, written at age 14. The following are excerpts:

Diary Entry: Saturday, January 6, 1973

Sue is dead. I just can’t believe it. I just talked to her about 10-15 minutes before the accident. She was sitting on the dining room chair and I could see her as I looked out my door from my bed. This is what I said to her, if I remember right.

I turned around in bed and said to Sue, “Didn’t you even go to bed?”

“Yes, I’m just waiting to go to work,” said Sue.

“Oh,” I paused. “Hey Sue, are you going anywhere tonight? Cuz I need a ride home from roller skating.”

“I’m going out with Randy. You’ll have to find a ride from someone else,” she answered.

“Ok,” I said, and I turned over in bed and fell asleep until the doorbell rang…

After Susie’s accident, I kept thinking to myself, if only I’d gotten out of bed and talked with Sue; if I’d kept her just a little longer, she might have lived. Just a few seconds either way, and she’d still be alive. I was consumed with the idea that I could have made the difference. I believe it was this dark obsession that encouraged Susie’s Spirit to “explain” something to me about her death.

Diary Entry: January 30, 1973

I had a dream about Sue two nights ago. I slept in Sue’s bed that

My First Diary: 1972-1974

night, and I dreamed that I woke up, and the time was just about 6:00am, the time Sue was usually getting ready for work. And there was Sue, sitting on the floor between our beds. She was leaning on my bed, but staring at the clock [on the table between our beds].

When she turned to me, I said, “Sue!”

She gave me a weird, puzzled look, and then stared back at the clock again and said, “I’m not going to work today,” and then she smiled and looked at me. I smiled and agreed with her. Then I got up out of my bed and started crying, and hugging her.

Then she said, “Don’t.”

“Why?” I asked.

“Because you make me feel bad,” she said.

Then I asked her if I could cut a lock of her hair for me to keep, and she let me, but then said I took too much. After a while I asked her, “How much time do you have left?”

Sue looked at the clock again and said, “About three minutes.”

I asked, “Should I get Mom and Dad?” but then I thought for moment and said, “No, they’ll just feel bad all over again.”

By then, Sue was lying on my bed, and I was kneeling by her side. She began struggling and trying to fight off something. I held her…and she died. Time: 6:30am.

It was all so real, but it showed me that no matter where you are, when the time comes, there is nothing you can do. I can’t stop thinking about that dream, and about Sue and Merle….

As a 14 year old, I didn’t know how to frame a visit from Spirit. A “dream” was the only way I could describe it, but the “dream” was so vivid that it seemed more like a conscious experience than a dream, and consequently stayed with me my whole life. Only last year, while searching for some unrelated information, did I revisit this diary and find my original recounting of the “dream.” Whether a dream or a Spirit visit, or a Spirit visit within a dream, it doesn’t really matter – what matters is the message that Susie brought me: There is nothing I could have done to have prevented her passing. Whether in a car accident, or quietly resting on her own bed, it was her time to pass from the Earth plane, and back to her life on The Other Side.

Because I wasn’t willing to accept that “God’s will” or “God’s plan” led to Susie’s death, I didn’t know how to understand Susie’s message of predestined death. If it was not God’s will, then whose? Who determined that Susie should die on January 6th, 1973 at 6:30am? Who? It was this question to which I sought answers for decades, until I was finally introduced to the concept of Life Plans, and came to better understand the work that each soul does on The Other Side to architect his or her life on Earth—with loving guidance from Spiritual Advisors.

Susie’s Communications from The Other Side: Susie was just 11 months younger than my eldest sister, Connie. They grew up finishing each other’s sentences. Where Connie went, Susie followed. They shared a bedroom their entire lives until Connie married and moved out just three weeks before Susie’s accident. Their bond was immeasurable, and Connie’s sense of loss when Susie died was also immeasurable. But just as Susie appeared to me to explain that her death was inevitable, she’s never really left Connie’s side. Several times, in fact, Susie warned Connie when dangerous events were unfolding.

