Out of the Psychic Closet

PSYCHIC CLOSETWINS A SHARP WRIT AWARD

2012-01-06T14:54:00.000-08:00

OUT OF THE PSYCHIC CLOSET A THREE-TIME WINNER

Out of the Psychic Closet won second place in nonfiction in the 2011 Sharp Writ Awards. The awards just released by Smart Book Lovers are sponsored in part by Mensa International, book-awards.org. The book, by author Toby Fesler Heathcotte of Glendale, AZ, has won two other awards of excellence this past year. It was a Global Ebook finalist in nonfiction and a finalist in the EPIC ebook competition.

Out of the Psychic Closet: The Quest to Trust My True Nature is a self-help handbook in two parts that will show the reader how to step out of the psychic closet, to rise above anxiety and distrust, and to incorporate psychic abilities into a more honest model of personal reality. The first part narrates the author's psychic experiences. The second part details scientific research, historical background, and previously unpublished anecdotes of the paranormal. The second part also includes print and web resources.

Out of the Psychic Closet, published by Twilight Times Books, is available for sale in multiple ebook formats as well as in paperback on Amazon.com and bn.com. Look for further information in the media kit at tobyheathcotte.com.

Healing in Dreams

2011-12-10T07:06:00.000-08:00

People have asked for healing dreams as far back as written records. Results came in dreams to the ancient Egyptians. Aristotle spoke of them in early Greece. From those days until now, sick people have wanted to experience a healing dream and believed it could happen.

Our minds affect our bodies, as demonstrated in modern times by hypnosis and biofeedback where patients modify their blood pressure, dissolve warts, stop the growth of cancerous cells, among other changes.

Scientific experiments have proven the placebo effect works, that is, one third of the time patients get well when they only take sugar pills rather than medication. Unfortunately the reverse happens too, and a person can sicken from the belief that he has been poisoned when he has not been. This is why curses sometimes work or why a patient dies from a misdiagnosis or from the doctor's statement that no one can recover from such an ailment.

There are three types of healing dreams:

First, dreams that show a problem developing in the dreamer's physical body. For example, a woman dreams she buys a pair of shoes that are mismatched; one has a flat heel the other a three-inch spike. Later she learns her shoes have caused her hip pain.

Second, dreams that prescribe a medicine, foods, or other regimen. For example, a man with painful dry eye dreams a cop stops his car and gives him a ticket for wearing sunglasses in a dark tunnel, citing him for not following the rules. The same scenario happens over and over. The dreamer can't understand why the cop is angry. Once he awakens the man remembers eye drops prescribed as a cautionary by his doctor in case of a problem. He starts using the eye drops, and the pain goes away.

Last, dreams that cure the condition directly. Some of these categories can overlap in the same dreams.

Barbara Menezes-Ferreira of Portugal relates a dream that cures. The dream story is complex and includes a mutual dream, a near-death experience, and a cure. Here is the dream in her own words:

Over twelve years ago, back when I was still married, my husband was dying in hospital in a coma.

The doctors had said he had no hope at all. His blood count was way too low and he was hemorrhaging. My reaction was and I quote what I told the doctors, "You don't know him. He's the kind of person that will do exactly the opposite of what you are thinking." They looked at me with a certain pity. I left him there because you cannot stay with the patient overnight in a public hospital. I picked up my daughters at school and took them home. I remember my mother-in-law calling me asking what the doctors had said and I replied, "He's going to be fine," without even thinking.

That night I dreamed I awoke with someone screaming my name over and over again. I sat up in bed and saw my husband standing at the foot of the bed.

I asked him, "What do you want?"

He replied that he didn't know if he should stay or if he should go.

I calmly explained that was his choice. If he wanted to leave, I would take care of our daughters and they would be fine, but if he chose to stay, he would suffer. He would have to change his life, and he would have to stop drinking. I could understand that this would be a big sacrifice, so I told him, "It's really up to you".

He disappeared then and I went back to sleep.

The following morning my brother-in-law came to pick me up to drive me into town for visiting hours. He was very concerned that his brother would not make it. I said I thought he would pull through because I had had a strange dream that had in some way told me he would be ok. My brother-in-law had no reaction whatsoever.
I arrived at the hospital and only three people could see my husband for just a few minutes. I told my mother-in-law to go in first. She came out very distressed and told us she thought he was going. I then told his brother to go in. He came out crying and shaking his head. Then I went in and saw my husband lying in bed asleep.
I kissed his forehead and he woke up and said, "Please tell me the truth. Am I dying?"

I smiled and said "No. You were but you aren't anymore."

The doctor called in the other doctors and they started to ask him questions: "What day is it? Do you know where you are?."

Two weeks later he was out of hospital.

Almost six months after, we were going for a walk, and he told me that he had seen a tunnel and a light and that he had gone towards the light, and as he was walking he had a long conversation with someone he thought was God where he was given a choice to stay or to go. He decided to stay because of the children.

The conversation he described was exactly the one I had had in my room. At the time I started to laugh and he thought I didn't believe him. I just told him that I had had a dream exactly like the one he was describing.

Any analysis of Barbara's dream and her husband's dream will likely mention they experienced a shared dream, in other words, they dreamed the same scenario. The husband's dream includes the popular dynamic of the near-death experience: the light, the tunnel, and the decision to live. His is a particularly revealing segment.

The husband's dream resulted in a cure of his condition.

Think a minute about a time you've healed, whether from a mosquito bite, a burn, or the flu. Perhaps you applied salve and bandaged yourself. Perhaps you visited a doctor. Perhaps not.

In all cases, who was the healer? The inner you. You probably had dreams that helped you heal even if you didn't recall them.

Although we all have this skill, some people need help developing it consciously. Some psychologists, including Ed Kellogg, offer workshops to teach health professionals and regular dreamers how to heal through dream work.

Here's a Tip
• The next time you have any ailment, from a cold to something serious, consult a medical practitioner if you normally would, but augment that visit with requests to your dreaming self to bring you healing dreams.
• Your dreaming self will definitely oblige.
• Oh, and ask to remember the dreams too. They are most empowering and among the most compelling evidence for the value of dreaming.

Halloween Book Festival Winner

2011-10-16T07:06:00.000-07:00

I'm proud to say my novel Luke's Covenant got Honorable Mention in the Halloween Book Festival this month. For a scary read, go to Amazon and buy Luke's Covenant as an ebook or a paperback. Here is the blurb:

Willing to sacrifice his life on Nine Eleven, Luke instead finds himself required to live. He must protect himself and his family from an ancient vendetta at the hands of a man compelled to murder them all. Although failing before, Kegan has been reborn with paranormal skills that give him the advantage this time. He’ll finally get the revenge he deserves.

“A deliciously evil villain stalks the hero throughout time in a thought-provoking and mystical excursion into the realm of reincarnation. The novel explores the impact of psychic experiences and past lives on present lives and relationships.”
Michael J. Murphy, Suspense Novelist

http://www.amazon.com/Lukes-Covenant-Alma-Chronicles-ebook/dp/B002KE4XZ2/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1318773804&sr=1-1

Problem Solving and Creativity in Dreams

2011-07-20T08:18:00.000-07:00

A cool thing about dreams is they support you in your waking life. That is, they can help you solve problems or give a different perspective on them whether you remember the dreams or not. You may even consciously intend to dream about a problem and ask for help from your dreaming self.

I think of my dreaming self as a somewhat different persona from my waking self. I can ask her to dream about a problem and help me out. She has a different perspective on my problem because she doesn't have to consciously deal with any consequences from the solutions. She has a greater depth of memory of everything that has ever happened to me. She can access all of my long-term memories, as well as any human race memories, plus she lives in the dream world that I can only remember while awake. I guess you could say she and I have a different experience of living the same life.

During rehearsals for a production of the musical Pippin in 1980, I remember experiencing difficulty directing a particular scene in the show. It was a short love scene between the two leads, then the chorus came in and the action changed. Every time I watched the scene in rehearsal I didn't like it. When I told the actors it wasn't working, they agreed and one said, "Tell us what you want us to do and we'll try to do it."

The problem was I didn't know what to tell them. I drove home from school worrying about the scene and carried that worry through the evening and into bed. At that time I was recording my dreams and interested in them, but I hadn't realized yet that I could intend dreams, that is, decide in advance the subject of the dream. So I considered what happened with the Pippin scene just good luck.

During my dream I watched the troublesome scene as if I were in a theatre myself watching the show. The actor and actress moved around the stage in a different manner, a more interesting way, and the scene played perfectly when the chorus came in. I awoke excited to get to school because I knew exactly how to change the scene to solve the problem. At rehearsal I explained how I wanted to redo the scene, the actors did it, and it worked perfectly just as it happened in my dream. The actors liked it better too.
I felt extreme gratitude to my dreaming self for solving the problem.
Another time the influence of a problem-solving dream was not so obvious. One of my English students had begun to behave aggressively in class. With minimal provocation he snarled at other students and called me bitch under his breath. Because I'd had his older sister in class the year before I knew their home could get unpleasant with the father's threatening presence. I went to bed worrying about the boy's aggressive behavior and what I ought to do about it. My choices were to talk with him personally, to call the mother in the hope of her intervention, or to write a referral so the principal would deal with the situation. I feared none would solve a worsening situation. I also feared aggravating their home life problems myself.

Despite my worry I slept well. I did not recall a dream in the morning but felt confident my dreaming self had been working on the problem. I intended to trust the first impulse that came into my mind. When I started thinking about what I would do about the boy at school, I knew immediately the best action to take. I kept the boy after class and told him the truth, that I was worried he would follow his father's ways and spoil his chances to have a girlfriend. I told him girls would like him very much because he was handsome and loving and fun to be around, but I emphasized his aggressive behavior would spoil those chances with girls. The boy responded in an open and warmhearted manner. He didn't want to end up like his father, and he felt flattered that I thought he was handsome. I don't know what happened at home but in class the boy turned an amazing corner. He started talking to the girls so much I had to tell him to be quiet. He grinned like we had a secret. His grade went from a C to a B by the end of the semester.

Thank you, dreaming self.

There are well documented cases historically where dreams helped people solve big problems, including the invention of the sewing machine, the discovery of the benzene molecule, and artistic creations by such authors and composers as Robert Louis Stevenson, Voltaire, and Tartini.

Recent scientific studies have shown students do better on tests after they have slept because of the dream activity of shunting material from short-term to long-term memory. Other studies demonstrate the benefits of waking imagery, hypnotically-induced dreams, and regular dreams in solving problems and unlocking creativity. Psychotherapy uses dream analysis commonly because of the belief that dreams can help the client solve problems.

Here's a tip.

The next time you have a problem that seems to consume time and energy, try sleeping on it. It could be anything that bothers you, from a problem at work to your love life. Mull it over during the evening. After you get into bed, say, "Dreaming self, help me solve this problem." Don't imagine scenarios of how to solve it. Just trust it will be solved. Then go to sleep.

After you awaken the next morning, write down any dream or fragments or thoughts. If you have none, don't worry. When your thoughts turn to the problem, go with the first answer that comes into your mind. See what happens.

If it works for you, a little more trust will build between you and your dreaming self.

Emerging Novelists

2011-06-13T06:47:00.000-07:00

I'm proud to be this weeks' Emerging Novelist and non-fiction writer.

Here's a link to my interview and works from some excellent fiction writers.

http://emergingnovelists.com/

An eBook Sale for Book Lovers on Kindle

2011-06-08T09:28:00.000-07:00

We appreciate our readers. 50 award-winning ebooks are on sale from Twilight Times Books for $2.99 via Amazon Kindle until June 15th. Historical, literary, mystery, SF, YA and more.
http://amzn.to/eYYy6s

The Dreaming Self

2011-05-07T07:54:00.000-07:00

Imagine your waking self without the responsibility of looking after the physical body and all its needs. That’s your dreaming self. There’s no reason to fear or to ignore the dreaming self. It’s one source of learning and self-understanding, one way of connecting to the higher power, however we define it—God, Goddess, Allah, Brahma, Universal Love, the Life Force. I even knew a minister who called that power Skippy.

Dreaming may be considered not so much a psychic activity as a different framework for the mind. When we’re asleep, we suspend many of our mental blocks. Our inner critic sleeps, the one that pesters us with thoughts that we’ve been stupid or rude or incompetent. In dreams, our creative mind can come out to play.

The dreaming self acts as our gatekeeper to the wider universe. I believe that the knowledge and love of the Higher Power flows through the dreaming self to the waking self. The best attitude is not one of awe but of appreciation. Just as our physical body gets us around in the physical world, our dreaming self gets us around the imaginal realm.

The openness of the dreaming self allows many different types of experiences to happen besides precognition, problem solving, or personality analysis. Encounters with dead loved ones pepper the literature.

Hello from Heaven by Bill and Judy Guggenheim describes visits from the departed to grieving loved ones. The messages, often in dreams, contain words of comfort, such as “I’m okay, I’m in a beautiful place. Stop grieving and go on with your life. I love you.” These are sentiments we all need to hear from those we’ve lost.

Patricia Garfield has codified many encounters in The Dream Messenger. In her view, whether one can prove the actual visit from the other world or not, there’s no denying its impact. Dreamers remember details for a long time, and the experience often makes a profound difference in their beliefs. That definitely describes the dream I had about my grandmother and uncle.

On the other hand, many people experience frightening or sad dreams about their departed loved ones. Often the dead seem even sicker, suffer more, or die more horribly. It’s normal in the grieving process to initially have such dreams then get past them.

What can we do about nightmares or other troublesome dreams? Turn and face them, fearlessly and with humor. The mind creates nightmarish elements like hands strangling or tigers chasing. We can make the threatening images do whatever we want if we just stand up to them. That takes some work, but it’s certainly possible. Dream work becomes more effective if we develop lucidity, conscious awareness while maintaining the dream state.

Excerpted from Out of the Psychic Closet: The Quest to Trust My True Nature. The book is available in Kindle, e-book, and paperback at Amazon.com, bn.com, and the publisher, TwilightTimesBooks.com.

ebook sale for book lovers

2011-03-28T13:28:00.000-07:00

We appreciate our readers for making Tremolo: cry of the loon a breakout novel for Aaron Paul Lazar. Mazurka by Aaron along with several popular titles are currently available for 99 cents via Amazon Kindle.

Doggie Biscuit!, humor by Darrell Bain
Learning to Write the Easy Way for Fun, Posterity and Money, writing advice by Dorothy Ann Skarles
Mazurka, mystery by Aaron Paul Lazar
Sonora Wind, historical fiction by Florence Byham Weinberg
The Solomon Scandals, suspense by David Rothman
The Y Factor, SF by Darrell Bain and Stephanie Osborn.

