She Returned from Heaven to Help Others

Book Review by Dana Taylor

On the beautiful Niagara Falls evening of November 8, 2003, Dr. Yvonne Kason slipped on a piece of black ice and hit her head on the hard rock of the walkway. A flash of excruciating head pain quickly dissolved as she died. Her consciousness rose from her body and entered non-physical realms where she met her spiritual gurus and reviewed all her past lives.The tale of that Near Death Experience (NDE) would be riveting on its own. However, in Dr. Kason’s book, Soul Lessons from the Light, that story comes late in the book because it is the fifth NDE of her remarkable life.

Yvonne Kason was born and raised in Canada. Though her childhood included mystical experiences, she pursued a career as a medical doctor and planned to have a standard Family Practice when she graduated from medical school in 1977. Those plans were dramatically altered in 1979 when she survived a small plane crash on a medevac flight over the frozen wilds of northern Ontario. She had to escape the sinking plane and swim through frigid water in heavy clothing to reach a small sacred island, far from civilization. In that harrowing escapade, her consciousness slipped from her swimming body and watched the drama unfold, even as she also visited heavenly realms. That Near Death Experience eventually became the material for her book, A Farther Shore, published in 1994, and put her in the national limelight. Dr. Kason expanded her medical practice to counseling for people who struggled with Near Death or other Spiritually Transformative Experiences (STE’s), a phrase she coined that has been adopted into the common vernacular. She became a well-known speaker on talk shows, media interviews, and various conferences around the world.

While maintaining a high functioning professional life, Dr. Kason also developed a deeply devoted spiritual life through intense meditation practices and contemplative retreats. She experienced kundalini awakenings, visions, spiritual downloads, past life recall and pretty much all the clairs at one time or another. Thus, Soul Lessons from the Light is so much more than a spiritual memoir. It defines and explains a wide variety of mystical experiences. Chapter 10 lays out the abc’s of psychic/intuitive experience from “abstract intuition” to “UFO encounters.” Even though I’ve been studying mystical matters for decades, I had an ah-ha moment when I read her definition of a Kundalini Awakening and realized that was the name for something I experienced way back in 1983.

Because Dr. Kason has spent so many years helping people work through their life-changing spiritual experiences, she offers a perspective of professional guidance, even as she shares her very personal revelations.

Today, Dr. Kason is truly a walking miracle. For that 2003 fall on black ice caused a severe traumatic brain injury that left her disabled for thirteen years. The life she had carefully built, as a doctor, lecturer, author, and counselor completely disappeared. She struggled to perform basic physical and mental functions. Her income and ability to take care of her son became precarious. What she missed most was the ability to meditate and reach the blissful mental states she had known. Determination took her a long way toward recovery, but it was an eruption of liquid light in the center of her brain in 2016 during a meditation that healed her injury and allowed her to resume a high-powered life.

In 2020, she and Robert Bare, another NDE experiencer, were intuitively guided to co-found Spiritual Awakenings International (SAI), an organization dedicated to building a world-wide community of people who’ve had Spiritually Transformative Experiences. The SAI YouTube channel holds a growing library of fascinating people sharing their STE’s for the world to hear, often after decades of keeping their experiences a secret from family and friends for fear of being ridiculed or considered delusional. SAI’s third annual multi-speaker on-line conference is coming up on June 10-11, free to all (donations requested).

Soul Lessons from the Light opens the realms of heaven and earth for the spiritual seeker. As Dr. Kason says in her closing chapter:

Due to my personal experiences of multiple STE’s and miracles in my life, I know there is always hope for a better tomorrow. We must never lose hope. If we turn to the Higher Power in our hearts, the Divine hand might unexpectedly intervene, and invisibly reach out to offer assistance, healing, or guidance in our time of need.

Listen to Dr. Kason introduce her book and share the experience of her 2003 NDE at the Spiritual Awakenings International channel:

Find Soul Lessons from the Light at Amazon

Visit Spiritual Awakenings International

Near Death Experience to Akashic Records

“There is more to life than meets the eye.” That’s the message Rev. Dr. Norma Edwards received for the world during her near-death experience at the age of 26. Now at age 80 she shares a lifetime of joy, pain, and spiritual wisdom in her autobiography, AWAKENING. Last month I happened to watch a Zoom presentation sponsored by a NDE group in Hawaii featuring Dr. Norma. The two hours went by quickly as she related not only her NDE, but also the insights into a life-long spiritual journey and destiny.

Born in Guyana, South America, her childhood was limited in worldly wealth, but filled with foundational influences of faith and integrity. Her father was a teacher who expected excellence in his daughter. Married by twenty, she and her husband took their infant child to London to pursue education and careers. The NDE at twenty-six fundamentally changed her, including the ability to then see auric colors of humans and music. A glimpse of her Akashic Records and several past lives took years to process. AWAKENING relates in an easy-read narrative all the milestones and miracles of her amazing life. Ultimately, she spent 27 years as a prison chaplain, teaching practical spirituality to thousands of American inmates.

Dr. Norma has risen to the level of wisdom keeper. AWAKENING is an inspiring tale for anyone interested in spiritual growth.