Connie and 3 yr old son, Lance

On a frigid cold January day in Minnesota in 1984, Connie’s 3 year old son opened the front door unnoticed and went out into the cold without a jacket. The heavy front door slid shut behind him. Connie had the vacuum running, and didn’t hear the door close. What she did hear, however, was a woman’s voice say, “Connie, it’s Lance! Connie, he’s outside and can’t get in! Hurry!” Connie stopped the vacuum and was looking around for her son, when she caught sight of him crying outside the front door, unable to reach the doorknob.  Connie knew then, without a doubt, that it had been Susie’s voice in her ear. It was Susie who had made sure no harm would come to her precious child.

And so it was and has always been. As Connie moved through the paces

of her life, Susie would make herself known at various times, warning Connie of impending or immediate events—sometimes pulling her out of sleep to take action. It was not until a few months ago, on my trip home to Minnesota, that I brought Susie through in a reading for Connie. It’s a funny thing about mediums; we prefer to do readings for people we know less well, so that we can be sure our own minds don’t get in the way. But this Christmas, Connie and I decided to sit for a formal reading to see how well it would go—to see if I could set aside my conscious thinking mind enough to be a clear channel for Spirit communication. And I’m so glad I did.

Now, it’s no surprise that Susie was the firstto speak, but she was also the

Susie in October 1972

primary speaker throughout the reading, and was clearly overseeing the order in which other Spirit visitors would communicate. Susie spent a lot of time providing a problem solving strategy for a situation in Connie’s life, and it was fascinating for both of us to learn from Susie in this way. What was especially fascinating for me, was the change I felt in Susie’s energy.  I remember Susie as a teenager—shy, sensitive, and silly at times. But when she came through as a Spirit entity, her energy was very focused and sophisticated; her message wise and measured. She was not in any way judgmental, but rather descriptive and helpful—traits of an evolved soul. Susie was her fully aware self, and had clearly opted for a short life here on Earth, so that she may serve others in a Spiritual capacity from The Other Side.

To feel Susie’s energy as a Spirit Guide, differentiated from the Earth self I remembered as her little sister, was special and enlightening for me. It was like meeting her for the first time, and in a way it was.

I asked Connie to comment on the experience, and she said this, “I knew Susie would be the first one to speak. She’s been with me all these years—of that I have no doubt. And it sounded like the Susie I knew. We shared everything, and it was always an equal exchange with us. She may have been more shy around others, but with me, she was her wise self, and I depended on her advice.  The reading was very emotional for me, but it was only because it really felt as though she was talking with me again. I’ve missed that so much.”

Susie has come through many various mediums to me over the past decade, and I’ve always relayed the messages to Connie, knowing how much they meant to her. But now, I know that I can bring Susie directly through my own mediumship, and that, my friends, is the greatest gift of all–for Connie and me both.

PS. Coincidentally, I was planning on posting this story yesterday, but it was a busy day, so I put it off. Then, last night I had another very vivid dream about Susie. In the dream, I was applying for a job as a foreign correspondent at a large international newspaper publisher, and Susie was there, working. I saw her from behind. She was standing at a desk, her hair held back from her face by a narrow ribbon—as she always used to wear it.  I went up to her, and said, “Sue! I thought you were dead.” She just kept working with the papers at her desk, and said over her shoulder to me, “No Renee, I’ve been here all this time…”

Do you have a communication from Spirit you’d like to share? Please do in the Comment Box below.

With love and light ~ Renee Buck

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Can Dreams Tell our Future?

Posted in Life Plan, Our Life between Lives, Spirits' Creative Methods of Communication, tagged , , , , , on February 2, 2012| 4 Comments »

Do you watch American Idol? I do. Wednesday night’s episode in Portland, Oregon was filled with great stories, but one in particular stood out for me. It had to do with a young female contestant named Brittany Zika, 21, who had a dream in which she was singing Gravity onstage with Sara Bareilles. In a synchronistic turn of fate, her mother presented her with two tickets for a sold-out Sara B. concert. While at the concert, Brittany held up a hastily scribbled cardboard sign asking Sara if she could sing that song with her. Wish granted. Before she knew it, she was on stage singing Gravity with her idol Sara Bareilles—just like in her dream.

So, the question is: Was it a prophetic dream—did Brittany see her future? Or was it a wish dream that Brittany manifested because she believed it was her destiny? We’ll never know for sure, but whichever the case, the energy was propelling her toward that event and she ran with it, ensuring her destiny.