Additional ebooks available at discount prices from $2.75 to $4.40 via Amazon Kindle.
http://amzn.to/eYYy6s

Lida E. Quillen, Publisher
Twilight Times Books
--
Critically acclaimed Literary, Mystery and SF/F books
http://twilighttimesbooks.com/

THE MANUSCRIPT FROM A MYSTIFYING SOURCE

2011-03-21T13:33:00.000-07:00

Last year I had the good fortune to participate in an anthology for writers published by Twilights Times Books, the publisher of my Psychic Closet book. The new release's title is How I Wrote My First Book: the story behind the story by Anne K. Edwards and Lida E. Quillen, Editors.
Twenty authors tell amazing stories about the efforts that went into writing their first book.

Below is an excerpt from my chapter.

The Manuscript from a Mystifying Source
by Toby Fesler Heathcotte

An unseen source dictated my first book through automatic writing, a process where the practitioner enters a meditative or light trance state and writes without conscious thought of what words will be produced. I hadn’t a clue how to go about it or what it might mean in my life. Even now I can’t explain with any kind of certainty what happened, where the material came from, but maybe why. Confusion reigned in my mind despite the fact that I held a degree in English and hoped to become an author, so I should have understood writing techniques.

The year was 1983 in Arizona. I taught speech, drama, and English in a Phoenix high school. My older son had enrolled in college in Tuc¬son and moved away from home. The younger graduated from high school and worked at a fast food restaurant, saving money to join his brother. A difficult divorce lay two years behind me. My main emotional support came from my women friends, fellow teachers who had gone through divorces themselves. My friends encouraged me as I cast around for new ways to add meaning to my life.

Some odd dreams and intuitions began occurring to me, experiences for which I had no spiritual framework. I had always remembered occasional dreams. Now I became serious about writing them down, analyzing them, and trying to know myself better. These dreams proved significant both in my personal growth and as seed material for my writing.

One episode especially provoked me to search for answers. We had a gorgeous white cat that stayed outside at night. One morning I opened the door for him but didn’t see him on the patio. I lay down on the couch to wait for the coffee to perk, accidentally fell back to sleep, and dreamed I saw the cat in a plastic bag sitting on green grass. The cat did not come home all day. The next morning I found the caretaker for the condo complex, and he told me that he had found a white cat dead on the grounds, placed it in a plastic bag, and dropped it in the dumpster. By comparing times, we discovered that he had found the cat within a half hour of my dream. Needless to say, the cat never returned.

Although I did not understand the how and why of things like dreams that came true, a voice in my head, or intuitive knowing, they began to happen to me more frequently. I felt alternately afraid and titillated by these experiences. I felt a spiritual lack that was difficult to define. I had learned Christianity in a Methodist Church as a kid but abandoned the belief for agnosticism during my college years. After my divorce I attended a Fundamentalist Christian Church for a while.

One night I didn’t want to attend a Bible study, but a voice in my head said, “Toby, go to the Bible study.” I went without hesitation. That could have been Jesus or an angel speaking. Who knew? The subject for discussion at the Bible study turned out to be people who heard voices in Biblical days, like Daniel did in the lions’ den. The bizarre coincidence of subject matter with my experience of a few hours earlier awed me. I asked whether people heard voices in mod¬ern times. The answer? No, only in Biblical times.

end of excerpt

If you have a yen to write or know someone who does, this would be an excellent choice.

How I Wrote My First Book is available in many places. To buy it from Amazon (where all my other books are available) in paperback or for Kindle, go to:
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_0_25?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text&field-keywords=how+i+wrote+my+first+book&sprefix=how+i+wrote+my+first+book

HEATHCOTTE BOOKS WIN EPIC PRIZES

2011-03-16T15:10:00.000-07:00

The top prize in metaphysical fiction went to The Comet's Return, a novel by Arizona author Toby Fesler Heathcotte at the EPIC banquet held in Williamsburg, VA on March 12, 2011. The yearly awards presented by The Electronic Publishing Industry Coalition celebrate e-books in all categories. (epicauthors.com). Another Heathcotte book Out of the Psychic Closet earned a finalist award in nonfiction.

The Comet's Return tells the stories of six souls who reincarnate after building centuries of karmic connections. In 2061 Arizona, Angela dreams of people she should recognize and events she should remember. With her career and her sanity in jeopardy, she goes to the trunk opening for Halley's Comet and finds her love. Remembering their previous lifetime opens Angela to the great knowledge. Kegan yet walks the world, intent on ending the blood feud from Celtic times. Nanci-Lee Roias said of The Comet's Return, " I am amazed at the storyline, very suspenseful. I had a hard time stopping to do anything else. I did not expect the ending at all." The book is the fifth part of the Alma Chronicles.

Out of the Psychic Closet: The Quest to Trust My True Nature is a self-help handbook in two parts that will show the reader how to step out of the psychic closet, to rise above anxiety and distrust, and to incorporate psychic abilities into a more honest model of personal reality. The first part narrates the author's psychic experiences. The second part details scientific research, historical background, and previously unpublished anecdotes of the paranormal. The second part also includes print and web resources.

Both The Comet's Return and Out of the Psychic Closet are available for sale in multiple e-book formats as well as in paperback on Amazon.com. Look for further information on the author's website (tobyheathcotte.com)

SEEING HIS FATHER'S GHOST HOLDS GREAT MEANING FOR A YOUNG MAN

2011-02-05T07:11:00.000-08:00

Hello my name is Ronnie Cobb, I lost one of my best friends on May 1st, 2008; he was my father, Walter Louis Cobb. Let me tell you a little about my experience with the death of my father and my own personal experiences of seeing him since he’s been gone. On May 1st I had just gotten home from school when this all happened, I remember getting a call from my mom on my cell phone bawling her eyes out telling me that someone had died, I didn’t know who it was at first until I could understand her and realize that it was my father that was killed. I remember telling her that I had to go and I dropped the phone and started screaming my lungs out because I didn’t know how God could take such an amazing person away from the love of his life, his kids, the friends and family that love and care about him.

Anyways, after I hung up with her I called my best friend Ben and had him come over because I know that I wasn’t about to sit in my house all alone, and by that time I had all of my friends and people I didn’t even know calling me just to make sure I was okay. By that time my mom had called my girlfriend at the time (Allie) to let her know what happened and to have her come to my house to take care of me. An hour passed and by this time, all of my really close friends were at my house just being there for me, and my mom had arrived home and she told me that we had to go to Jordan to go to my dad’s house to see my dad’s girlfriend and my brother.
See, I lived in Waconia with my mom and my brother lived with my dad in Jordan
because they had gotten divorced in 2000 and my brother wanted to live with him and
I wanted to live with my mom because I had lived with my dad when they first gotten divorced and I just wanted to try a new lifestyle. I grew up in Jordan and always got picked on so I wanted to make new friends and try something like I said.

Anyways, back to what I was talking about; so my mom, her husband at the time John, and I got in the car and started driving to Jordan and all I could think about is how bad the rest of my life was going to be without him. When we got to the outskirts of Jordan on county road 9, I saw the train tracks coming up and I could see pieces of his bike still on the ground and all the marks from where the bike had been laid down and slid into its final resting stop. I’m not quite sure on exactly what had happened to him or how it had happened, but I guess he had been driving home from his work and he had seen the train, and I believe he tried to lay the bike down because he knew if he didn’t try to stop somehow he’d die. When he laid it down, he was thrown from his bike and was hit by the train.

So we got past the tracks and got to his house and everyone was there, all my aunts and uncles, all my friends, everyone that cared about him was there and at that time I really didn’t want anything to do with anyone except my family. I remember walking in the driveway and my brother hugging me as tight as he could and not letting go and crying his eyes out and I remember walking into the backyard and there was his girlfriend and I ran up to her and hugged her like I had never hugged her before. A couple of days later I had a couple of huge days to get ready for, my dad’s wake and funeral and my junior prom. I remember telling my dad that I was going to prom and I remember him telling me that he would be there for me.

A couple of days passed and I got ready for prom; my girlfriend came over and we headed up to the school to get ready for grand march and I remember walking with her and looking up in the bleachers and having my first experience of seeing him since he had been gone. He had been there right next to his girlfriend and I could see him just as I remember seeing him, and I remember him whispering to me that he loved me and smiled and I started tearing up, I know nobody else could see him but I know what I saw and I know it was him. I went to the dance that was in Minnetonka and had a great night, everything was just perfect and I had a feeling that my dad was right there right next to me the whole night. A couple days later his wake and funeral happened; I remember walking into the funeral parlor and seeing pictures of him and us boys and just random pictures of him, and seeing a casket with him in it but it wasn’t him, it didn’t even look like him, he looked like some model and I was used to seeing his smile and his red rosy cheeks. People came and went but some people stuck around to be there for us, a day or two later was his funeral and I remember seeing him in that casket one last time before they closed it and I cried and cried and said I loved him with every breath that I take and walked away and sat down. They played a song called “My Wish” by Rascal Flats and it resembled what he wanted my brother and I to do until we saw him next; then we carried his casket to the hearse and shut the doors, he wasn’t buried but he was cremated and we kept his ashes. Some were given to who wanted some and the rest went to my brother and I and close family.

Now, my dad has been gone for almost 3 years this May and it seems like it’s been a lifetime without him but I have seen him in all different forms, mostly as I remember him and yes I have talked to him.
I noticed my gift of being able to talk and see dead people when my grandpa died in 2000 from cancer. I remember sitting upstairs in their house and playing around with his guitars and him walking across the room and sitting next to me and telling me to look at him and to watch over my grandma and the family and he said he loved me and then we was gone, I haven’t seen him since but I think that was my first real experience of seeing the other side; ever since that first time I saw him, every friend or family member I’ve lost since then has come to me after they passed. One of the most recent times that I saw and talked to my father was actually about a week or two ago when I moved to Texas to be with my girlfriend. He was sitting there at the airport and he said to me that he was proud of me for all that I’ve done in my life since he’s been gone, and I asked him if he thought that I was going to be okay with Kacy and he told me that you two will be fine and he told me to follow my heart and never let go of something that I love more than anything. One of the times that I remember the most is when I was graduating, I was walking across the stage and I saw my dad standing there in the crowd, and it wasn’t just him, it was him and my grandpa and they had looked so happy.

Since my dad has been gone, I’ve been through a lot of things; I’ve been through deaths, I’ve been through heartache, I’ve pretty much been to hell and back since he’s been gone but I think everything that happens to me, no matter what it is, it all has a purpose and I believe that my father is preparing me for what’s in stored for me in heaven. On May 1st, 2008 my best friend was taken from me and no matter what, he will always be here right next to my side. Thank you for reading this, it took a lot of tears and thought to write this but I did it because I love to share my experience with others. God Bless, Ronnie Cobb.

Holiday Special Honors eBook Prize Winners

2010-11-09T06:55:00.000-08:00

Two of my books are finalists for the 2011 EPIC eBook Awards, outstanding achievement in e-publishing. My winning titles are The Comet's Return in metaphysical fiction and Out of the Psychic Closet in nonfiction.

To celebrate I'm offering two special sales.

All five segments of the Alma Chronicles, including The Comet's Return, for $1 each, that's $5 - total. They will come as pdf files, which you can read on your computer or your hand-held reader.
Any of my print book titles, signed, for $12 each, plus postage. The titles are Out of the Psychic Closet, Alison's Legacy, Lainn's Destiny, Angie's Promise, Luke's Covenant, and The Comet's Return. Be sure to tell me to whom I should autograph the book when you order.

Books make great gifts. If someone in your family likes to read about psychic experiences or metaphysical ideas like reincarnation, intuition, or ghosts, one of my books would be the perfect gift.

In the Alma Chronicles, souls, bound together in a circle of love, passion, betrayal, and murder, reincarnate lifetime after lifetime from the ancient Celtic world through twenty-first century America.

Each volume of the Alma Chronicles can be read as a stand-alone book, backward in time the way the inspiration came to the author, or forward in time as a family chronicle unfolds.

The Comet's Return: In 2061 Arizona, Angela dreams of people she should recognize and events she should remember. With her career and her sanity in jeopardy, she goes to the trunk opening for Halley’s Comet and finds her love from their previous incarnation. Connecting with her previous lifetime opens Angela to the great knowledge. Kegan yet walks the world, intent on ending the blood feud from Celtic times. “This journey of rediscovered love and spiritual awakening will leave readers speculating on forces that impact their own lives, long after the last page.” Michael J. Murphy

Out of the Psychic Closet: The Quest to Trust My True Nature: A self-help handbook in two parts that will show the reader how to step out of the psychic closet, to rise above anxiety and distrust, and to incorporate psychic abilities into a more honest model of personal reality. The first part narrates the author's psychic experiences. The second part details scientific research, historical background, and previously unpublished anecdotes. "A great book that gave me goose bumps, and moments of reflection... A must read." Lori Newman

To read more about all the books, visit tobyheathcotte.com

Unfortunately I can't offer you a sale on the eBook of Out of the Psychic Closet, but you can buy it from Fictionwise: http://www.fictionwise.com/ebooks/b96057/?si=0

You must reply to this email to qualify for the special offer. Feel free to forward it to anyone you think might appreciate it.

Happiest of holidays to you.

The Comet's Return Opening Scene

2010-11-04T12:00:00.000-07:00

Here's the opening of the 2011 EPIC finalist novel - enjoy!

One - Vague Longings

Phoenix, Greater Hispania—May 25, 2061

In a dream, Angela huddled on hard ground. She heard a popping sound and looked up with a sense of dread. Yellow flames burst through the air. Something huge was on fire above her. Heat seared her skin. The stench of burning rubber sickened her. She felt the coarseness of the cloth in her dress.

Someone lay nearby. She reached out to help him. When she turned him over, his face was burned and blistered beyond recognition. Desperately she cradled him. She didn’t want him to die, but it was too late. She screamed for help.

The scream rattled in Angela’s throat and awakened her. She bounded out of bed then glanced involuntarily at the other side terrified that she would see the burned body lying next to her.

Her movement across the carpet turned on the lavender light recessed in the wall, allowing her to see and assure herself that she was alone in her bedroom. Her nightgown damp from perspiration clung to her skin.

The digital clock read two in the morning. What an awful nightmare. She’d never dreamed the same dream twice before that she could ever recall. And now for the past three nights this horror had been visited upon her in her sleep. Why? She pressed her hand to her rapidly beating heart and feared bad dreams could cause her to have a heart attack. She had to calm down.

Too exhausted to remain awake and unwilling to go back to her bed, Angela headed into the white-carpeted living room, grateful for the pale blue lights that welcomed her. She didn’t want to remain alone in the house. How comforting it would have been to have a man with her right now, the right man.

