Book Review by Dana Taylor

Book Review by Dana Taylor
Book Review by Dana Taylor
About three weeks after my Dad died, strange things began to happen. The door bell went haywire, going off by itself with mangled noises. Twice, my husband and I heard something crashing in another room and ran to investigate. Nothing. One night we heard a definite knock, knock, knock on the back window. No one there. We began laughing about it. Seemed like Dad was letting us know he was still around. We lived in his house for a couple more years and I felt him guiding me through home repairs. His visits in my life receded after I sold the house.
My husband died in a car accident in 2013, but made his presence known through psychic friends with several messages. He said a final goodbye to me in one early morning visitation that I recalled in the post Grace in Grief: Six Months After My Husband’s Passing.
I’ve learned through personal experience that loved ones continue living in another dimension. Many times they find ways to communicate with people left behind. Psychic medium Laura Lynne Jackson explores various methods of those communications. From the annals of her case histories, she weaves together compelling narratives in her latest book, SIGNS: THE SECRET LANGUAGE OF THE UNIVERSE.
Jackson told her personal story in her first book The Light Between Us. (See my review here.) She comes across as a credible, caring person using her gift to help alleviate pain and confusion of grieving people. Her spot-on readings have made her a popular guest on television shows and workshop panels.
Each chapter in SIGNS relates an individual story of how a crossed over person finds a way to keep in touch. People find coins, receive messages on cell phones, have animal encounters, see rainbows, hear songs on the radio, the list goes on. From the book overview:
There’s the lost child who appears to his mother as a deer that approaches her unhesitatingly at a highway rest stop; the name written on a dollar bill that lets a terrified wife know her husband will be okay; the Elvis Presley song that arrives at the exact moment of Jackson’s own father’s passing.”
The point of the signs is to offer and comfort. They are a way of saying, “I’m still around. I’m fine. I love you.” Sometimes they are a mean, “I’m sorry,” “I forgive you,” or “Move on with your life.” Certainly, a major takeaway from the book is the realization that death is a passage, not a tragedy.
Jackson also refers to everyone’s Team of Light. It isn’t just loved ones leaving signs, but guardian angels and guides. A sign may also be an idea that came from “nowhere” or a dream. I found Chapter 29: Surrender the most compelling. In it Jackson relates the details of daughter’s mysterious illness over a three year period. Ultimately, information and prods from her Team of Light guide her to the right doctors and treatments. It’s certainly a cautionary tale about the vaccine Gardasil.
In this era when so many people are crossing over, SIGNS is a comforting reminder that death is only a transition and love never ends.
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Moon madness and a meddling ghost bring together reluctant lovers in this tale of madcap magical realism. DEVIL MOON by Dana Taylor
Book Review by Dana Taylor
Father Nathan Castle
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by Dana Taylor
“Miracle”–an effect or extraordinary event in the physical world that surpasses all known human or natural powers and is ascribed to a supernatural cause; such an effect or event manifesting or considered as a work of God.
“For those who believe, no explanation is necessary. For those who do not believe, no explanation is possible.” from The Song of Bernadette by Franz Werfel
Since 2005 I’ve been puzzling the mystery of miraculous healings, when one of my closest friends, Paula, overcame an “incurable” disease, Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy (RSD), via two Reiki treatments. It took us many months to accept her healing had truly taken place. Eventually the word “miracle” was bandied about. (Read either of my Supernal Series books to get the full story.) Was it truly a miracle? Something beyond human ability to replicate? What if we had stumbled upon a valid, alternative approach to health and wellness? What if we were simply ignorant of the principles behind what we deemed a “miracle”? Perhaps we were like 17th century humans who have considered electricity, air travel, and antibiotics “miracles.” I’ve been studying “miracles” ever since.
So, of course, I couldn’t resist a book entitled Miracles from Heaven: A Little Girl, Her Journey to Heaven, and Her Amazing Story of Healing in the bargain books on a recent visit to Barnes and Noble. Written by Texas resident, Christy Wilson Beam, Miracles from Heaven, relates the difficult and inspiring story of Christy Beam’s daughter, Annabel. As the subtitle reveals, Annabel had been a chronically ill little girl for most of her life when she took a head first thirty-foot fall into the center of a hollowed-out cottonwood tree. While her parents, sisters, neighbors and emergency crews worked on rescuing her, she was transported to another dimension and sat on the lap of Jesus.
Christy Beam and her editors do a deft job of weaving the day of the fall and trauma with the back story of Anna’s debilitating illness. Christy and Kevin Beam live in the “silver buckle of the Bible Belt” in Burleson, Texas. Kevin is a veterinarian, Christy a stay-at-home mom with three daughters, Abbie, Annabel, and Adelynn. They were the perfect Baptist poster family until Annabel was struck with a disorder that prevented her from digesting food. Their journey through emergencies, surgeries, specialists, and vigilant monitoring is revealed, but not belabored. The resilience of little Annabel is inspiring, as is the unity of the Christian family that strives for joy and gratitude in all circumstances.
I don’t think it’s a spoiler to tell you Annabel not only survived the fall, but that she emerged completely healed of her illness. The book is written well enough with engaging personalities that knowing the happy ending is coming doesn’t take away from the reading experience.
This healing is reminiscent of Anita Moorjani’s book, Dying to Be Me. (See The Gift of Cancer.) Both books relate near-death experiences followed by complete healings of chronic conditions. These things happen. They fall far outside modern medical models. Double blind studies are impossible. They can’t be replicated by drugs, surgeries, or protocols.