Most people accept that dreams play a significant role in our mental and emotional health. But they can also provide a window to the future, a doorway to The Other Side, and a vehicle to travel to other places on dream-time jaunts. In today’s post, we’ll focus mostly on the Prophetic Dream, sometimes referred to as pre-cognitive dream. If you’ve had one, you know how powerful they can be!

I have adopted Sylvia Brown’s categorization of dreams, outlined in her Book of Dreams. I like it because it’s the simplest, clearest, and most comprehensive categorization I’ve found. She uses five basic categories to discuss dreams:

  • Prophetic –witnessing the future during sleep
  • Release—the subconscious working through fears, guilt, regrets, and confusion, often manifesting in recurring nightmares or disturbing dreams
  • Wish—the subconscious delivering in dreams what you most want; the trick to this analysis is to recognize what the objects or people in your dream represent to you in a figurative sense, not necessarily in a literal sense.
  • Information & Problem-Solving—Oftentimes, when faced with a big decision, we decide to “sleep on it” and inevitably we have a much clearer sense of the right path upon waking. What we generally don’t remember are the dreams in which we test each of the various possible paths before us, so we can make the decision in our waking lives with conviction.
  • Astral Visits—these include visits to The Other Side, to other planets or dimensions in our Universe, and even to parallel lives or past lives.

So, what is a Prophetic Dream? It’s a view into your most probable future via a dream. By that I mean that the cause and event continuum in your life and in those you touch is lining up in a way that will deliver a particular future. I don’t know why some people have or remember them more easily than others, but only a handful of people I have met recall them.

Why do we have these dreams? I believe two related but different phenomena lead to prophetic dreams:

  • Our Spirit Guides use our dreams to prepare us for a future event—to warn us, to prepare us emotionally, to stimulate us into action, or to help us relax about whether something will or will not happen.  I believe we only see what we are meant to see; that which is helpful to us in some way.
  • The higher self, or soul, allows selected information in one’s subconscious regarding the Life Plan (replete with images), to seep into dreams, for the very same reasons noted above.

I believe I’ve had numerous prophetic dreams in my life, but I can only prove three dreams were precognizant because of journal entries made about the dream prior to the event.  The first recorded dream revealed a work scenario that would occur over two years later in Japan, although

Dream

the dream provided no clue as to where in the world it was. The second dream put me in a graduate school classroom, that would come true a year later at MIT. The third one happened in real-time. It signaled a painful personal event occurring thousands of miles away, but also introduced me to my Spirit Guide, Brown Bear.  After this dream and the challenging reality that followed, I needed to know how and why these prophetic dreams were happening, and who was this mysterious man who appeared in my dream? A friend told me about the Spiritualist church nearby in Swampscott. “There are a lot of Mediums there. Perhaps someone can help you,” he said. He was right. That dream put me on the path to my own psychic and spiritual unfoldment, and directly on the path to becoming a Medium. A path, I might add, that has surprised no one more than me!

How can you tell if a dream is Prophetic? There is a special characteristic to these dreams. They are very clear and lucid, like watching a movie of one’s life. There is nothing surreal or strange happening in the dream. Everything and everyone in the dream seems quite normal. There’s a reason for that—they are!

So, is there a single destiny for each of us? It’s logical to think that if we can dream the future, then it’s already set, and we can’t change it. Not true. We always have free will, remember? So consider this:  each of us is undoubtedly having prophetic dreams about a variety of high-probability futures, but of course we only recall those that come true. The others become irrelevant. So, keep this fact in mind when reviewing your dreams. Is the energy there to take two equal but different paths? Or will others’ decisions and actions determine your final destiny? What do you think?

How is Déjà vu different from a Prophetic Dream? My understanding of the difference is that déjà vu is not a dream recall, but rather a soul memory.  On The Other Side, before we are born into a lifetime on Earth, we are given the opportunity to review scenes from our upcoming life, as we’ve planned it, on some type of video display. Now, these scenes represent life events that have a high probability of happening—and when they do, we have the feeling that “we’ve been there before.”  A prophetic dream, on the other hand, happens during our lives on Earth, but again, represent events that have a high probability of happening, i.e. the causal events are lining up in such a way as to ensure it. Now, could the déjà vu be a dream recall, but you just don’t remember that you dreamed it? Yes, it could be that, too.