Her condo with its sleek styling and transparent furniture looked as lonely as she felt. The decision to remain single and focus on her career worked far better in the daylight than in the middle of the night. Intellectually she accepted herself as cool and focused and not at all needy. But beneath that persona seemed to dwell another, more passionate self, one capable of tremendous love and devotion, perhaps even obsession. Those feelings poured out of her for the dead man in her dream. That must have meant she could feel those emotions awake too.

Who was the man in the dream? Someone she fantasized? Maybe her intuition meant she would meet the man, but why would she want to meet him if she were doomed to experience such despair because of him?

Who was she in the dreams? Her clothes seemed old-fashioned and an ugly style she’d never choose. That detail present in all the dreams seemed important, but how she didn’t know.

Nothing made sense. She felt like she had a bomb in her mind that went off when she fell asleep. She understood herself less with every passing day.

Buy the eBook or book on Amazon:http://www.amazon.com/Comets-Return-Alma-Chronicles/dp/0981996140/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1288897122&sr=1-2

EPIC eBook Finalist

2010-10-28T05:52:00.000-07:00

Two New Age books are tapped as finalists for the 2011 EPIC eBook Awards. The titles are The Comet's Return in Metaphysical Fiction Category and Out of the Psychic Closet in Non-Fiction Category, both by Toby Fesler Heathcotte. Awards will be presented March 11-13, 2011, in Williamsburg, VA.

The EPIC's eBook Awards (formally EPPIES) have been given annually since the first EPIC conference in 2000 to recognize outstanding achievement in e-publishing. For more details go to epicauthors.com/index.html

In the Alma Chronicles, souls, bound together in a circle of love, passion, betrayal, and murder, reincarnate lifetime after lifetime from the ancient Celtic world through twenty-first century America.

In 2061 Arizona, Angela dreams of people she should recognize and events she should remember. With her career and her sanity in jeopardy, she goes to the trunk opening for Halley’s Comet and finds her love from their previous incarnation. Connecting with her previous lifetime opens Angela to the great knowledge. Kegan yet walks the world, intent on ending the blood feud from Celtic times. “This journey of rediscovered love and spiritual awakening will leave readers speculating on forces that impact their own lives, long after the last page.” Michael J. Murphy

The Comet’s Return: Alma Chronicles V by Toby Fesler Heathcotte, cover art by Zanne Kennedy

Each volume of the Alma Chronicles (soul chronicles) can be read as a stand-alone book, backward in time the way the inspiration came to the author, or forward in time as a family chronicle unfolds.

Print books and eBooks available at amazon.com, mobipocket.com, and from the publisher, mardelbooks.com

A self-help handbook that shows the reader how to A self-help handbook in two parts that will show the reader how to step out of the psychic closet, to rise above anxiety and distrust, and to incorporate psychic abilities into a more honest model of personal reality. The first part narrates the author's psychic experiences. The second part details scientific research, historical background, and previously unpublished anecdotes. "A great book that gave me goose bumps, and moments of reflection... A must read." Lori Newman

Out of the Psychic Closet: The Quest to Trust My True Nature by Toby Fesler Heathcotte, cover art by Ardy Scott

Print book and eBook available online and at bookstores nationwide.
For more information, visit twilighttimesbooks.com or outofthepsychiccloset.com
Retail stores and libraries may order from Mardel Books, 6145 W. Echo Lane, Glendale, AZ 8530

For more information, visit tobyheathcotte.com or write to toby@tobyheathcotte.com

Free Bonus Offer for October 26 Only

2010-10-25T17:42:00.000-07:00

Dear Friend, I am excited to bring you this opportunity which is
AVAILABLE TODAY ONLY.

This is the only time you will be able to receive these
Valuable FREE Bonus Gifts
Worth over $825 from Myself, Cher-yl, & Our Spiritually Focused Partners.

All over the world people are awakening to a broader sense of our connections with our Planet and how important it is to listen to the messages the Earth is giving us. Our world is speaking to us, it is time to listen.

When you purchase, read, and share my book
You will be helping yourself and others remember that everything
is alive with energy.

Purchase
Orbs, Lights & Clouds, Experiences with Nature
Today
Click here for more information!

And as a special thank you,
You will receive my FREE Gifts:

MP3 Download "Manifesting Health" Meditation
MP3 Download of "Chakra Walk" Meditation
MP3 Download of "Full Moon Crystal Grid Medicine Wheel Journey"
$75 Coupon on a Sacred Space Clearing & Blessing

Total Value of Cher-yl's Gifts...
Priceless!

Gifts from Over 20 Inspirational Partners
Including...

Anisa Aven of Creative Manifesting;
Guy Finley, Life of Learning Foundation;
Elaine Edelson, Your Modern Mystic;
Donna Nelson, Lithia Healing Energy Work;
James Tomlinson, Shambhala Yoga & Hiking
& Others you will love getting to know

Have you found that place within your heart where experiences occur that are challenging to describe...
... yet change the way you view the world?

If so, then you will want to read this book

Orbs, Lights & Clouds Experiences with Nature

It is an important book that is right in time with the opening of humanity's awareness
of our true connection with our planet.

It is a book you will want to gift to others who really care about their
Spiritual connection with Nature.

" This book explores the hidden world which is all around us, the natural world mysteriously unfolding before our eyes..."

Click here to Buy the Book Now
&
Receive Your Bonus Gifts

Communicating with Nature

It is an important book that is right in time with the opening of humanity's awareness with our true connection with our planet.

Would you like to know how the spirit of nature communicates with us?

Have you been looking for understandings of your experiences and the
unusual images of energy in your photographs?

Are you ready to discover ways of communicating with Nature,
and to receive validation of your own special experiences?
..................................................................
The answers come from the "hidden world that is all around us",
And are shared through experiences in this book.

"Cher-yl's talents are reflected in every page of the book from photos, the experiences, deeply connecting with Divine Energy, and most of all receiving beautiful messages." ... "What a book she has created!" A.T.

You will receive
Valuable Free Bonus Gifts

CLICK HERE
TODAY ONLY

Receive Benefits from
Orbs, Lights & Clouds Experiences with Nature

Connect with the interrelatedness of all life

Awaken the relationship between your communications with Nature
And how this relates to your life

Experience your world from a new perspective

"I relate to Cher-yl's connection with Nature and felt from my experience of the book that she has become my like-minded friend. I find myself led back to it time and again for more perspective moments; it is very timely for me. "K.T.S

BUY THE BOOK NOW!

Energetic Photography

Inspires you to relate to Nature's energy captured in your own photos

Re-Awaken the communication you already have with Nature
Yet, may not be aware of

Is for everyone who loves nature and photography

"Cher-yl has a profound and rare connection with the nature spirits. Her photos are radiant and give a special insight into the beings that share our world. My deepest thanks for a glimpse at what few are able to see." M.F.

Orbs & Clouds

Answer your questions about Orbs & Spiritual Cloud formations

View inspiring photos of Orbs, Lights and Clouds?

Discover why some orbs occur in photographs

Learn information you will want to know given by Orbs

Our Partners are

Spiritually minded professionals offering you an array of
Special gifts that will inspire and enrich your life.

Your Special Bonus Offers

Cher-yl Gander Spagnolo Offers her gifts to you

MP3 Download "Manifesting Health" Meditation
MP3 Download of "Chakra Walk" Meditation
MP3 Download of "Full Moon Crystal Grid Medicine Wheel Journey"
$75 Coupon on a Sacred Space Clearing & Blessing

~

Click Here
To view the Complete List of Partners and
All the Bonus Gifts you will Receive

About the Author

Cher-yl has been aware of energy within the physical world sense childhood. Born and raised on Long Island, NY she would spend many hours alone with the energy of nature. Her journey has led her to many teachers, both within and out of the physical realm. A deep awareness of energy led her to become a Usui and Karuna Reiki Master/Teacher, Melchizedek Method Facilitator/Practitioner, Gaiadon Heart Master Facilitator, Rising Star Practitioner, StarGate Facilitator, and a Priest in the Order of Melchizedek. More information and inspiration from Cher-yl can be found on her website.

Inspire your re-awakening to
The Spirit of Nature and communication
With our Planet and bring a deeper awareness
Into your life

Purchase Your Copy of
Orbs, Lights & Clouds Experiences with Nature
NOW!

Congratulations!
For making an investment in
Your re-awakening to communication
"With the hidden world all around us..."
And
For joining us in our goal of
Broadening the awareness
Of the Spirit of Nature!

Love, Light & Joy,

Cher-yl Gander Spagnolo

"Be the change you wish to see in the world."
Mahatma Gandhi

P.S. You are welcomed and encouraged to share this email and link with your friends. Share the excitement and gift giving and send them this link now...

http://www.orbslightscloudsexperienceswithnature.com/book-launch-oct26.php

Alternate Reality Experience By Candace Craw-Goldman - Guest Post

2010-08-15T09:32:00.000-07:00

In February of 2009 I was living in Central Texas suffering from what the locals call “Cedar Fever”. I had, like many others, developed an allergy to the pollen of the mountain juniper tree. It had taken 7 years for the allergy to develop and produce the severe symptoms that I was experiencing.
I was housebound and wore a surgical mask 24/7 trying to escape the poison of the pollen. I had trouble breathing, eating and sleeping. I was exhausted. My eyes watered so continuously I balled up tissue and tucked it into the corners of my eyeglasses. I was basically non-productive and honestly, afraid my throat would swell shut and cut off my air supply.
One night at 2am, after hours of attempting sleep, I gave up and made myself a cup of tea and got my laptop computer. I decided to catch up a bit on the William Buhlman Yahoo Out of Body Experience Group, of which I was a member. When I logged on I found there was a new post by someone who claimed she had an OBE and woke up in someone else's body. This thought utterly fascinated me and as you will see, I think triggered an amazing experience.
I had also recently been doing much reading and work studying the concept of time and of parallel lives with my work as a Past Life or Spiritual Regressionist. And, just before having this profound experience I had had a dream where I sat at a round table with my "light council" and they passed me a paper that looked like a spreadsheet. I don't recall what the columns on the spread sheet represented, but I do know that I was shown some “cells” were recently marked with x's. I took this to mean that I was now allowed to know or understand or experience certain aspects of time that were unavailable to me before.
So back to my sleepless night. My tea was finished and I was also done reading my email and I looked at the clock. It was 3am. I thought I would try to sleep again, and it occurred to me that I was poised to have an OBE. Sure enough, I closed my eyes and very quickly left my body.

It was such a smooth exit, I was barely aware of the usual vibrations. I didn't seem to travel through very much space at all as I rose above my body. The room I was in changed. It got larger, and it became daylight. I found myself in a house I did not recognize, looking at a room and a bed I was not familiar with. I wasn't long looking around noting my surroundings when I found myself being pulled back into my body.
I woke up and I sat up in my bed.
But it was not “my” bed! It was the bed from the OBE and I was looking around at a house that was not mine!
I started to panic. Where the hell was I? And then very quickly and more importantly, the question became…WHO? Who was the person who sat up in this bed?

I looked at my arms, and torso, and yes, this was the body I recognized as my own. And even in the strange scared state I was in, I realized I was indeed in my own body, but I was in a body that could breathe! I had no surgical mask on my face. My nose was clear, my eyes did not hurt and my throat and lungs were normal. Heck, I could even see across the room without eyeglasses!
I still didn’t know what was happening. I rubbed my arms. I pinched them hard. I was absolutely awake and physical. I was not dreaming!

Just then, two children came into the room and began to play on the little day bed next to my own bed. These were my children in my present life. My son and daughter, but, they were little kids, not near adults as they are now! I was just shocked.

I said, "Lauren??"
My daughter’s voice, distinctive and melodic, answered me, "What is it Mama?" Stunned, still, I did not respond to her but instead addressed my son, "Dylan?" and Dylan looked over to me briefly but mumbled something in the voice I recognized as my second born child. They continued to play with their stuffed animals on the daybed .
I took a deep breath and then asked the only thing that came into my head, "Lauren, how old
are you?" She answered, "Don't be silly Mama, you know I am six years old." Dylan then piped up, "And I am four".
At that point I opened my arms and invited them to come to me for a hug and they rushed over to my bed. I buried my nose into each of their heads, in part, to see if they smelled like my children, and they absolutely did. Every mother knows the smell of her own children. I did all the “am I dreaming?” tests again while holding them to see if I was physical, to see if they in fact were physical. I felt the textures of their hair, I noted the temperature of their skin on their little arms. We all were in real 3D bodies. There was no question about it.

I lay back on my pillow with my mind simply reeling. I kept looking at my hands, my arms, pinching myself over and over to assure myself I was physical and in my “own “body.
The only thing that was different about my body was I wasn't in the throes of allergy
sickness. I was utterly awake and aware. I am not sure how OLD my body was, but it was my body. I didn't see a mirror in the room, but my next thought was to go find one. I also had the thought, "Well, however this turns out, I thought, at least I can breathe in this body!!!"

I then wondered if I just entered a life where I would be considered mad?
What if I just found myself in a life where I would tell people that I “really” had lived
another life in another place up till now, but would have to readjust and live in THIS
other body in this other reality? Would they commit me? Medicate me? What about my husband? Was he even IN this life?
It was just too big of an idea, too much, too outrageous to accept so quickly. I closed my eyes and tried to center myself so that I would not panic, but I was panicking a little, no doubt about it.

The amazing thing is that the presence of my children was very much stabilizing and comforting. Their voices were as I remembered, their conversation completely normal and believable even though I knew that they were much older than the small children before me. This was no dream, it was something else, but whatever was happening to me, my beautiful children, who were themselves as far as I could tell, were there with me to soften the shock.

Shock or no shock, as I lay there with my head spinning with these thoughts I actually fell asleep! I proceeded to dream a lucid dream, where I absolutely knew I was the "other" me or the other body, dreaming. I saw characters from my present life in the dream, and others whom I wondered if the "other" me knew in that life. I actually walked around in that dream (it was a party for the most part) and just observed what was going on with the other people, waiting for
my body to wake up. I was so curious to know which body was I going to wake up in?

Eventually I did wake up and take a deep breath, or more accurately try to, and I began coughing madly and reached for the tissues. I was back in my "old" body now, back in my
house in Texas. I was back in my sick, allergy suffering body.

As I lay there I felt that I could still smell my children's hair (with a nose that worked). I did NOT recognize the house, the clothes or the bedding in the experience and, interestingly, my daughter's hair was shorter than I recall it being when she was 6. In other words, I did not go back into time of my present life, I definitely went somewhere else.

