S: I feel ... peace ... (with a sigh) ... I am ready to go on now.
Before touching on the significance of Case 5 meeting his guide here, I want to mention this man's interpretation of the spirit world appearing as an ice palace. Further into the spirit world, my subjects will talk about seeing buildings and being in furnished rooms. The state of hypnosis by itself does not create these images. Logically, people should not be recalling such physical structures in a non-material world unless we consider these scenes of Earth's natural environment are intended to aid in the soul's transition and adjustment from a physical death. These sights have individual meaning for every soul communicating with me, all of whom are affected by their Earth experiences.
When the soul sees images in the spirit world which relate to places they have lived or visited on Earth, there is a reason. An unforgotten home, school, garden, mountain, or seashore are seen by souls because a benevolent spiritual force allows for terrestrial mirages to comfort us by their familiarity. Our planetary memories never die-they whisper forever into the soul-mind on the winds of mythical dreams just as images of the spirit world do so within the human mind.
I enjoy hearing from subjects about their first images of the spirit world. People may see fields of wildflowers, castle towers rising in the distance, or rainbows under an open sky when returning to this place of adoration after an absence. These first ethereal Earth scenes of the spirit world don't seem to change a great deal over a span of lives for the returning soul, although there is variety between client descriptions. I find that once a subject in trance continues further into the spirit world to describe the functional aspects of spiritual life, their comments become more uniform.
The case I have just reviewed could be described as a fairly unsettled spirit bonded closely to his soulmate, Maggie, who was left behind. There is no question that some souls do carry the negative baggage of a difficult past life longer than others, despite the calming influences of the spirit world. People tend to think all souls become omniscient at death. This is not completely true because adjustment periods vary. The time of soul adjustment depends upon the circumstances of death, attachments of each soul to the memories of the life just ended, and level of advancement.
I frequently hear anger during age-regression when a young life ends suddenly. Souls reentering the spirit world under these conditions are often bewildered and confused over leaving people they love without much warning. They are unprepared for death and some feel sad and deprived right after leaving their bodies.
If a soul has been traumatized by unfinished business, usually the first entity it sees right after death is its guide. These highly developed spiritual teachers are prepared to take the initial brunt of a soul's frustration following an untimely death. Case 5 will eventually make a healthy adjustment to the spirit world by allowing his guide to assist him during the balance of his incoming trip.
However, I have found our guides do not encourage the complete working out of thought disorders at the spiritual gateway. There are more appropriate times and places for detailed reviews about karmic learning lessons involving life and death, which I will describe later. The guide in Case 5 offered a brief visualization of accelerated Earth time as a means of soothing this man about the future of his wife and children so he could continue on his journey with more acceptance.
Regardless of their state of mind right after death, my subjects are full of exclamations about rediscovered marvels of the spirit world. Usually, this feeling is combined with euphoria that all their worldly cares have been left behind, especially physical pain. Above all else, the spirit world represents a place of supreme quiescence to the traveling soul. Although it may at first appear we are alone immediately following death, we are not isolated or unaided. Unseen intelligent energy forces guide each of us through the gate.
New arrivals in the spirit world have little time to float around wondering where they are or what is going to happen to them next. Our guides and a number of soulmates and friends wait for us close to the gateway to provide recognition, affection, and the assurance we are all right. Actually, we feel their presence from the moment of death because much of our initial readjustment depends upon the influence of these kindly entities toward our returning soul.
3
Homecoming
SINCE encountering friendly spirits who meet us after death is so important, how do we recognize them? I find a general consensus of opinion among subjects in hypnosis about how souls look to each other in the spirit world. A soul may appear as a mass of energy, but apparently it is also possible for non-organic soul energy to display human characteristics. Souls often use their capacity to project former life forms when communicating with each other. Projecting a human life form is only one of an incalculable number of appearances which can be assumed by souls from their basic energy substance. Later on, in Chapter Six, I will discuss another feature of soul identity-the possession of a particular color aura.
Most of my subjects report the first person they see in the spirit world is their personal guide. However, after any life we can be met by a soulmate. Guides and soulmates are not the same. If a former relative or close friend appears to the incoming soul, their regular guide might be absent from the scene. I find that usually guides are somewhere in close proximity, monitoring the incomer's arrival in their own way. The soul in my next case has just come through the spiritual gateway and is met by an advanced entity who obviously has had close connections with the subject over a prolonged series of past lives. Although this soulmate entity is not my client's primary guide, he is there to welcome and provide loving encouragement for her.
Case 6
Dr. N: What do you see around you?
S: It's as if ... I'm drifting along on ... pure white sand ... which is shifting around me ... and I'm under a giant beach umbrella-with brightly colored panels-all vaporized, but banded together, too ...
Dr. N: Is anyone here to meet you?
S: (pause) I ... thought I was alone ... but ... (a long hesitation) in the distance ... uh ... light ... moving fast towards me ... oh, my gosh!
Dr. N: What is it?
S: (excitedly) Uncle Charlie! (loudly) Uncle Charlie, I'm over here!
Dr. N: Why does this particular person come to meet you first?
S: (in a preoccupied far-off voice) Uncle Charlie, I've missed you so much.
Dr. N: (I repeat my question)
S: Because, of all my relatives, I loved him more than anybody. He died when I was a child and I never got over it. (on a Nebraska farm in this subject's most immediate past life)
Dr. N: How do you know it's Uncle Charlie? Does he have features you recognize?
S: (subject is squirming with excitement in her chair) Sure, surejust as I remember him-jolly, kind, lovable-he is next to me. (chuckles)
Dr. N: What is so funny?
S: Uncle Charlie is just as fat as he used to be.
Dr. N: And what does he do next?
S: He is smiling and holding out his hand to me ...
Dr. N: Does this mean he has a body of some sort with hands?
S: (laughs) Well, yes and no. I'm floating around and so is he. It's ... in my mind ... he is showing all of himself to me ... and what I am most aware of... is his hand stretched out to me.
Dr. N: Why is he holding out his hand to you in a materialized way?
S: (pause) To ... comfort me ... to lead me ... further into the light.