So what can we take from these phenomena that’s useful? It’s simply this: if you have a series of déjà vu experiences, perhaps coupled with prophetic dreams (however trivial the contents), it’s a good sign that you’re “on track” according to your life plan. Now, not everyone is as psychically open, or remembers their dreams, so if you have neither, don’t worry, you can take some actions to improve your dream recall (see below).  And by the way, a better indication of not being on Plan is the feeling that you are not doing what you should be, or living where you should be, or working where you should be, and everything is difficult. But that’s a discussion for another day…

Here are some strategies to better remember your dreams:

  1. Buy a blank book and keep a dream journal. Keep it separate from any other journal you may have, and use only for dreams.
  2. Keep the journal and pen next to your bed.
  3. Set the intention to remember your dreams. Ask Spirit to help you.
  4. Record your dreams immediately when you wake up, so you don’t forget. Date them.
  5. Categorize your dreams as best you can. Try to do this each time you record your dreams; it will come more naturally over time. I recommend Sylvia Brown’s Book of Dreams for this.
  6. Analysis:  If the dream isn’t obviously meaningful to you, talk with someone who knows you well about your dream. They may provide insights that you miss.
  7. Get yourself a few dream symbol books, and use these to help you analyze your dreams. When you find a book you like, invite Spirit to use these same symbols while communicating with you. We use the same strategy in mediumship, and it works.
  8. Record your analysis as soon as possible after the dream, when you can still “feel” the dream.

Some dream analysis books I like:

  1. I had the Strangest Dream—The Dream’s Dictionary for the 21st Century by Kelly Sullivan Walden
  2. Dream Dictionary by Tony Crisp
  3. The Dream Book–Symbols for Self Understanding by Betty Bethards.

In a future post, we’ll talk about Astral Traveling while dreaming. It’s probably the most fascinating of the dream types, and I find them particularly illuminating when it comes to understanding Life Plans and the Soul’s Journey.

I’d love to hear about your prophetic dreams, and how they have impacted your life. How long is the gap between dream and event? Has it changed over time? Is there anything consistent in the theme, or style of the dream? Thanks for sharing!

~With love and light—Renee Buck

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Séance in the Whitehouse?

Posted in Our Life between Lives, Spirits' Creative Methods of Communication, tagged , , , , , on January 21, 2012| 4 Comments »

Yes, that’s right. One particularly well-documented case occurred during Abraham Lincoln’s presidency, when the President’s wife, Mary Todd Lincoln, invited a noted trance medium, Nettie Colburn Maynard, age 21, to hold a séance in the White House and to meet the President.

Abraham, Mary and their two surviving sons, Robert and Thomas "Tad" Lincoln. A photo of Willie, who died at age 11, is on the back wall.

The Lincolns, particularly Mary, sought comfort in such Spiritualist practices after losing two of their four sons to Spirit at very young ages. Their second son, Eddie, died at age 4 in 1848, and their third son, Willie, died in 1862 at age 11. Willie died during the Lincoln’s White House years, and it was a particularly difficult time for both parents. While Mrs. Lincoln was primarily interested in hearing from her sons in such séances, it was the President himself who benefited from strategic advice and encouragement from Spirit at a time when he most needed it—at the height of the Civil War. [Side Note: We all have a team of Spirit Masters, Teachers and Guides who follow us through our lives, guiding our actions, helping us to stay on Plan. In this instance, a Spirit by the name of Dr. Bamford apparently played a significant role in offering specific guidance, implicitly and explicitly, to Abraham Lincoln regarding his presidential career and decisionmaking.]

Now, it should be understood that Nettie Colburn Maynard worked as a trance medium, enabling Spirit to speak directly through her to the President. While in trance, Ms. Maynard was unaware of what had been said through her voice. The following is Ms. Maynard’s fascinating personal account of this experience, drawn from her book published in 1917, Was Abraham Lincoln a Spiritualist?: Or, Curious Revelations from the Life of a Trance Medium.