I had an OBE, I woke up in a physical body that was mine, in another reality, where my children were more than a decade younger than I knew them to be, then went back to sleep and woke up again, back in my current body.
Looking back on this experience I have to say I am most grateful for it. I do believe in parallel lives and simultaneous time, and I believe I was allowed to experience them briefly to expand my mind in this 3D reality. More good news I can report is that in 2010 I barely noticed the Cedar Fever season! I believe a combination of acupuncture, visualization, angelic intervention and quantum touch energy healing helped rid my allergy to mountain juniper. I am fairly certain, this alternate reality experience also contributed to the healing.

I met Candace because she belongs to two of the online dream experiment groups that I belong to. If you want to know more about her work and her experiences, visit her website: http://newearthjourney.com/index.html

Like many of you I am on a Journey. My quest for spiritual growth and self-healing has prepared me to help others who find themselves upon a similar path.

I have been actively practicing Spiritual Regressions since 2008 focusing primarily on the Dolores Cannon Method. I remain committed to her work and teachings and remain involved with Dolores and more than 250 other practitioners of her method by officially moderating her very active worldwide online practitioner group.

I have been a Usui Reiki Master since 2000, and am also a Quantum Touch practitioner. I belong to several Group Dreaming associations and a local Shamanic Vision Journey circle.

I am also a writer, and artist and professional photographer. I am a wife and mother of two grown children and I remain a passionate lover of animals and horses and maintain currently a household of dogs, cats, chickens and a herd of three fine horses and one miniature donkey named Elvis.

Currently my home base is Austin, Texas, But soon I will be dividing my time between here and Wichita Kansas.
Love and light,
Toby

Author of Out of the Psychic Closet and the Alma Chronicles, among others. Should you have an interest in purchasing any of my books, they are available as paperbacks and on Kindle and Mobi-pocket. Here's the link to Amazon.com.
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_0_8?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=toby+heathcotte&sprefix=toby+hea

Inception Poses Compelling Questions

2010-07-18T14:16:00.000-07:00

The new movie Inception poses important questions. Can one person enter the dream of another person? Can a person change the thoughts of another through dreams? If so, is there danger to either person? And, what are the moral implications? Many people would say no to the first question and be done with it, but not shamans, who practice such activities in their line of work. There are probably ethical and unethical shamans, so dreamer beware.

Regardless of your position on the answer to the first question, the movie posits some interesting, even compelling ideas about dreams.

That we have no control over what's in our subconscious mind. Since it's the sum of all the experiences we've had in our own lives, plus genetic information, plus species-type aspects like archetypes and myths, it's probably true that we can't control all the contents of our subconscious. However we can control some input like not watching scary movies, something I make it a practice to do. I made an exception for this movie because of its important subject matter.

That we can have a dream within a dream within a dream. I've experienced this quality. as an example, I dream I am living in a valley. I go to a school then home and to bed where I fall asleep and dream I am living in a forest. I hunt for quail then I lie down, fall asleep, and dream of...flying a kite. You get the idea.

That we always come into a dream in the middle, never at the beginning. I'm not sure whether this is true, but it might be. I intend to try to monitor my dreams to find out.

That we can consciously control our dreams and those of others. In the movie the dreamers inject a magic elixir into their veins with an IV to help them dream consciously at will. Research on this subject, often called lucidity, indicates people have varying degrees of abilities, some a great deal. It is a potential for human development. It's definitely one of my personal goals to dream more consciously.

That we sometimes don't know whether we are awake or dreaming. It's a common occurrence to awaken in surprise at realizing one is dreaming. It's also true that we sometimes exhibit slower brain-wave patterns while we are awake that allow us to daydream in much the same manner that we dream at night.

That our minds are more vulnerable when we are dreaming. Seems right to me. Our dreaming minds are also freer to travel, experiment, and play than our waking minds.

I enjoyed Inception. Despite the fact that all the main characters were criminals on a heist with no concern at all for the morality of their acts or for the pain they were inflicting on their victim, the film's idea and subject matter trumped the other issues. I loved seeing the human potential of conscious dream control dramatized.

Here's the link to the website, in case you want to look for yourself. http://inceptionmovie.warnerbros.com/

Book Recommendation for The Things They Carried

2010-06-26T08:34:00.000-07:00

I just finished The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien. It was an odd reading choice for me because I've never been a fan of war stories or of war, for that matter. Still, it would be inappropriate for me to present myself as a pacifist. I believe in peace but I know there's no such thing as a good story or an interesting life without tension and conflict. People go to war because they can't figure out a way to resolve their conflicts otherwise. I believe this is the reason we come into incarnation, to learn that process. Earth is a school.

The Things They Carried turned out to be a remarkable book. I read it because I knew the author wrote it as an exploration of memory, writing fiction in first person in a nonfictional voice, using himself as a character, a fascinating undertaking. O'Brien does not disappoint, far from it. I identified with his emotions in war, not as if I had participated in it myself but through my own life experiences. He doesn't call them psychic experiences, but they are.

He tells of wrapping dead bodies and strapping them to helicopters. That reminds him of the first time the death of someone traumatized him. Whether fiction or non, he tells of the death of his little girlfriend who died of a brain tumor when they were both nine. Then she came to him in dreams, dreams he learned to intend before falling asleep, where they played, talked, and carried on their friendship. I couldn't help recalling when I was seven because my best friend died in a car wreck. Two months later she leaned over a cloud and talked to me in waking life, an event that helped shape my beliefs about possibilities.

During another grueling experience in my life, a divorce, I found my consciousness floating outside my body. I often had the feeling that my spirit might just slip out and leave my body. I feared I would simply abandon it and not return; but because I was so distraught, sometimes I feared I wouldn't and would have to stay. O'Brien, the character, experiences the same angst when in a battle or performing some of the hateful duties of a soldier. His consciousness seems to leave his body.

O'Brien, the author, invokes the familiar aspects of the Viet Nam War that we all recognize from news reports, movies, and books as well as the portrayal of post-traumatic stress syndrome, the psychological condition that exemplified the conflict. He invokes in an original way through a personal exploration of memory, what's real and what isn't, but also what could have been. He toys with erasing memories, a cleverly appealing outcome for negative ones. His conclusions apply not only to memories of war but also to all our life experiences. His use of magical realism, a valuable technique I rely on it my own writing, adds verisimilitude to his conclusions.

The Things They Carried speaks to us all. I recommend it with gusto.

AWESOME ONLINE VIDEOS ATTEMPT TO VERIFY PAST LIFE MEMORIES

2010-05-29T07:15:00.000-07:00

Last Sunday I spent the whole day watching these videos. The site is called Rational Spirituality, and the link is below.
http://www.ianlawton.com/rsvideos.htm
The first set features Michael Newton, the hypnotherapist who regresses people to the between life state. He has written a couple of books on the subject Journey of Souls and Journey between Lives.
Following are videos of cases by a researcher in Australia who regressed people, then took the subjects to the places they remembered. The subjects recognized places they had never been. Sometimes they spoke foreign languages.
Next comes the Indianapolis cop Robert Snow, who researched his past life memory.
There are fascinating cases of children who relate details of other lifetimes.
Researchers and religious figures, including an imam and the Dalai Lama, discuss the pros and cons of the philosophy of reincarnation.
I highly recommend these videos. They are thought-provoking, entertaining, and inspirational. The human mind and heart are truly awesome. Enjoy!

THE VOICE IN MY HEAD, A TOUCH, A SENSE OF PRESENCE

2010-03-30T10:06:00.000-07:00

Eyvonne Carter-Riley was a dance teacher on the same faculty with me when I taught drama in Phoenix. She recently wrote to me about her experiences of an inner presence: "I love the paranormal too and have had my share of things happen. Sometimes frightening at first- but always turns out a good message, right? One happened while I was living in Wickenburg in March of 2002 after a day of sobbing my eyes out because my daughter said she wanted to live with her father (a year & 1/2 after the divorce). My little ballet studio was falling apart, and I was just feeling lost what to do. I cried so hard I made myself literally sick and went to bed at 7 pm. In the middle of the night I felt something on my shoulder, and it woke me up. Then I heard a voice say clear as a bell, 'Eyvonne you're going to be ok, you've done nothing wrong. Good will happen for you.' The voice was female but no one I recognized. Well..... I lay there frozen with my eyes wide open, scared to pieces and trembling! Then I fell asleep for another 10 hours. About 6 weeks later I decided to move out of Arizona to Nevada for a teaching job- that fell in my face - but at least to a new life that picked up from there."

An inner voice that speaks in our mind or a physical touch with no one present—such experiences can provoke many responses—from wonder to comfort to fear for our sanity. How should we react? What should our attitude be? I say look at the outcomes.

Eyvonne relates what happened to her on another occasion when she sensed a presence, rather than hearing a voice or a touch on her shoulder: "April of 2003 the day after our wedding is when I get rushed to the hospital (by hubby) at 2 am because I had severe stomach pains and found out it was gall bladder (no warning really- I thought the squeezy tummy was nerves from all the TV cameras at my wedding!) I had emergency gall bladder surgery 14 hours later. The surgeon said I had only hours or it may have been fatal - it was that badly infected. But besides hubby with me I felt someone else there also!"

Again in a life-threatening situation, Eyvonne heard a voice that saved her life. She said of that encounter: "Then Jan 2004 2 weeks before my 50th birthday I'm in a car accident! It happened so fast yet everything seemed slow motion. I heard 'relax' (that female voice again) from somewhere! I was driving a company car - a taxi helping out to move the company from the old office to a new office area. (I was dispatching limos at the time.) I also had gotten a taxi license, but it's a pit of a job. I begged to do dispatching. It's 4:30 am (ugh) and at a 4 way stop sign I looked and saw no one but me at the intersection over by the New Orleans Casino. I saw a truck coming from the opposite direction but it was safe for me to go, so I thought. I get T-Boned from a mini-van that was clocked at 95 in a 25-mile zone- a stolen vehicle with Mexican guys that spoke no English.

"My car was bent into a U and it had spun 3 times before I came to a stop. The guy in the truck saw the whole thing. I got badly bruised from the air bag, cuts on arms and face from glass, my back wrenched and bruised, and whiplash. I was hanging out the side of the car in the seat! After the truck guy got me unbuckled, I stood up and fainted! Then I came back to consciousness to see the ambulance pull up. I walked to the sidewalk at first not knowing it was all for me! Really crazy. I go back to the car and used the radio system to alert the office. The taxi authority and the limo office people were there within minutes to see the smushed taxi and me standing there and the Mexican guys all pissed because they've been arrested.

"I felt my angel was there. This accident made the news and everyone that saw the car said it's a miracle I was standing there. I was sent home for the rest of the day, too shook up to do anything. I was home by 7:30 am and sat in our Jacuzzi for about 4 hours. But my dancing will never be the same after that. So had to put away ever teaching ballet again. But main thing I survived it. And someone was there, my guardian angel for sure."

Whether you label them imagination, delusion, or divine intervention, these stories show undeniable facts. They happened when the experiencer was in great emotional need or physical danger. They comforted her and preserved her life. The outcomes have always been positive and good. That tells me that Eyvonne's paranormal experiences are the kind that can be trusted.

Not all such experiences are so benevolent and beneficial. If the voice in your head is overly emotional or tries to get you to do something you wouldn't normally do like take drugs or harm another person, there is reason for concern. In such a case, it's best to see a psychological or spiritual counselor, someone you trust to give you a fair hearing.

I am grateful to Eyvonne for sharing her experiences. Today she has a business in Las Vegas. Here's her contact info:
Talking Dogs Mobile Grooming
www.talkingdogsmobile.com

PURPOSEFUL PSYCHIC EXPERIENCES

2010-03-10T04:33:00.000-08:00

"I visited your blogspot," wrote Hope King of Tempe."I understand well about psychic experiences. Dreaming about plane crashes and earthquakes prior to their happening nearly ten years ago was terribly frightening and led me to avoid the news at all costs for many years. Other than that horrible summer, I tend to find my psychic experiences comforting. When loved ones pass on I often get a visit within the next two weeks. I worried when my father did not come to me after his passing last May. Finally, I felt him, but his energy was filled with fear. I let him stay with me for maybe ten minutes, then surrounded his presence with white light, and called upon Jesus to take him to heaven. Several months later, I wondered what the outcome of all of that was. I shuddered to recall his fear and wondered if he was in a good place. Within two or three days, I came home one day to see my father - plain as day - sitting on my couch comfortably and with a smile on his face. It was only an instantaneous vision, but I know that he came to give me my answer. He is in a good place."

Hope is, in my opinion, a wise young woman who is coming to trust her psychic experiences to help support her life. One of her strengths is acknowledging her intention to receive a visit from a loved one who has passed on. If she believed such events would be impossible, she could have hampered her ability to see her father.

Sometimes we think that psychic experiences happen to us. Maybe we imagine they are visited on us by an unkind or even malevolent force. "The devil is behind it" style of thinking. Conversely sometimes people believe positive forces are behind psychic moments, often attributing them to angels or divine intervention.

For a long time I believed I had no control over psychic experiences. This is what happened to me: I spoke with the ghost of my dead friend then convinced myself it didn't happen. I had dreams that came true and decided not to continue to have those dreams. A guide or angel or some ineffable presence spoke into my mind, and I thought I was going crazy. Over the years, I've been my own worst enemy when it came to such matters by intentionally suppressing them. It has taken years of study and effort to come to trust these aspects of myself.

I believe intention is the most important element. By that I mean a conscious state of will. People can decide to have precognitive dreams or decide not to have any. They can decide to acknowledge their intuition or to ignore it. These experiences are far more under conscious control than many of us realize or admit. If this weren't so, how could people who consult psychics or mediums, including yours truly, ever trust the people we go to see? We pay them money to invoke their own psychic abilities. Why not invest in our own?

The websites listed below will help you wrap your mind around your own intention as a major player in psychic awareness. I realize that trusting science and scientists is an imperfect path to truth, but it's an important one, nevertheless.

An American born Swiss researcher, Dr. Arthur T. Funkhouser says intention can be employed to create precognitive dreams. If you'd like to participate in his research, you can do so at this URL: http://www.deja-experience-research.org/index.php/everydayde

Lynne McTaggart, a British author, sponsors a website and occasional scientific experiments on intention. http://theintentionexperiment.ning.com/

If you just want to play some games instead of doing research, try http://psiarcade.com/. The psi arcade is fun but it's sponsored by a serious research institution, The Institute of Noetic Sciences, http://ions.org/. Perhaps you read about them in Dan Brown's The Lost Symbol.