Yet, there are lessons to be learned. Simply being opened to the possibility of improvement may be a first step. The Beam family maintained a deep, abiding Christian faith that got them through the toughest of times. After seven years of dealing with RSD, my friend, Paula, had been told by her doctors that her options were finished. She should go home, get her affairs in order, and prepare to deteriorate and die. When I suggested a visit to Oklahoma and a few Reiki treatments, she could have rejected the idea in resignation and despair. Instead, she reached out to a branch of hope. She didn’t expect a healing, but perhaps some relief from pain. Instead, she received the “miracle.”
One thing receivers of miracles seem to have in common–they reach out to others with compassion and generosity of spirit. Annabel is noted for her kindness and hopes to work with chronically ill children. Anita Moorjani travels the world speaking on spirituality and self-acceptance. Paula is always helping others less fortunate than herself.
Miracles have a ripple effect. At this point, I can only say, be open to “miracles” and when they happen, don’t ignore them. Miracles are a second chance at getting life right. Live with joy, gratitude and compassionate action. Maybe we can all become miracle workers.
Bright Blessings,
Dana Taylor
by Dana Taylor
A fascinating concept emerging from the New Age is the idea of Pre-Life Planning. I’m not sure where it started, perhaps with the life-between-life hypnosis discoveries and subsequent books of Dr. Michael Newton (Journey of Souls; Destiny of Souls). But esoteric thinkers are increasingly buying into the idea that WE SIGNED UP FOR THIS.
That’s right. Abusive parents, birth defects, gaslighting relationships, chronic disease might have been your challenge of choice. On the bright side, unique talents, loving relationships, and amazing opportunities might have also been on the menu.
Author Robert Schwartz must have put Revealing Pre-Life Planning to the World in his life plan, because that appears to be his life mission. His two books Your Soul’s Plan and Your Soul’s Gift are the result of in-depth interviews with a variety of people he chose to personify various life-theme scenarios.
Schwartz targets a range of human experience challenges, to name a few:
Schwartz also assembled a four-person team of mediums and trance-channels to access multidimensional information. Deborah DeBari, Staci Wells, Corbie Mitleid, and Glenna Dietrich each offer a unique vantage with their psychic gifts. Staci Wells stands out with her ability to relay the details of pre-life planning sessions, where incarnating souls meet in an other worldly room with their guides and prospective key people who will take on significant roles in their lives—family, mates, lovers, and even enemies.
These books present a universe where people reincarnate again and again on earth (and other planets) to promote their soul growth. Prior to birth, they confer with guides to map out target areas for soul growth, which may include a variety of challenges. More advanced souls may focus less on life challenges and more on life purpose. The main point is that everyone is responsible for the circumstances of their lives. The concept of pre-life planning strips away victim mentality, bad luck, or even divine retribution. In Schwartz’ world, every one not only plays the cards they are dealt in life, they have stacked the deck and are the dealers.
People often incarnate repeatedly, working out old karma and trying to “get it right.” Souls with timeless history together work out scenarios for mutual soul growth. For instance, in the chapter on homosexuality, three souls decide on roles as closeted husband, wife, and best friend/eventual lover for a multitude of reasons that will serve them all as their drama unfolds.
These books include in depth channeled, analysis about how people can learn and evolve through the various challenges presented, whether it be incest, addiction, violence, illness and beyond.
CAN PETS BE PART OF THE PRE-LIFE PLAN?
If there is a “fun” chapter in these books, it is the one on pets. Schwartz interviewed Marcia DeRuse, a middle-aged woman, whose life challenge centered on being a dwarf. Throughout her life, a variety of animals were her friends and companions. The personalities of a horse, dog, cat and, even chicken, come through during the sessions. As it turns out, they each were indeed part of the pre-life plan. Most had known Marcia in a previous life when they were all a part of a circus together. The animals were always animals. In the circus life the horse had been an elephant. All of the animals expressed great love for Marcia and wanted to help her get through the journey of this lifetime where she would be a dwarf.
IS EVERYTHING PREDETERMINED?
The question arises: is everything in our lives mapped out? Do we have any choices or are events and relationships predetermined? The material makes it clear, scenarios are set up, but earth is a free-choice planet. Certain relationships may be arranged, like an abusive father to son. But how it will all play out is decided by the actors in the parts. In other words, life is improvised, not scripted. We are given a set of circumstances and a character to play, but we make it up as we go.
When I read the first book, Your Soul’s Plan, I thought it a bit too neat. Everyone in that book managed to overcome their big life challenge and come to a higher consciousness and sense of peace. Looking around at some people I’ve observed in real life, it’s not always so triumphant. We all know people who sank into the depths of addiction or died in sad bitterness. Your Soul’s Gift is more sophisticated. Not every relationship is HEA. Some people plan challenges that don’t go well. Case in point is the woman who chose an abusive husband thinking she could bring out the best in him, but it didn’t happen. Her guides, and even the man himself, expressed doubts about the outcome of the relationship in the pre-life planning session, but she insisted she wanted to go with the scenario. She learned her lesson, but it wasn’t the one she had hoped for.
So, the takeaway from these books, is we are each responsible for the relationships and events in our lives. We set up certain parameters before birth. Our reactions, choices, and emotional responses drive the course of unfolding events. Ultimately, it isn’t our circumstances, but our sense of peace and self-worth that determine whether we have triumphed over life challenges.
The old adage is true, Life is what you make it.
For more information on Robert Schwartz, visit his website, Your Soul’s Plan.
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