 I was led forward and presented. He stood before me, tall and kindly, with a smile on his face. Dropping his hand upon my head, he said, in a humorous tone, “So this is our ‘little Nettie’ is it, that we have heard so much about?” I could only smile and say, “Yes, sir,” like any school girl; when he kindly led me to an ottoman. Sitting down in a chair, the ottoman at his feet, he began asking me questions in a kindly way about my mediumship; and I think he must have thought me stupid, as my answers were little beyond a “Yes” and “No.” His manner, however, was genial and kind, and it was then suggested we form a circle. He said, “Well, how do you do it?” looking at me. Mr. Laurie came to the rescue, and said we had been accustomed to sit in a circle and join hands; but he did not think it would be necessary in this instance. While he was yet speaking, I lost all consciousness of my surroundings and passed under control [of spirit].

For more than an hour I was made to talk to him, and I learned from my friends afterward that it was upon matters that he seemed fully to understand, while they comprehended very little until that portion was reached that related to the forthcoming Emancipation Proclamation. He was charged with the utmost solemnity and force of manner not to abate the terms of its issue, and not to delay its enforcement as a law beyond the opening of the year; and he was assured that it was to be the crowning event of his administration and his life; and that while he was being counseled by strong parties to defer the enforcement of it, hoping to supplant it by other measures and to delay action, he must in no ways heed such counsel, but stand firm to his convictions and fearlessly perform the work and full the mission for which he had been raised up by an overruling Providence. Those present declared that they lost sight of the timid girl in the majesty of the utterance, the strength and force of the language, and the importance of that which was conveyed, and seemed to realize that some strong masculine spirit force was giving speech to almost divine commands. 

I shall never forget the scene around me when I regained consciousness. I was standing in front of Mr. Lincoln, and he was sitting back in his chair, with his arms folded upon his breast, looking intently at me. I stepped back, naturally confused at the situation – not remembering at once where I was; and glancing around the group, where perfect silence reigned. It took me a moment to remember my whereabouts.

A gentleman present then said in a low tone, “Mr. President, did you notice anything peculiar in the method of address?” Mr. Lincoln raised himself, as if shaking off his spell. He glanced quickly at the full-length portrait of Daniel Webster, that hung above the piano, and replied, ‘Yes, and it is very singular, very!” with a marked emphasis.

Mr. Somes said: “Mr. President, would it be improper for me to inquire whether there has been any pressure brought to bear upon you to defer the enforcement of the Proclamation?” To which the President replied: “Under these circumstances that question is perfectly proper, as we are all friends smiling upon the company. It is taking all my nerve and strength to withstand such a pressure.” At this point the gentlemen drew around him, and spoke together in low tones, Mr. Lincoln saying least of all. At last he turned to me, and laying his hand upon my head, uttered these words in a manner that I shall never forget: “My child, you possess a very singular gift; but that it is of God, I have no doubt. I thank you for coming here to-night. It is more important than perhaps any one present can understand. I must leave you all now; but I hope I shall see you again. He shook me kindly by the hand, bowed to the rest of the company, and was gone. We remained an hour longer, talking with Mrs. Lincoln and her friends, and then returned to Georgetown. Such was my first interview with Abraham Lincoln, and the memory of it is as clear and vivid as the evening on which it occurred.

It’s not surprising to me that President Lincoln should be attending his first, and perhaps only,  séance (whether out of curiosity or in efforts to please his wife, we’ll never know) and then be the one to receive such an evocative and powerful message from Spirit—not from his sons, as was expected, but rather from a Spirit Guide bearing a message of strength and encouragement that he needed at that moment in time.

I see it so often in this work. We believe we are going to have one experience or to hear from a particular person in Spirit about a particular topic, but Spirit, given the opportunity, turns it into something else altogether, and that something else turns out to be more important, more significant in the end than what was initially sought or hoped for by the Sitter. Why? Because Spirit has the big picture—they know our past; they see our future’s most probably path; they see the potential impact of future actions, and they do their best to communicate what we need to keep moving in the direction we’ve pre-determined we want to go in this lifetime.

That President Lincoln was asked by Spirit to not buckle under pressure and to maintain his resolve to not defer the Emancipation Proclamation may have ensured the history we know today. If he had not received this message, would he have deferred? And if he had deferred, what would that have meant to our divided country? How much longer would racial injustice have prevailed in this country? Who knows? We only know what happened, and by this account (corroborated by several others present) that Spirit found a way to the President of the United States at that most critical juncture in our country’s history.