Whatever approach you take, know that it's all in your power. It's all in your intention!
Love and light,
Toby

Out of the Psychic Closet: The Quest to Trust My True Nature by Toby Fesler Heathcotte

SECOND SIGHT: DR. JUDITH ORLOFF’S INTUITIVE JOURNEY

2010-02-27T02:59:00.000-08:00

Here is an excerpt from a book I highly recommend.

SECOND SIGHT: DR. JUDITH ORLOFF’S INTUITIVE JOURNEY
By Judith Orloff MD
Adapted from Second Sight (Three Rivers Press, 2010)

I’m a psychiatrist and intuitive in Los Angeles. What I do isn’t my job. It’s my life’s passion. With patients and in workshops, I listen with my intellect and my intuition, a potent inner wisdom that goes beyond the literal. I experience it as a flash of insight, a gut feeling, a hunch, a dream. By blending intuition with orthodox medical knowledge I can offer my patients and workshop participants the best of both worlds. Now, listening to intuition is sacred to me, but learning to trust it has taken years. I’ve described the details in my memoir Second Sight which is meant to assure anyone whoever thought they were weird or crazy for having intuitive experiences, that they are not! This brief synopsis gives you a good sense of the book.

I grew up in Beverly Hills the only daughter of two-physician parents with twenty-five physicians in my family. From age nine, I had dreams and intuitions that would come true. I could predict illness, earthquakes, even the suicide of one of my parent’s friends. This confused and alarmed me, as it did my parents who were entrenched in the hard-core rational world of science. At first they tried to write my intuitions off as coincidence. Finally, though, after I dreamed my mother’s mentor would lose a political election--which to my horror, came true--she took me aside and told me, “Never mention another dream or intuition in our house again!” I’ll never forget the look in my dear mother’s exasperated, frightened eyes, nothing I ever wanted to see again. So from that day on, I kept my intuitions to myself. I grew up ashamed of my abilities, sure there was something wrong with me.

Luckily, I’ve had many angels in human form who’ve pointed me to my true calling as physician. In the sixties I got heavily involved with drugs in an attempt to block my intuitions out—not something I’m recommending to you! Following a nearly fatal car accident at age sixteen when I tumbled over a treacherous 1500 foot cliff in Malibu Canyon, my parents forced me to see a psychiatrist. This man was the first person who ever “saw” me--not who he wanted me to be, but who I was. He taught me to begin to value the gift of intuition, and referred me to Dr. Thelma Moss, a intuition researcher at the UCLA Neuropsychiatric Institute. She was to become my mentor and guide to developing my intuitive side.

While working in Thelma’s lab I had an amazingly specific dream which announced, “You’re going to become an MD, a psychiatrist, to help legitimize intuition in medicine.” When I awoke, I felt like someone was playing a practical joke on me. I’d never liked science, and I was bored around all my parent’s doctor-friends. I was a hippie living in an old converted brick Laundromat with my artist-boyfriend in Venice Beach, working in the May Company’s towel department. (I’ve had a great love of towels and sheets since!) The last thing I envisioned doing was medicine. But because I was beginning to trust my intuition, I enrolled in a junior college just to see how it would go. So one course became two, became fourteen years of medical training--USC medical school and a UCLA psychiatric internship and residency.

The irony was, that during my medical training I strayed far from the intuitive world again. Traditional psychiatry equates visions with psychosis. Working in the UCLA emergency room, I’d keep seeing psychotics who were wheeled in screaming, strapped to gurneys, accompanied by cops with Billy clubs. These patients professed to hear God and to be able predict things. They also felt their food was poisoned, and that the FBI was on their tail. No one tried to sort through this mishmash of claims. Typically, patients would shot up with Thorazine, hospitalized on lock-down inpatient units until their “symptoms” subsided. Seeing this so many times I doubted whether it was safe or appropriate to integrate my intuitions in medicine.

When I opened my Los Angeles psychiatric practice in 1983, I had every intention of it being traditional; I’d use medications, psychotherapy, but I didn’t intend for intuition to play a role. My practice was extremely successful. Since I was a workaholic and also loved helping people, I had twelve hour days, though very little personal life. But then I had a heart-wrenching wake-up call that changed everything. It was an intuition that a patient, on antidepressants, was going to make a suicide attempt. Because she was doing so well--nothing supported my hunch--I dismissed it. Within a week she overdosed on the antidepressants I’d prescribed and ended up in a coma for nearly a month. (Had she not survived I would’ve been devastated.) The hardest part, though, was that I thought I’d harmed her by not utilizing a vital piece of intuitive information. This was intolerable for me. From then on, I knew, as a responsible physician, I had to integrate my intuitions into my work.

After this episode, my journey to bring intuition into my medical practice began. I didn’t know how I’d do it, but I put out a silent prayer to the universe to help me. Soon, I began meeting people, more angels, who showed me the way. Gradually I grew comfortable with my intuition, set out to write “Second Sight.” This took me seven years to complete because I had so much fear about coming out of the closet as an intuitive. I was afraid of what my physician-peers would think, that they’d mock me or blackball me from the profession. My mother warned, “They’ll think you’re weird. It’ll jeopardize your medical career.” Ah Mother: I loved her, but thank god I didn’t listen. Finding my voice as a psychiatrist and intuitive has been my path to freedom.

Sure, there’s a risk when you stretch yourself, but the rewards are enormous. Now, I’m blessed to travel around the country giving workshops on intuition to auditoriums full of extraordinary people--health care professionals and general audiences--who long to embrace their inner voice. I’m heartened to see that many physicians are eager to deal with patients in the new way I offer. I gave an intuitive healing workshop at the American Psychiatric Association convention, a annual gathering of the most conservative psychiatrists in the world. I’m pleased to report the response was wonderful.

I’m sad to report that my mother didn’t live long enough to see this. In 1993 she died of a lymphoma. But, on her deathbed, she decided to tell me our “family secrets.” She told me, “I want to pass the power onto you.” I was astounded to learn that I came from a lineage of intuitive healers on her side of the family--my Jewish grandmother who did laying on of hands in a shed behind the pharmacy she and Grandpop ran in Philadelphia. East coast aunts and cousins I’d never met since I grew up in California. Also, my mother, herself, had a strong inner voice which told her how to treat patients for over forty years. She’d listened to this voice and secretly used her innate healing powers to keep her lymphoma in remission for many years. “Why didn’t you tell me?” I asked her. She said simply, “I wanted you to lead a normal, happy life, not to be thought of as weird like your grandmother was.” Oh Mother... I’ll always be grateful for what she shared, but, still... she’d waited so long. Even so, I believe in the wisdom of the paths we’ve been given. Mine has been to fight for what I believed in despite what my parents or anyone said. An invaluable but rugged lesson in empowerment.

These days, no matter what I’m going through, especially when my heart is torn in a million pieces my intuition has sustained me. I hope that my journey in my book “Second Sight” can help you. One thing I’m certain of: if you follow your intuitive voice, you can’t go wrong. Stay true to it. Intuition is about empowerment, not having to conform to someone else’s notion of who you should be. It’s about being true to yourself, and all the goodness that comes from that.

***GET YOUR COPY OF SECOND SIGHT PLUS 80+ BONUS GIFTS FROM Deepak Chopra, Shirley MacLaine, DR. Joan Borysenko, and more at http://WWW.DRJUDITHORLOFF.COM

Judith Orloff, M.D is author of the new bestseller SECOND SIGHT, an inspiring and controversial memoir about coming to terms with her intuitive gifts, upon which this article is based. Her other books are Emotional Freedom, Guide to Intuitive Healing, and Positive Energy. She is assistant clinical professor of Psychiatry at UCLA and an international workshop leader. For more information about new updated edition of Second Sight and Dr. Orloff’s books and workshops visit www.drjudithorloff.com http://www.drjudithorloff.com/second-sight-promotion

New Review of Psychic Closet by Lori Newman

2010-01-30T12:01:00.000-08:00

The e-book of Out of the Psychic Closet: The Quest to Trust My True Nature, e-book is now available for purchase from Twilight Times Books, http://twilighttimesbooks.com/PsychicCloset_ch1.html

The paperback book of Out of the Psychic Closet: The Quest to Trust My True Nature, print book available for pre-order from Barnes and Noble online,
http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Out-of-the-Psychic-Closet/Toby-Fesler-Heathcotte/e/9781606191392/?itm=1

Below are some Reviews and Endorsements for Out of the Psychic Closet:

Out Of The Psychic Closet by Toby Heathcotte

This is a book of believing in yourself and finding the courage to look deeper into yourself to find your own truth.
Toby suffered a deep loss as a young child; a good friend was killed in a car accident. When the image of her deceased friend came to Toby to tell her she was alright, Toby’s mother denied such an image was possible. For years Toby struggled with the ability to believe in herself or what she had seen or felt on that day. To believe in such things, let alone talk about them, would bring feelings of doubt and fear from others, especially those very close to her.
Even though the journey was a difficult and sometimes lonely one, Toby found the strength within herself to find her truth. To search out what she believed to be true and find peace with that knowledge. This is a book of her struggle to understand her gift and to make peace with it in order to bring knowledge to others. Toby was plagued with death in her family through out her young life and into her adulthood and believed at a young age that death and diing should be something to fear. Through her own research and determination, Toby has found that this is not true.
Her book Out Of The Psychic Closet brings a very comforting understanding to a gift that many are either afraid of or unwilling to believe in. Toby follows up her belief with in depth examples and research to sustain the facts she has written about. But this is also a story about a woman’s thirst for knowledge about herself and no matter the emotional or mental cost to Toby, she continued to look for and understand her own inner truth. Once she was able to believe in herself, life, and her gift took on a new direction, one of inner peace.
I connected with Toby on so many levels through out her book. I recommend Out Of The Psychic Closet to all who are in search of understand their own gifts and willing to make the first step to say, “I am not afraid.” We all in some form or another have that little voice guiding us, giving us direction; it is up to us to listen.
A great book that gave me goose bumps, and moments of reflection of happenings like those, Toby wrote about, in my own life. A must read

Review by Lori Newman Author of Here All Along
www.whenwelisten.com

My Workshop Schedule for Feb and March

2010-01-30T11:59:00.000-08:00

Below are the events I'll be participating in during the next two months. I hope to see you at one or more of them.

February 5 - Workshop - Five Ways Out of the Psychic Closet, Well Red Coyote - Sedona 7 pm

February 13 - Book Signing, Oro Valley Library noon - 2:30 pm

March 13 and 14 - Tucson Festival of Books, University of Arizona

THE MOON AND I

2010-01-30T11:46:00.000-08:00

I'm proud to publish an article about a famous psychic named Jacie Altisi who has passed on. The author. Emily Pritchard Cary, also wrote a novel entitled The Loudon Legacy, available on Amazon. Enjoy!

