Poetry rarely has spoken to my soul, thrilled me with insights, or caused me to sigh. While Rumi and Hafiz have inspired generations of mystics, I’ve sadly been excluded from the club. The last book of poetry I purchased was by Rod McKuen, circa 1970. So it was highly unusual for a poem on my Facebook timeline to grab my attention enough to make me order the book. And I’m so glad I did.
The book is entitled SUSCEPTIBLE TO LIGHT and the poet is CHELAN HARKIN. A sparkling delight in the Divine chimes through the pages, filled with awareness of how much we are missing. Here’s an example:
YOUR OWN DAMN JOY
The price of admission
into heaven
is your own damn joy.
Please stop denying yourself this
and please stop telling yourself
you’ll only (maybe) get there when you die—-
go there now!
What kind of damn fool
puts off heaven?
Child, it lives in the center of your heart
that endless meadow of happiness and praise.
This world needs you to go there now
to do your part in turning it
into a paradise.
Harkin celebrates the natural world designed by a loving Mother/Father Creator who is shouting at us to look around and revel in the marvelous Universe. She wiggles heavenly hips, serves up buttery potatoes, opens petals to the light. She sees the tragedy of an obtuse humanity and reveals the simple solution.
THE WORST THING
The worst thing we ever did
was put God in the sky
out of reach,
pulling the divinity
from the leaf,
sifting out the holy from our bones,
insisting God isn’t bursting dazzlement through everything
we’ve made
a hard commitment to see as ordinary,
stripping the sacred from everywhere
to put in a cloud man elsewhere,
prying closeness from your heart.
The worst thing we ever did
was take the dance and the song
out of prayer
made it sit up straight
and cross its legs
removed it of rejoicing
wiped clean its hip sway,
its questions,
its ecstatic yowl,
its tears.
The worst thing we ever did is pretend God isn’t the easiest thing
in this universe
available to every soul
in every breath
Who is this Chelan Harkin? An Internet search pops up her Inner Spirit Hypnotherapy website, where she offers her healing services as a hypnotherapist. Her Facebook pages place her in Washington state and show precious photos of her year old daughter. Her popularity as a poet is obviously on the rise, I suspect largely through WOM (word-of-mouth), which is the very best kind of publicity. She’s maxed out her personal page at 5,000 friends and has migrated to her Chelan Harkin Poetry page.
SUSCEPTIBLE TO LIGHT appears to be self-published, with a second book coming out soon. I expect Ms. Harkin will soon have mainstream media knocking at her door. At a time when the world is coming out of darkness and gloom, Harkin offers an exuberant clarion call to celebrate life, love, and all creation.
It’s been a few thousand years since the Greek philosopher and historian, Plato, mentioned the lost civilization of Atlantis. Was it an actual place or merely fiction? It seems today, more than ever, Atlantis piques curiosity and fascination. Coupled with that is the emergence of interest in the lost continent of Lemuria. This month GAIA talk show host, Regina Meredith (OPEN MINDS), featured A Hynotist’s Journey to Atlantis: Eye Witness Accounts of Our Ancient History by Sarah Breskman Cosme as the Book Club choice at ReginaMeredith.com.
Sarah Beskman Cosme is a past life regressionist, having studied with Dr. Brian Weiss and Delores Cannon. Working to earn her certification in the Quantum Healing Hypnosis Technique, (QHHT), she asked a casual friend, Jen Sullivan, to be her hypnosis subject. Jen, a journalist by profession, had never been interested in metaphysics or spirituality, but a sudden health challenge gave her the desire to explore QHHT. Jen’s initial session amazed them both when she revealed a long life begun in Lemuria and ending in the destruction of Atlantis. Sarah and Jen began a series of sessions, primarily focused on Jen’s life as a Lemurian ruler, taken prisoner by Atlanteans after they destroy her homeland.
The dialog format between therapist and client, reveals the cultures and histories of the ancient societies. Material for the book evolved over several years. As Sarah grew her regression practice, she discovered many clients revealed lifetimes in Atlantis or Lemuria. She weaves memories of others to broaden the insights offered by Jen’s recollections.
As Regina Meredith notes at the beginning of the Book Club video, past life memories are limited to the experiences of the clients in their lifetimes. They don’t suddenly become “all-knowing” once they have passed from the earth plane. So, getting a consensus of facts or timelines on Atlantis would require a compilation of hundreds, or perhaps, thousands of people’s past-life regressions.
Jen’s story could be turned into a novel. Her early life in the gentle matriarchal society of Lemuria, with her mother and grandmother in the royal residence; the short-lived romance; her daughter’s birth. Then come the deceitful Atlanteans, hoping to find a cure for the virus that is decimating their society. Her natural immunity and Lemurian telepathic gifts make her a target for the cold-hearted Atlanteans. Her long years as a prisoner in Atlantis gives us insights into a society focused on technology and achievement, with little compassion. Their destruction is a cautionary tale, to be sure.