I personally love the part in which President Lincoln says to Nettie, “My child, you possess a very singular gift; but that it is of God, I have no doubt.”  If you have read any accounts of Abraham Lincoln, you will find significant debate as to his religious leanings. Wikipedia offers this concise overview:

Historian Dr. Mark Noll states that “Lincoln never joined a church nor ever made a clear profession of standard Christian belief.”[6] During the White House years, however, he often did attend the New York Avenue Presbyterian Church, where the family pew he rented is marked by a plaque.[7] Noll agrees with biographer Jesse Fell that Lincoln rejected orthodox views. Lincoln did not believe in the divinity of Jesus, the Atonement, the infallibility of the Bible, miracles, or heaven and hell. Noll argues Lincoln was turned against organized Christianity by his experiences as a young man who saw how excessive emotion and bitter sectarian quarrels marked yearly camp meetings and the ministry of traveling preachers.[8]

The one aspect of his parents’ Calvinist religion that Lincoln apparently embraced wholeheartedly throughout his life was the “doctrine of necessity,” also known as predestination, determinism, or fatalism. It was almost always through these lenses that Lincoln assessed the meaning of the Civil War.

What is interesting in this overview of what Lincoln did or did not believe is that it closely mirrors the Spiritualist Philosophy. So, was Abraham Lincoln a Spiritualist? I’ll have to read Nettie Colburn Maynard’s book to see the conclusion she drew, but after what I’ve learned in my cursory research, I’d have to say, “Unlikely.” Attending a few séances does not a Spiritualist make, nor is Spirit Communication the domain of Spiritualism by any means. Now, would President Lincoln have found common Spiritual ground with Spiritualists and/or Universalists? Yes, he would have, but does it matter? He was guided by a strong ethical compass and deep Spiritual convictions. He allowed himself to be open-minded to all possibilities, and for that, and all that he was, we respect him as one of the greatest American Presidents of all time.

Life-sized bronze statue of Abraham Lincoln at Gettysburg National Military Park & Museum.

As an aside, last summer I had the opportunity to stop and visit the Gettysburg National Military Park and Museum situated near the Gettysburg battleground. As I walked up to the museum, I stopped to study a full-size bronze statue of Abraham Lincoln, sitting on a bench. It had been raining that morning, but everything had dried…except for one drop, which lay on his right cheek like a single tear. At first I thought it was part of the statue, because everything around the statue was dry, but when I looked closer, I could see that it was indeed water. I was touched by it, but not until I walked through the exhibit, choking back my own tears at display after display of human carnage and suffering, did I have even a glimmer of understanding of the depth of President Lincoln’s sorrow during his final years. Does he still shed a tear for the divisions in our world? For what we’ve lost due to misguided ideologies?

As I write this blog post, I can’t help but wonder if President Lincoln has elected to continue his work from Spirit with our living Presidents, guiding them to follow their hearts and minds, and to not buckle under political pressure when difficult decisions are necessary—as his Spirit Guide did for him. I am comforted by the idea that he may be watching over and guiding President Obama, who symbolizes for many of us, within a single soul, what the Civil War was all about.

Whew. That got a little heavy, didn’t it? You can’t talk about Abraham Lincoln without thinking of slavery, the Civil War and the powerful way in which President Lincoln’s beliefs and resulting decisions dramatically altered the course of history–our history.

As we send out our heartfelt gratitude to the Spirit of Abraham Lincoln, and come back to the present, an opportunity awaits. Have you ever wanted to participate in a Spirit Circle or Séance, but never had the occasion? Well, the good news is that the tradition of the Spiritualist Séance continues today. If you are in the Boston area and would like to participate in one, you have a chance in the near future to do so!

For the first time in over a decade, the Swampscott Church of Spiritualism is holding a public Victorian Séance on Saturday, February 18th, from 2:00-5:00pm. I’ll be there, leading one of the eight tables, so be sure to introduce yourself. And don’t delay–tickets are limited!

With Love and Light ~ Renee Buck

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