                   THE MOON AND I

            By Jackie Altisi as told to Emily Pritchard Cary

We will be contacted by inhabitants of another space world within five years and these aliens will be represented in the United Nations early in the next century, I assure my audience. They smilingly concur, then plunge into an animated exchange of the impact such an event will have upon the Earth.
This is not a scene from a movie, but a session of my class in spiritual enlightenment conducted for the United Nations’ ESP Parapsychology Laboratory in New York City. The students, representing many nationalities, range in occupation from distinguished delegates and interpreters to clerical employees of the UN. We are united in a common bond: the fervent belief that someone else shares our universe.
The weekly gathering of this prestigious group during the 1970s and 1980s for the serious study of the paranormal was no more amazing than the chain of events that lured their teacher from a theatrical career to exploration of the spirit world.
I was born in Burlington, North Carolina with no greater goal than to dance. This I accomplished early on, becoming a Mike Todd showgirl by my early twenties. In the midst of a successful career, my life took a detour on October 15, 1952 when my brother, Billy Tapp, a U.S. Air Force pilot, was lost over the North Atlantic while en route from the Azores to Westover Air Force Base in Massachusetts. He was returning from a government mission behind the Iron Curtain when he put down his C-97 stratofreighter in the Azores. After refueling, his plane took off and disappeared from the face of the earth.
The ensuing sea-air search for the plane and crew was the second largest in U.S. history up to that time, but no trace was ever found of the wreckage; Billy and his crew were presumed to be down and lost at sea. How prophetic that he vanished in the area which later was labeled, “The Bermuda Triangle”!
Little did I realize at the time that Billy’s death was the springboard for my plunge into a mystical realm I never could have imagined. Not long after he was lost, I was introduced to a man sought by the Russians during the Cold War for his psychic abilities and the impact they might have on Russian research. He eluded his pursuers and began exercising his talents amid a small circle of devoted mediums in the New York City metropolitan area.
Soon after our meeting, the man invited me to meet a spiritualist in the city whom he felt would be able to make an intunement on Billy’s vibrations and the circumstances surrounding his disappearance. I received a reading I would never forget.
The medium stated that she saw an electrical explosion take place and the plane plunging into the ocean. She gave a precise description of Billy’s appearance and talked about circumstances of our childhood together that nobody could have known, including two unusual bicycles which we rode together and an airplane model of which he was especially proud. During the reading, the spirit of my grandmother entered the room with comments and uplifting thoughts so characteristic of her in life that I was convinced of the medium’s authenticity.
Two years after Billy’s death, I was driving along Riverside Drive to the evening performance of a Broadway show in which I was appearing. My car radio was tuned to a station playing symphonic music. It was about dusk, the time when radio transmissions from great distances begin to interfere with the local bands. Suddenly, Billy’s voice broke through the radio waves. I was so shocked and terrified that I nearly lost control of the car.
The quiet assurance of his voice soon calmed me. As I drove and listened at the same time, he began to explain that he had been selected to work through me as liaison between the spirit world and the U.S. military. He spoke of matters I did not understand, emphasizing that he would contact me henceforth under the spiritual name of Master B.
By the time I reached the theater, our connection had been severed. Was it a dream? It was hard to concentrate on my performance that evening, but within a few days, I knew that our encounter had happened exactly as I remembered.
The next time Billy came in, he identified himself as Master B. He told me that I had been chosen to help in the development of the United States as a leader in aeronautics and space. This seemed incredible. I had no understanding of science. Furthermore, not even Sputnik had been conceived. When it was launched by the Russians on October 4, 1957, everything fell into place and I suddenly realized that I was involved in a brand new frontier.
Every psychic has his or her own specialty, and mine is clairaudience. This means that I hear beyond the range of ordinary hearing. In addition, I am clairvoyant and often sense the presence of a higher intelligence. Sometimes I perceive an event happening elsewhere, or one which has not yet come to pass.
Since those early days when I began to understand and develop these skills, I have received contact, not only from Billy, but also from hundreds of human intelligences and departed spirits concerned with America’s progress and government. As swiftly as their messages are relayed to me via my clairaudient powers, I tape them if a recorder is available. If not, I make a handwritten copy.
The messages I have received over a period of four decades have ranged from the commonplace to some rating Top Secret classification, but one seemed so absurd that I told nobody about it for many months for fear they would question my sanity.
So it was with a sense of relief that I read a book brought to my attention by one of my United Nations students. Don Wilson’s “Our Mysterious Spaceship Moon,” based on evidence uncovered by the Soviet and American space programs, cleared the way for me to admit to my contact with Christopher.
Who is Christopher?
A man in the Moon!
Christopher of the Moon introduced himself to me on May 11, 1962. Describing himself as the Spokesman for the King of the Moon of the Luna Moon Government Headquarters, he spoke of an organization known as the Confederation of Cosmic Planets which was formed for universal help and enlightenment. The members, he said, are desirous of having Earth join their group, but their efforts are being constantly thwarted by other space worlds outside of the Space Confederation who do not want Earth to join.
The dissenters attempt to contact people on Earth who are becoming open to cosmic consciousness, but they use devious methods and plant false information in order to spread doubt and increase strife here so that the Earth nations will remain in conflict with one another and devote their energies to baser activities, such as warring among themselves, rather than seeking peace and searching for higher planes.
This, he led me to understand, is a well planned psychic attack from space. Negatives from other worlds are every bit as deadly as are bullets here on Earth. As people here learn to meditate and open up their senses, they become receptive to messages from space. Therefore, we must learn to discriminate between good intelligences and bad ones whose true nature is revealed in subtle ways.
Over the years, I have been the recipient of countless clairaudient communications, but the most unique are those suggesting life in the great void we know as space. There has been intensive speculation about the form of life existing on other planets and in distant galaxies, with none of the “experts” agreeing on our space brothers’ physical appearance, intellectual level, or social philosophy. This may be because there is as much variety among the residents of other worlds as there are life forms on our own planet. One fact is clear: the ether is brimming with radio waves waiting to be tuned into by Earth dwellers.
My first communication from the Moon was a shock. After introducing himself, Christopher expressed his concern for world peace and talked about a “Space Age World Government” to be founded within fifty years. He said that its goal is the advancement of the evolution of beings on other planetary universes with which man shall come into contact through space travel. He warned, however, that man must visit other worlds with altruistic motives, or he shall be asked to leave and will not be allowed to land.
I was struck by his comment, “Many people on Earth do not accept the fact that other peoples do exist and have their spiritual beings on terrestrial planets other than the one they know and live on...This message of good will to our fellow man of Earth is to enlighten him and raise his conscious thinking into a higher vibration frequency, to literally raise the atoms of the Earth bodies so all can prepare to achieve higher thinking in your everyday living and working. Your goal is to reach the fourth dimension of enlightenment.”
As Christopher’s voice faded and ceased, I became skeptical. The concept of a man on the Moon was absurd. NASA’s first mission to the Moon was still far into the future. For three months, I dismissed the contact as an aberration until August 8, 1962, the date of his second voice contact.
This time, he was my host on a mystical tour of the Moon. Before starting out, he told me, “There are two sections, or two sets, of people who live here. We do not live on the top surface of the Moon, but reside in the bowels of the earth. One could not know this by simply landing on the surface...Only if we so desire could a person landing a space ship here ever find out about life on the Moon. Our civilization is so constructed that we
can very easily hide from other planetary individuals with whom we do not wish to come into contact.”
During my telepathic tour of the Moon conducted by Christopher, I recorded my own perceptions as follows: “I picture jagged rocks, high slopes, and very dark, sandy surfaces. I see Christopher standing atop one of the jagged hills. He motions me to
come, and I follow. There is an opening where we stand. He bows and puts out his hand for me to go first. I proceed down steps and see before me brilliant white effervescent fluorescence. I do not see any bulbs or other apparatus that makes light as we know it. This light seems to come, not from the walls, but through the very atmosphere itself. Now I am walking in this light. It is so bright!
“Now we are coming to a clearing. As I walk, I see on each side every now and then an occasional pillar which gives a rather Egyptian feeling. This is correct, because I now see a sphinx. Christopher walks on my left side. He leads me to a very simple type of throne that is constructed of Light. It gives me the feeling of Power, God. There is a torch or flame which seems to come out of the back of the chair. To me, this represents the Purification of the Soul.
“Now Christopher guides me toward...oh, it is like a city! It even appears as if there is sky above. I feel that it is a mile or so distant. There are many steps leading upward. They have an iridescence about them. They look soft, like a felt, or velvet. Everything here looks very soft, yet resilient.
“Further off to my left, I see many arch-like structures. These lead down avenues which I have a feeling go to temples or cultural endeavors. In the center is a great plaza, like those of the Roman era, where I see a structure of an Eagle. I sense that this is universal and represents God, or Freedom.
“On both sides are pathways leading to different places. I feel great culture here. There is music, music vibration, very sensitive. I see members of this God-race walking,
at peace, in groups or in couples, and a few of them are reading aloud to the other as they walk. There is brotherhood here; there is love for one another. I hear laughter and sense joy everywhere.
“Christopher now is leading me away and tells me, ‘Projection.’ We are no longer walking as we come into another area of the Moon. We are floating ¾ or projecting ¾ down a beam of light. Far at the end, I see an opening. As we approach and enter it, he directs me upward, and I see that I am in a bubble-like structure. I sense that this is a place of scientific importance, and although I don’t know what these machines are, I know there is great industry going on.
“My head is vibrating as Christopher tells me, ‘There are many races of brothers and Sisters of other planets who come to this place to develop highly advanced mechanisms. There is a constant flow of God-ideas and we delve deeply here into many different types of instruments whose meanings are beyond my conveying to you. The God Souls who come here to do specific work are able to do so in quiet, love, peace, and harmony. This feeling of peace that has encompassed you is the normal atmosphere within which we work. Although you do not understand the advanced machines you are being shown, we wish to convey to you the thought that this civilization is highly and Spiritually advanced. All the ideas created on the Moon are brought forth directly through the God intunement of the individual Souls.’
“As I look around, I see forms of life that are very different from those I know on Earth. One is standing at an instrument that is at window-sill level. He turns and acknowledges us. I see a man sitting at an apparatus that resembles a great organ with many keys of different types and sizes, different shades and hues. Despite the complicated appearance of the machine, he sits upon a simple stool. He shows me that it goes down and up; it can be regulated.
“Farther along is a central beam that just changed from a golden Light into a blue-white Light. I feel that this is something they could beam outward into the universe, like a beam of some kind of intelligence.
“When I look up through the bubble, the stars seem so close. I see streaks passing, streaks of different colors...bluish-purple...orange-white...yellow green...and so many of pure white. They are passing above this bubble structure which reminds me of the U.S. Capitol dome. Those colored lights could be meteorites, but yet I somehow don’t think so. I get the impression that they are Intelligence. I see a bird and sense that he is trying to give me verification of what I am feeling inside. A bird represents a higher force of Spiritual Power and sets you up on a higher vibratory rate, so I know that I am correct in feeling that these lights are very high Spiritual Intelligences. Christopher seems to touch me on the back as if to say, ‘That is good, that is right.’
“We have ascended into the top of the dome and he is showing me the scene outside the window. I see someone riding across the surface of the Moon in a boat-like structure. He is not touching the bottom, but is riding about five feet above the surface. He doesn’t even seem to be guiding the vehicle. Christopher directs me to look to the right. There I see many God-Souls. They wave to greet us and each lifts up a glass or goblet with a handle on it. I sense that they are saying, ‘Here’s to you. Come one, come all into a heightened consciousness so that we may walk together in love.’”
For the next five years, Christopher delivered messages to me regarding the space progress of the United States and Russia. At noon on January 4, 1967, he sent word that a Moon landing would soon occur “because of the great efforts put forth by the United States and Soviet Russia for peaceful exploration activities of all space ventures and their willingness to establish international law pertaining to space and its peaceful exploration by these nations and those to follow.”
On July 16, 1969, the United States landed Apollo 11 on the Moon and an American became the first Earth man to step onto its surface. Two previous missions, Apollo 9 and Apollo 10, had been flown successfully to check out the equipment, surpassing the programs of Apollo 7 and Apollo 8, which circled the Earth and escaped Earth’s gravity respectively.
But nothing captured the fancy of the world so much as the walk taken on the Lunar surface by Neil Armstrong ¾ the first to step onto Lunar soil ¾ and Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin while Michael Collins piloted their three-man capsule aloft. The televised event relayed fascinating information to the Earth; still the excitement was somewhat subdued among many who expressed disappointment in the absence of the expected outcome: proof of life on the Moon.
If any contact was made by astronauts on this and the next landing, Apollo 12, it remains classified, a deep NASA secret, but Moon intelligences have verified that encounters were made...and some were rejected. Nevertheless, the astronauts could not escape the mystical aura of the Moonscape. As predicted by Christopher in a communication that followed the initial landing, Apollo 13 was denied landing rights on the Moon, although its crew was permitted to return to Earth in the damaged spacecraft.
Apollo 14 was a different story. It was commanded by Alan Shepard, one of the two astronauts originally recommended by the Moon government because of his character and God intunement. With him was Edgar Mitchell, equally blessed by higher planes. The true story of their Moon adventure has not been told to the general public, but the fruits are visible in Mitchell’s commitment to psychic research.
Apollo 15 was equally successful with its vehicular exploration of the Moon in the Rover. Apollo 16 concentrated on astronomy using the Moon as an observatory, and Apollo 17 included geologist Harrison Schmitt as a crew member to study the geology of the Moon.
Thus, within slightly more than a four-year period, from October 1968 to December 1972, the United States hurdled many of the barriers to space travel. Throughout the space program, Master B stayed nearby, communicating with me and directing me to forward his messages to the key people intimately concerned with space technology. As with all of my direct voice communications from another plane, I had no
hint as to the nature of the messages I received. I could only hope that the recipient was able to decipher the often cryptic sentences.
The greatest boost to my space work was the assistance of the three astronaut spirits, Gus Grissom, Ed White, and Roger Chaffee, who perished in a pad fire more than a year before the first manned flight. I long suspected that the fire was more than accidental because of a message I received on February 17, 1962 from a space contact warning that some in high positions at Cape Canaveral were working against the United States. That warning seemed to anticipate the accident which snuffed out the three astronauts’ lives.
The three spirits mingled with key personnel in the space program, enabling the United States to zoom ahead of the Russians. When they sensed that their advice was being ignored by the researchers and developers, they worked their magic through me. At their insistence, I would promptly send off a letter suggesting certain changes. Inevitably, the proper adjustments would be made.
The spirits had contact with the Moon intelligences when they scouted the surface for acceptable landing spots, and they recommended a meeting between Earth men and their Lunar hosts during the first landing. I was confident that this would be the high point of the event, but I became concerned when the anticipated communication with Moon intelligences was not officially verified by either Apollo flights 11 or 12. My worry blossomed into optimism at the announcement of the Apollo 14 crew, Shepard, Mitchell, and Stuart Roosa, men with strong beliefs, men well regarded by the Moon intelligences.
During Apollo 14 preparations, there was considerable concern from the higher planes because it was imperative that these three men with God qualities overcome all technical problems. Unbeknown to Shepard, Mitchell, and Roosa, they had been groomed all their lives for this task. Thus, I kept in close contact with them and received replies in advance of the lift-off confirming that they went into space equipped with the warnings, suggestions, and encouragement which the higher spirits saw fit to send.
After learning from Master B of Edgar Mitchell’s contacts from Grissom, White, and Chaffee both before and after his Moon exploration, I was not surprised by his decision to found the Noetic Institute in Palo Alto, California soon after leaving NASA. On June 9, 1972 we both were featured speakers at the Jersey Society of Parapsychology (JSP) Seminar held at Drew University in Madison, New Jersey. By that time, I had hoped for answers to questions about the Moon, but NASA was mum. For instance, I wanted to know if the white propelled objects viewed by Apollo 15 were the same white lights I saw during my clairvoyant Moon tour in 1962.
Hoping to pry some answers from Mitchell in the flesh, I sent word to him through an intermediary that I wished to meet with him privately after his address. We met, at his suggestion, outside under the trees. It was very dark. I had in my possession a set of documents, a collection of my contacts regarding the space flights, among them those predicting problems on Apollo 13 and success on Apollo 14. Also included was a copy of a letter I wrote to John Glenn at the instruction of Master B, predicting his successful orbiting of the Earth three times and even greater fame in the future.
When I explained to Mitchell that I was the one who had communicated with their crew prior to the Apollo 14 mission, he replied ¾ rather cryptically ¾ that Alan Shepard was very much his own man. That was all. His meaning was not clear to me, so I did not pursue it.
I then presented him with a large blue folder containing copies of my messages and notes. All the while, I sensed a space ship hovering just above the clouds, but I could see nothing. It occurred to me that Mitchell was enveloped by a higher power, perhaps one which even he did not acknowledge. There was also the possibility that he believed me to be a contact from another world.
While I stood near Mitchell on the Drew University campus, I sensed a potent energy about him, one which could only have come from a cosmic source. The same energy was detected upon his return from the Moon’s surface by scientists observing and recording his physical state.
Among the messages in my folder was one from Gus Grissom. When I reminded Mitchell that I had regular communication with the three departed astronauts, a curious light flickered in his eyes as he said, simply, “Yes. We’ve had contact with them.”
With that, he thanked me for the folder, then turned abruptly and returned to the building where the meeting was underway. I believe he felt I knew more than he wanted anyone to know, perhaps that I was a contact he was not ready to accept.
That was the extent of our first face-to-face meeting, although we have been together since on various panels, including several at the United Nations. After his flight, Mitchell verified to news reporters that he participated with a psychic in thought transference tests during the flight. He has never told me that he had a contact on the Moon or in outer space, and yet I learned through Christopher, Master B, the astronaut spirits, and several other sources that Mitchell did indeed have a valuable space contact.
Some time after my meeting with Mitchell, I was asked to teach a course for the United Nations’ ESP Laboratory. My first series, which began in the Spring of 1977, entitled, “The Pathways to High Consciousness,” was followed by courses in psychic
meditation, visualization, awareness, spiritual perception of the soul, reincarnation, ESP, and tools which the individual can apply to awaken a high awareness of life.
One of my most exciting experiences at the United Nations took place after a large Moon rock, retrieved by the Apollo 11 crew, became a permanent fixture at the UN Headquarters. It rests there to this day inside its hermetically-sealed case.
Upon its arrival, several of my students urged me to psychometrize the Moon rock, a challenge which I meditated upon overnight before undertaking. When I finally encountered the piece of Moon, I was accompanied by students from many nations, truly a venture in fellowship and brotherhood. In order to make a proper intunement with the rock, I began the session by leading the group in meditation because, in a high meditative awareness, one’s aura is open to receiving impressions which cannot penetrate the mind under ordinary conditions.
Our group approached the enclosure and stood a few moments before the structure. The small piece of rock, we observed, was encased in a simple glass case within a larger, multi-faceted one. To assist our experiment, the staff had turned the lights at the front of the building very low so that there was just enough light for viewing, but nothing shone directly on the case. Consequently, there was no glare.
My class and I held out our hands to the rock as we slowly walked around the case, viewing it from all sides. Within moments, I noticed a direct psychic ¾ or soul ¾ response from the rock. As the feeling continued to build, a powerful energy of a high ¾ positively exalted! ¾ radiation emanated from the rock, suggesting deep spirituality and an infinite intelligence.
Outwardly, the rock seemed to be of volcanic quality, definitely a primordial substance, by far the oldest object I have seen on Earth. As I stood there, I felt myself in mental contact with the soul of the Moon rock itself.
In some inscrutable way, it gave off a distinguished aura which suggested origin on a more evolved and intelligent sphere. While I meditated, the aura expanded. As the power inside the smaller container increased, the energy passed through the glass into the second container, then surged forth to our outstretched hands. We all exclaimed audibly as the strong vibrations hit us. It was at once a sobering and a thrilling moment. Something surely is up there! Of this we all were certain.
Later that evening, in the quiet of my study, I received a Moon contact. I was told that my reaction was especially strong because the impression was beamed to me from scanners which played the energy directly onto the piece of Moon rock. This was done in order that my students and I might understand the true power and essence of the Moon.
In thinking back upon my work with Master B, I am now convinced that I have been overcome by the same powerful force that affected astronaut Mitchell, a force which altered the direction of his life. On April 20, 1977, I was a guest at a private United Nations luncheon in honor of Mitchell, who spoke to the select group about his experiences. Those in attendance represented many different nations, and yet the primary dream of all is to establish One World based on spiritual and humanitarian concepts. Since that day more than two decades ago, many world events have torn away barriers and allowed people to move closer to one another. Although woes and wars continue to thrive in pockets of the world, I sense that the family of man is preparing to embrace the concept of international unity.
Can it be that the Man in the Moon has decided that we on Earth are finally ready for the fourth dimension of enlightenment?