Discover Revelations in the Akashic Records

by Dana Taylor

I’ve recently been nudged into returning to accessing the Akashic Records in my daily meditations. My friend, Helen Nibs of Ripples of Light, recommended reading the instructive book, How To Read the Akashic Records by Linda Howe. Spiritual development is an ongoing process. Howe’s book is a very good instruction manual for understanding the Akashic Records. She outlines steps for accessing the Masters, Teachers and Loved Ones charged with overseeing the Records, both for yourself and others.
I’ve delved into the records before, but it’s been a while. You can read previous posts here. On occasion I have turned to Helen for in-depth readings when faced with important life questions and decisions. The insights gained in those sessions have been illuminating. The Akashic Guides have a bigger perspective of our past experience, relationships, and future possibilities. Surprising insights to personal issues can bring breakthroughs. Past life connections often have tangible effects on the current life experience. Most recently I’ve been bothered with neck and arm discomfort, with nerve tingling in my right hand. It started last winter when I made the move to a much colder climate. I’ve done many things to address the issue—new pillow, buying a muscle gun, acupuncture, swimming and hot tub. Those things all helped. But, Helen provided the missing piece of my puzzle.
After reading Howe’s book, we decided to practice reading each other’s Akashic Records, though she is far more experienced and intuitive, than I. I asked her about a certain relationship. She saw us is an incarnation in Roman times.
She asked me, “Do you have a scar on your right arm? Are you worried about losing the use of your right hand?”
Surprised by the question, because I hadn’t asked about my arm, I replied, “Well, yes, lately, with all this tingling stuff that’s been going on.” Then I told her about my neck and arm.
She said, “I see you as an old man in a village that Roman soldiers were taking over. You ran out yelling at them. A soldier swiped at you with his sword and wounded your right arm. It didn’t heal well and you lost a lot of use of the hand and arm.”
That was an “ah-ha moment.” I know from reading and observation that past life health issues can suddenly materialize “out of nowhere” when a person reaches the approximate age that something significant occurred in another incarnation. Since Helen’s insight, I’ve worked on healing that past life experience in various ways during my meditations. My hand and arm are markedly better.

Life Purpose Revealed

One morning I opened the records and received a key insight through a vision and download of information. I saw many people in a foggy place. Children were the most visible, but a crowd of people beyond them kept going and disappeared into the fog.
Who are they? I thought.
Those are all your children, came the reply. Your main purpose in this incarnation has been to be a mother figure. Your influence goes beyond what you can see. You have not understood the value of this purpose, but it is significant.
Another Ah-Ha Moment. I was a young woman of the 60’s and 70’s in the United States, influenced by the women’s liberation movement. I wanted to be Mary Richards from The Mary Tyler Moore Show. An independent career woman. I loved the That Girl moment with Marlo Thomas. In college I embraced books like Betty Freidan’s Feminine Mystic and The Female Eunuch by Germaine Greer.
My generation was supposed to change the world with exciting careers. Being “just a wife and mother” was a cop out, a fallback life for the weak and timid. So, even though I’ve had a lovely life, I’ve carried sense of failure for not breaking a glass ceiling or winning a seat in the good old boy’s club. I’ve mainly been, well, “just a wife and mother,” though I’ve written books, had jobs, and led organizations.
That moment in the Akashic Records changed my point of view. Being a strong mother is no small accomplishment and, frankly, has brought me my greatest joy. At this point in my life, I have two daughters and seven grandchildren. They give me purpose and and immeasurable happiness. Today our toddler, Caleb, helped me water plants and harvest tomatoes and cucumbers. Is there anything more precious than those moments? No.
“Nina” and Caleb
Beyond my personal clan, I’ve been “Mother T” to a prisoner in the California system for almost 20 years. Though we’ve never met or spoken, I’ve maintained a pen-pal relationship with a three-strikes-and-you’re-out drug offender, Russ. By encouraging him to live his best life, even incarcerated, there’s been a positive ripple effect to other prisoners, as Russ has gotten correspondent college degrees and leads 12-step groups.
Wherever I’ve worked, volunteered, or opened my time and energy to healing energy clients, I’ve been a mother hen. It’s just my way. With the insight of the Guides, I now see that trait as my core life purpose. So, I am not a failed feminist after all. Indeed, being a strong, nurturing mother is a role to embrace. Of course, being a CEO or President of the United States would be good. But embracing the Divine Feminine is something to celebrate and explore too.
We all need to follow our best life paths. Accessing the Akashic Records can bring personal transformation and insights. Get started for yourself by reading Linda Howe’s How to Read the Akashic Records and discover the immense help and wealth of information available to you. Find those amazing Ah-Ha Moments.

Bright Blessings,

Dana

Delight in the Divine with Chelan Harkin

Book Review by Dana Taylor

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.

Purchase Susceptible to Light at Amazon

art by Sokal Selmani, Image shared from The Cosmic Dancer

Lessons from Atlantis

Book Review by Dana Taylor

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.

A Hypnotist’s Journey to Atlantis and A Child of the Universe are available at Amazon. Here is an interview between Regina Meredith and Sarah Breskman Cosme on YouTube for more information.

Signs From the Other Side

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.

Laura Lynne Jackson

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