In fact, Jen Sullivan has written an account of her story in her own book, which is on my TBR list. Indeed, after reading the Cosme book, I’m sure many will want to read expanded version in Child of the Universe.
The comparisons between ancient Atlantis and modern society are plentiful. Especially chilling is the experimental vaccine to override the virus that seems so successful at first, but leads to generational genetic deformities and anomalies. Perhaps another cautionary tale.
It’s a fascinating read, especially for those who feel the pull to Atlantis and Lemuria. Meredith has often featured guests who propose thousands of people now on the planet experienced past lives in those ancient cultures, often suffering from past-life trauma. This may be the era of healing. Or it may be another cycle of destruction. Humanity always has the choice.
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.
Laura Lynne Jackson
Jackson told her personal story in her first bookThe 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.
********
Moon madness and a meddling ghost bring together reluctant lovers in this tale of madcap magical realism. DEVIL MOON by Dana Taylor
Father Nathan Castle, O.P., has unusual dreams. Over the course of the past twenty years, he’s often dreamed of a stranger’s violent, sudden death. Does he awaken in a cold sweat, fear clawing at his throat? By all indications, the answer is no. Father Nathan sits up and captures the dream on a notepad before its memory fades. He knows another Night Visitor has come a-calling.
Father Nathan Castle
Nathan Castle became a Dominican priest in 1979. He earned his doctoral degree from the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, CA and has spent almost thirty years in campus ministries at both Stanford and Arizona State universities.
He is also a very gifted spirit communicator and has a special ministry to souls who have gotten “stuck” in their afterlife journey.
In AFTERLIFE INTERRUPTED: HELPING STUCK SOULS CROSS OVER, Father Nathan shares thirteen stories from his notes and memories of the over 250 souls who have reached out to him. Over the years, he has developed a routine. He receives a Night Visitor’s dream and later meets with a prayer partner to contact the Visitor and engage in a conversation. Beginning with a prayer of protection from an array of saints, Father Nathan invites the Night Visitor to enter his mind and use his body to communicate about the situation. While the words “channel” and “medium” are mostly avoided in the text due to the occultish baggage associated with them, those are precisely the right words for what transpires. Father Nathan, or his prayer partner, often Laura Dunham, channels the spirit to get to the heart of the matter. They initiate a counseling session for the dead.
AFTERLIFE INTERRUPTED is not your usual celebrity medium tell-all tale. Father Nathan doesn’t have his own reality show or fill Las Vegas lounges with curiosity seekers hoping to get a message from their departed Aunt Fanny. Instead, we hear a man of with deep and life-long Catholic Christian faith giving us a glimpse of his multidimensional world. Souls are brought to Father Nathan by their celestial guides when they are ready to move from a “stuck” place, to a higher level in the Afterlife.
Each chapter begins with the dream, a sudden unexpected death. A teenager drives his car off a bridge, drowning himself and three friends; a girl sneaks to the beach on the fateful day of the 2004 Indonesian tsunami; a young mother and her friend perish in a plane crash; a freak explosion maims and kills a young husband. And so the stories go. All of these people reject afterlife guides who come to escort them to the other side at the moment of death. They become stuck in a great Nowhere. Sometimes they are trapped in a recurring loop of the event.
By the time they enter Father Nathan’s dreams, they are ready to move on, but do not know how. Often the hindrance is lingering anger or guilt over their manner of death. Father Nathan or the prayer partner offers the Visitor another point of view. They facilitate release from negative emotions that snare souls in the Nowhere. From there, they ask a guide to come for them and take them to the Afterlife. The guide is often a friend or relative, but not necessarily. The most intriguing guide mentioned was President Dwight Eisenhower who showed up for a young man named after him.
This book gives tantalizing glimpses of a whole Afterlife society. After writing up the chosen stories, Father Nathan revisits each participant to get their permission to publish their stories. Therein lies the most fascinating sections of the book. Laura Dunham will ask, “How is your life going? What have you been doing since we last spoke?” Everyone is living and growing in their new realms.
I highly recommend purchasing the Audible version to actually hear Father Nathan, Laura Denham, and the other prayer partners performing the narration. What you will find is an insightful, authentic presentation of a multidimensional world. Humans live in this physical world and they continue living in a non-physical world. Communication between the dimensions is getting increasingly common.
What makes this book rise above the other mediumship books is the man himself, Father Nathan Castle. His foundation of faith and a life devoted to ministry is inspiring and encouraging in this chaotic world. Thank you, Father Nathan for sharing your gift with us.
“Miracle”–an effect or extraordinaryevent in thephysicalworldthatsurpassesallknownhuman or naturalpowersand is ascribed to a supernaturalcause; such an effect or eventmanifesting 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 Healingin 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.
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 Planand 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:
Physical illness
Parenting handicapped children
Deafness and blindness
Drug Addiction and alcoholism
Accidents
Miscarriage and abortion
Caring for a spouse
Homosexuality
Poverty
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.
by Dana Taylor
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.
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.