Temples of Light Spiritual Book

2009-12-05T04:02:00.000-08:00

The Temples of Light guides the reader, as the initiate, on a spiritual journey through thirteen of Egypt’s sacred temples--a journey into the sanctuary of the open heart. Each sacred site is a portal to ancient wisdom that can assist the modern-day pilgrim with everyday life issues and struggles--love, purpose, money, and health.

About The Temples of Light

A guide to the open-heart wisdom and secret rites of passage of thirteen sacred temples in Egypt

• Provides information on how to thrive as we move from the Piscean to the Aquarian age

• Offers guided meditations and rituals that connect to the ancient power of the Flower of Life, the Djed Pillar, the Ka, the energy body, and more

• Includes a 60-minute CD of a guided journey to the Sphinx and to The Temples of Light

The Temples of Light guides the reader, as the initiate, on a spiritual journey through thirteen of Egypt’s sacred temples--a journey into the sanctuary of the open heart. Each sacred site is a portal to ancient wisdom that can assist the modern-day pilgrim with everyday life issues and struggles--love, purpose, money, and health--and the deeper questions of enlightenment and our divine origin.

Danielle Rama Hoffman opens up sacred rites of passage that historically have been kept secret to forge a relationship with the temples of Egypt as allies and spirit guides. For example, the temple of Sakkara is associated with abundance; the temple of Abydos with remembering. The initiations in this book awaken intuition and the Sahu--the fully realized self--allowing connections to the power, magic, and wisdom of such sacred symbols as the Flower of Life, the Djed Pillar (the backbone of Osiris), the Ka, and the energy body. Hoffman’s guided meditations, rituals, and exercises also raise the reader’s vibration level, as we move from the Piscean to the Aquarian age. Embodying the wisdom of the open heart of these temples imparts a shift in consciousness from fear to bliss, from powerlessness to empowerment, opening the body, mind, and spirit to the infinite possibilities within. The book also includes a 60-minute CD of a guided journey of the Sphinx.

Temples of Light by Danielle Rama Hoffman, is being offered, along with $3000 in bonus gifts, beginning on December 8th at 12:01 am. We invite you to visit - www.thetemplesoflight.com/promotion and then click on the “order” link, order the book on Amazon and return to the promotional page. Enter your name and email address to reach the bonus page. The bonuses are not available until December 8th.

The History of Christmas

2009-11-29T15:21:00.000-08:00

Many of our traditions today are age-old and originated in Germanic and other Indo-European cultures.
This time of year has been celebrated for millennia because December 21, the winter solstice, marks the end of the shortening days. People knew that soon the days would grow longer, food would become plentiful again, and new plants would break through the ground. The holiday could have been called the return of light and often the gods were associated with light and the sun. Evergreen trees were revered as symbols of the renewal of life in the land.
Agrarian societies often slaughtered animals in the fall to eliminate the need for feeding them in the winter and to provide food that could be preserved for the humans. Also the wines and beers had sufficiently fermented. People had to stay inside because of the cold climate. Wine, beer, plentiful food, and a blazing fireplace naturally resulted in a festive atmosphere, humans being what they are.
Early Norwegians feasted for twelve days after the solstice. They believed that each spark of the fire log symbolized the birth of a pig or cow.
In Germany people believed that the god Oden (sometimes spelled Odin) flew through the sky, checking on them and deciding who would die and who would prosper. The image later transformed into St. Nicholas, honoring a third century Christian cleric. The legend says that he was born into wealth and gave all his money to the poor. Our modern Santa Claus also has a much kinder agenda, evolved from the Dutch version of Sinter Klass and the German Kris Kringle.
In Italy the Romans celebrated Saturnalia, the god of agriculture, through the month of December. A later version of the religion popular with Roman soldiers honored the god Mithra (sometimes spelled Mithras), revered in other cultures, including early Iranian. Born on Dec. 25 of a virgin mother, Mithra could take on the suffering of others and could intercede on their behalf with the supreme deity. Saturnalia often included boisterous public festivals with much drinking, dancing, and revelry.
The Catholic Church did not celebrate the birth of Jesus until about the fourth century. There is some discrepancy about the date of his birth. Some authorities say Dec. 5, some say January, some say March. In any event, Pope Julius chose Dec. 25 as the holiday, probably in the hope that the festivities surrounding winter solstice and the birth of Mithra would encourage people to turn the celebration to a Christian purpose. He succeeded very well since sixteen hundred years later many people believe the birth of Jesus is the only reason behind Christmas.
However much the purpose for the celebration has changed, the method of celebration became endlessly entangled with the other holidays. Throughout the Middle Ages the faithful attended church on Christmas but then indulged in raucous celebrations with the election of a lord of misrule, who led people in drinking, dancing, and playing tricks, in much the same style as at Mardi Gras.
The English Puritans who came to America were the complete opposite. They did not celebrate Christmas as a holiday and frowned on merry-making for any purpose. However the early German pioneers brought with them the practices of decorating fir trees, Christmas markets, gifts, and candy. Their traditions overcame the English traditions, thank goodness.
During the nineteenth century Christmas transformed into a family celebration with good deeds for the unfortunate in our midst. Social changes underpinned much of that thrust as the dispossessed in our country were rioting in some cities. Gang riots in New York City caused the creation of the police force along with more aid for those without means. The Sketchbook of Geoffrey Crayon, gent. by Washington Irving and A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, works by two influential authors, helped visualize a more nostalgic holiday.
Mistletoe and caroling came from England, the Yule log from Sweden, poinsettias from Mexico. Father Christmas from England filled children’s stockings gifts under the tree from Germany. The United States has added greeting cards, Rudolph, and lamps in the shape of a woman’s leg, among other things. Our American melting pot has made Christmas a spectacular holiday.
Some writers suggest that the similarities with Mithra, and with Buddha, Krishna, and other deities diminish or malign the story of Jesus. I believe otherwise. I love the traditions because they connect us with our own past, thousands and thousands of years of it. Despite different details of stories and custom, the message is the same – of love, rebirth, and light in a world that sorely needs light even more so than when I penned these words in 2006.
Blessings on you and yours now and through 2010.

Overcomers, Inc. - a new important book

2009-10-21T11:57:00.001-07:00

Book Introduction from publisher, Lynne Klippel
At one point in my life it seemed like everywhere I looked, I saw tragedy. My brother, both of my parents, and a dear friend were all battling cancer at the same time. Other friends were losing jobs and fearful about the prospects of finding new work. The evening news was full of financial scandals, plant closings, kidnappings, and war.
As I sat in the sun on my front porch in March 2009, I wished I had a book to send to my brother to read during his chemotherapy treatments - something to remind him that he was not alone and to encourage him to fight for his life. I wanted a book that could give him hope, inspiration, and encouragement on every page.
Due to a series of miracles, the book you are now reading is my wish come true. In a very short time a team of wonderful people came together to create this book with just one purpose: to encourage you, the reader, to overcome whatever obstacles are lying in your path to happiness.
As you read the stories in this book, you will find real life tales of remarkable courage, strength, and perseverance. You will be inspired, entertained, and uplifted. Some of the stories will make you laugh. Some of them will make you cry. All of them will make you proud of the power of the human spirit.
You will find this a book of diversity. There are many authors, from many walks of life. However, they all share a common bond. They triumphed over tragedy and gleaned wisdom in this process. While this is not a religious book, there are stories full of faith, of many kinds and flavors. It is funny how in your darkest times, faith often becomes your brightest light.
All of the contributors to this book want to encourage you to hold tight to your belief that a better day will come. It is their sincere desire to pass along what they’ve learned through their own trials, to make your journey easier.
I hope that you wear this book out by highlighting meaningful passages and bending down the corners of the pages you want to read over and over again. There is true wisdom in these pages that can help you feel strong, brave, and hopeful.
May you be blessed by this book and inspired to overcome!
Lynne KlippelSt. Peters, MissouriSeptember, 2009
To get your own copy and receive dozens of bonus gifts go to http://www.overcomersbook.com/booklaunch

************************************************************

Book Summary - Short
Overcomers, Inc: True stories of hope, courage, and inspiration will give readers the knowledge and emotional resilience to face the most difficult times of life by sharing inspiring stories of triumph.
You will find this a book of diversity. There are many authors, from many walks of life. However, they all share a common bond. They triumphed over tragedy and gleaned wisdom in this process. While this is not a religious book, there are stories full of faith, of many kinds and flavors. It is funny how in your darkest times, faith often becomes your brightest light.
All of the contributors to this book want to encourage you to hold tight to your belief that a better day will come. It is their sincere desire to pass along what they’ve learned through their own trials, to make your journey easier.
To get your own copy and receive dozens of bonus gifts go to http://www.overcomersbook.com/booklaunch

Interview with Rev. Rita MeKila Herring

2009-10-21T11:46:00.000-07:00

Rev. Rita MeKila Herring is an ordained minister and clinical hypnotherapist. She has been leading meditation groups for over twenty years and has helped countless individuals in remembering the power they have within. Visit www.MeKila.com if you would like more information or need help remembering your power.
How did you get started writing?
I’ve always dabbled in writing as I find it an excellent means of expressing myself. I enjoy the ability to choose the exact words to portray what I’m intending to communicate. I remember when my parents came home from Parent Teacher Conferences when I was in the 8th grade, they told me that my Science teacher, Mrs. Howie, had leaned in real close to them after they’d introduced themselves whispering, "Your daughter is a letter writer." As I recall, I wanted to share with her my feelings about something she was going to cut from the curriculum. At the time, aside from Band, Science was my favorite subject. Guess she enjoyed my letter as the topic of discussion remained in the lineup.
What do you do when you are not writing?
I’m living ... I’d say, very close to my dream life. I’m incredibly appreciative of my day-to-day journey. I embrace the stretching of my comfort zone that propels me into ever growing understandings of the nature of walking the face of the earth at this precise time in our evolution of consciousness. I’m learning the sheer power of choosing to be joyful, happy, at peace ... no matter the seemingly outside circumstances. That whatever presents itself is only a snapshot of something I’ve previously created - and if I don’t like the way it feels in any way, I need only create what I want and move toward it. Eventually, and quite often quickly I’m in the newly created space and I’ve enjoyed the path to get there. It is a definite learning experience as there was a time when historically I’d been immensely tyrannical with myself. I wasn’t even aware of this behavior of self depravation, I only knew I never allowed myself to truly look at my creations with appreciation and marvel in their blessings ... I’d see something that wasn’t quite right and harangue myself and unknowingly set myself up for drawing more experiences of the same. It’s been a glorious jaunt from the day I actually realized that I was listening to the whole self-imposed utterly-ridiculous impossibly-perfectionistic demands I placed on myself ... to being a person that’s now more and more gentle with myself (infinitely gentle with myself is my intention ... I’m not there yet). I’ve also created a magical and delightful life so I’m very much experiencing what I consciously intended for myself, both in the distant and more recent past. With a sizable majority of my time spent in smiles.
What would readers like to know about you?
That I’m a consummate student. I love learning. I love finding the answers to my questions and quite frankly, I don’t stop till I find those answers. I believe that if there’s a question - there’s an answer ... and once we’ve posed the question, the answer isn’t far behind ... we just have to keep ourselves open to receive it. I believe we’re all out there, sometimes stumbling around, trying to do the best we can. I like to find ways of living more of what I want and less of what I don’t want. Mostly I love it when I can help someone become reacquainted with the power and peace of their own inner guidance.
What inspired you to be a contributing author in Overcomers, Inc.,
To be honest, I was drawn to the energy of the project. I knew next to nothing about it but a powerful feeling compelled me to looking into it further and upon doing so, the energy intensified. I’ve done well in the past when I’ve heeded my inner feelings. I jumped in and thought I’d go with the flow and see where it took me. There have been wonderful
　
　
indications of compatible energies each time I encounter the remarkable group that assembled.
5. Why is the topic of Overcoming important to you?
I think the topic of Overcoming is important to us all. We’ve been bombarded by media that is obsessed with dark and negative stories. We’ve all been conditioned and desensitized from being conscious of the atrocities that are put into the focus of our choices each day. How often do you indulge yourself in reading a horrible news story or watching it on t.v.? If we hadn’t been desensitized, would we really choose to watch and place our precious creative energy paying attention to and sending out the request for more of THAT? I sincerely don’t think so. Is it any wonder there is still the concept of war on this planet? With so many people literally sitting in a meditative state staring at the t.v. and contributing their precious creative energy toward the manifestation of such things, how could there not be?
Overcoming is an aspect of self discovery that we all need to participate in if we truly want to live in a different world than we do today. We have to overcome the habits or beliefs that we’ve taken on somewhere along our journey that simply do not match our picture of what we want. We have to wake up and put both hands on the helm with the confidence of the ship’s captain as we traverse the waters of life. No longer willing to absorb what’s thrown our way and deciding once and for all that we are in charge of us - that we will knowingly place our creative energy in expenditures that will bring about what we truly want. We each have varying amounts of overcoming involved in getting from where we are now to where we want to be. I like finding the shortest most enjoyable (and lately gentle) path to do that.
6. Why are you specially qualified to write about this topic?
Well, for one thing, I am a tropical being that was born into the not so tropical state of Michigan and I now live on my beloved and magnificent Kauai in the middle of the Pacific. There’s a certain degree of overcoming involved in that 5,000 mile trek.
It’s also kind of been my life’s work when you get right down to it. Since 1986, I’ve been an ordained minister and since 1992, a certified clinical hypnotherapist. Each of those activities has placed me countless times in the position of successfully assisting others in overcoming some aspect of their experience that they found less than enjoyable.
7. How many books have you written?
In my head? Or in actuality? In my head, I’ve written 15 that I can think of right this second. In the material sense of actuality, this is my first in tangible form. I thought it would be fun to get my feet wet with a bunch of others. See what that’s like first. So far it’s been an incredible ride.
8. What are the titles of your books and what genres are they?
The titles of the books I’ve written in my head continuously morph as I continue to advance in my direct experiences of the topics covered. The genre is always the same - A stronger connection with The Source of All That Is - God - or any other name attributed to our Creator. Coupled with the soul level recognition of our own individual Divine Sovereignty.
9. How do you manage to keep yourself focused and on track when you’re writing a book?
Well, that is yet to be seen. My intent is that once I’ve determined that a book is to be written, it will be created with the joy and happiness that will reflect what it feels like to have the understandings being shared.
　
Do you write to make money, for the love of writing or both?
Haven’t yet experienced the money making part, although I’m certainly open to it. I do love writing. Writing gives you the potential of reaching anyone, anywhere, anytime. It takes one-on-one to an exciting new level of possibility. It creates a marvelous tool that can travel countless diverse paths to unite writer with reader - it’s not limited to face-to-face exchanges. That in and of itself is attractive to me since I live at least 2400 miles from most people making face-to-face highly unlikely.
What makes you proud about your involvement with Overcomers, Inc.?
I’m proud to be affiliated with such a dynamic and remarkable group of people. All sharing with you their unique forms of courage. It’s been an honor to be amongst them.
Will you write more books?
Given the verboseness of my answers, what do you think? Kidding aside, I most definitely will. I have a yearning inside to live in a more pleasant world and I know I must do my part. Although I believe a large portion of doing my part is through the manner in which I live my life (which I believe is true for each of us), I also believe that sharing what has worked for me has the potential to help others ease their journeys. If that is at all possible, then I want to do everything I can to participate. Books, I believe, will hold keys for others who have locked themselves out of their own power. I envision a world radiating with the glow of everyone living their dreams and realizing who they really are.
What do you have in the works now?
I am working on so many wonderful projects that I can hardly contain my exuberance. I am doing all the things I love and am experiencing joyous synchronicity upon joyous synchronicity. It’s such fun!
Let’s see, I’ve compiled a decent sized collection of the photos that I’ve taken since moving to this beautiful island. If you’ve ever been here, I’m sure you will find a shot or two that will instantly take you back on a virtual mini-vacation. I try to capture Kauai’s beauty in all her splendor. I’ve been told Kauai’s nurturing essence radiates from my photos. That makes me happy because I want to do her (Kauai) justice. You can see how this project is coming along by visiting KauaiThroughMyEyes.com - if you visit, please leave a comment and let me know what you think.
Another project that is ongoing is my study of color and the gifts and blessings from God that come along with them. Each color or Ray has its own specialty, its own essence, its own frequency. I’m speaking specifically of the 7 Earthly Rays - what we know as the spectrum, or rainbow, ROYGBIV (Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo and Violet) - as well as the 6 Divine Rays. Having studied color my whole life, I became interested in the nature of the human aura in the late 70s. Since that time I have conducted innumerable experiments to test my color theories both with individuals and with groups. My findings have been empowering, energizing and enlightening. Utilizing color is one of my favorite means of manifesting the energies that I intend. I will be sharing information about this and other projects on MeKila.com as they approach completion.
I’ve also recently become quite fascinated by twitter and enjoy the array of people that I’m meeting there from all walks of life. It has been a delightful experience and I’ve met some amazing people that I might never have met otherwise. My twitter name is RevMeKila.
　
What does the future hold for you and your books?
Boy, if it’s anything like my dreams - hold onto your hats! Individually we are amazingly powerful creatures. Collectively we are unbeatable. I thoroughly endorse the nature of synergy and look forward to the marvels that we can create together.
What makes this a book that other people MUST read and WHY?
The Overcomers book is a book that other people MUST read because we can all learn from each other. Each of us is unique for a reason. In sharing that uniqueness we are able to grow in ways we couldn’t possibly by ourselves.
Also, this book will show other people that they are not alone. That there are others that have tough things to deal with too. In this book the authors share a portion of their walk on this precious planet. In each of their stories there is something you can take to encourage you on your own path. An idea or approach to a challenge that you might not have thought of. Or one that you already thought of but dismissed because you decided it couldn’t possibly work. You can gain courage in facing the things you need to face through the stories of others having activated their courage.
What people NEED to read this book and WHY?
Anyone who is currently in a situation where they feel hopeless or helpless. Anyone who has a curiosity about the diverse ways we as humans pull ourselves up by our bootstraps and continue on. Anyone who enjoys happy endings. Those are the people who will enjoy and be inspired by the stories in this book.
What sparks your creativity? Any tips to help others spark their own creativity?
What sparks my creativity? Waking up in the morning. We are all creators whether intentional or not. It’s in our DNA. We can’t get away from it. By the very nature of where we spend the blessing of energy that we’re given each day, we determine where our creations stem from. I’m fortunate enough to have known or learned that early on and have been able to do some amazing things as a result. I’m inspired by every little thing. I find wonder in each unique expression of our Creators "creativity."
As far as tips to help others spark their own creativity? Follow what you love. Feed your soul with things that nurture you. Think about what you enjoyed as a child and bring more of those things into your life. Children when left to their own devices (not stimulated by artificial means like incessant t.v. watching or video games) are fabulously creative. Be more like you were when you were a child - you were most expressing your true self then. Tap back into the dreams you had as a child and consider living them out. Or look at your surroundings and your life as if you are a child again and explore the wonders you find.
What do you think motivates people to become authors? What motivated you to get into this unusual industry?
I’m not sure what motivates other people to become authors. What motivated me to once again dabble in this form of self expression is my desire to help people smile more. I’m hoping that by sharing my thoughts and experiences others will be easier on themselves and will regain the joyousness of life they thought they’d lost.
　
If a potential reader thinks that your book wouldn't interest them, what would you say to convince them to buy? I'm thinking something better than "Its the greatest book ever." Give me something more specific :)
Well, this might not be a popular answer but I wouldn’t say anything. I believe in the Law of Attraction as well as a sort of Divine Choreography. I truly believe with all of my heart that people will be drawn to the book by the essence of the book itself. If someone thinks the book wouldn’t interest them, who am I to try to convince them otherwise? If anyone started reading this interview with the feeling that they weren’t interested in this book, hopefully they have been inspired to take action and to eagerly look forward to discovering all of the beautiful stories contained within.
What is your final message to our readers?
My final message to your readers is this: Learn to be the most gentle, nurturing and supportive person to yourself that you have ever experienced. Stop being hard on yourself. Stop being mean to yourself. Stop saying horrible things about yourself or things that you really really don’t want to experience. When you lighten up on the self talk it’s as if you’ve been plucked out of quicksand and plopped down on smooth and solid ground. A delicious side effect is that as you learn to be kinder to yourself, you will begin to magnetize into your experience people that are also kinder to you. If we all took a little time to really master this, there’d be no more need for the mirroring of unkind, harsh, critical people in our experiences. If we all learned to stop attacking ourselves, we’d experience a world with no need to attack others. We could all experience this planet as a safe and loving playground. To get your own copy of Overcomers, Inc.,True Stories of Hope, Courage and Inspiring AND enjoy dozens of wonderful gifts with your purchase go to http://overcomersinc.com/booklaunch

Paranormal in Our Lives

2009-09-29T09:11:00.000-07:00

If you love exploring the way the paranormal works in our lives, as I do, check out my fiction.
In the Alma Chronicles, the characters see ghosts, dream true, remember past lives, predict disasters, and have visions. Souls, bound together in a circle of love, passion, betrayal, and murder, reincarnate lifetime after lifetime from the ancient Celtic world through twenty-first century Arizona.
2009 releases in this series are Luke's Covenant and The Comet's Return.
This series of five books also includes the re-release of revised editions of Alison's Legacy, Lainn's Destiy, and Angie's Promise.
All my books are available at Amazon.com.
Write to me. I'd love to hear from you.
Love and light,
Toby

Psychic Closet book now available

2009-09-29T08:58:00.000-07:00

DREAMS CAN COME TRUE, SO WATCH OUT

If you’ve had a premonition, seen a ghost, or guessed who was calling when the phone rang, if you’ve denied your experiences or worried that you were going nuts, you need ways to cope. It’s difficult to accept that people sometimes know things it’s impossible for them to know. That’s when gooseflesh races along your arms and legs.

At seven, Toby Fesler Heathcotte spoke with her best friend killed in a car wreck three months earlier. Her parents dismissed the episode as imagination. She knows what it’s like to distrust herself, to suffer ridicule and disbelief, to fear for her sanity, and to search for guidance and understanding.

Out of the Psychic Closet: The Quest to Trust My True Nature describes Heathcotte’s paranormal experiences and her failure to integrate them. It details anecdotes of other people, analyzes research in the field, gives historical background, and suggests print and online resources for further study. Topics include ghosts, near-death experiences, retrocognition, dreams and lucid dreaming, doubles, déjà vu, visions, glossolalia, auras, remote viewing, UFO’s, voices, precognition, channeling, telepathy, spirit guides, peak experiences, xenoglossy, electronic transmission, past life memories, intuition, mystical awareness, and much more.

This book is your go-to source when you’ve seen a ghost, dreamed something that came true, felt a nudge to change your mind, heard a voice in your head, felt at home in a new place, or smelled the aftershave of a dead loved ones. It shows you how to step out of the psychic closet yourself. You will rise above anxiety and distrust and incorporate your psychic abilities into a more honest model of personal reality. You can turn your consternation into awe and your fear into gratitude.

Buy the book on Amazon.com, Bn.com, or from the publisher, Twilighttimesbooks.com

Women of Wisdom Foreword by Jean Houston

2009-06-21T10:16:00.000-07:00

Foreword by Jean Houston

Women of Wisdom is in the forefront of the biggest change in human history – the only change that will assure our continuity as a species. Those who organize and participate in the Women of Wisdom experience know that for a new world to be born we have to bring a new mind to bear. Critical to this is the rich mind style of women that has been gestating in the womb of preparatory time, lo, these many millennia. In their ebullient and evocative conferences WOW demonstrates a tremendous change in who we are and how we do things.Playing their part to usher in feminine mind, WOW emphasizes process rather than just product, and making things cohere, relate, and grow. Cultures in which the feminine archetype is powerful are almost always non-heroic; they tend to make things work together, each piece has its part to play. The feminine principle expresses itself as an unfolding of levels of existence, not as conquest of facts. The relationships between people and things become more important than final outcome. The world within becomes as important as the world outside.In each and every WOW conference women discover ways to manifest this consciousness, embrace their power, challenge the way things are done, and build a new social order. They learn how women are more geared to team building and leading enterprises through natural growth stages.The conferences demonstrate that governance, games, education, work, health – society itself – can be held to a new standard, one that promotes and honors the fullness of who and what we can be rather than just collective rights and liberties. They empower women to challenge the most sexist institutions from the medical establishments to business institutions, and at long last, allow their full creativity to be set free.The women’s movement as a whole, and events such as the Women of Wisdom conference in particular, may be the outward manifestation of what is happening on depth levels in essential, mythic, and archetypal space-time. Whether the women’s movement has evolved because the crisis of the eternal world is calling for the rise of the goddess to restore the balance of nature, or because the release of women into full partnership demands a similar release of its archetypal principle, or even because, in the cosmic cycle of things, the time of the goddess has come around, we cannot say. But all the evidence indicates that the feminine archetype is returning.This is perhaps the most important event of the last five thousand years, and its consequences may well have an immense, unimaginable effect on cultural and ecological evolution.Because its approach is systemic rather than systematic, because it sees things in constellations rather than as discreet and disconnected facts, the feminine mind view is supremely concerned with the networking of the individual with the larger social organism. This is most important as we try and create a planetary society with deepening of individual cultures.As I have had the opportunity to talk with many of the participants at these conferences I am moved to celebration and gratitude for what these remarkable women have done and how they have served in the creation of this new society.--Jean Houston, PhD

Women of Wisdom by Kris Steinnes, is a book that deals with this and other important issues. It is being offered beginning on June 23rd, 2009 at 12:01 am. We invite you to go to this page - www.wisewomanpublishing.com/womenofwisdom.html - to access the order page and then go back to this page to access the bonus page. On the Exclusive Private Invite page, enter your order confirmation code. That will allow you to gain entry to the bonus gifts that are available to people who buy the book on June 23rd.

Women of Wisdom - buy a new book with bonus gifts

2009-06-21T09:57:00.000-07:00

I have a book to recommend because it contains works and models by outstanding women and also because it draws attention to problems women have in our society.

One important example is the lack of the Divine Feminine and female leaders in traditional churches. Some churches still don’t allow women leaders and priests or if they do the women are not equal to men. The male dominance in these churches has resulted in women's leaving the church. They want to find a model that allows for the balance of the feminine and masculine in the Godhead. When women are not seen as Divine and the male is seen as Divine through our language of “He” as God, women have a hard time relating to that God and leave in search of something that reflects their Divinity such as Wicca, Goddess religions, or New Age religions such as Science of Mind, Religious Science, and Unity. I personally feel a kinship with all of these religions but prefer to work on my spirituality at home or in psychic development groups such as those sponsored by spiritiualist groups.

Women of Wisdom by Kris Steinnes, is a book that deals with this and other important issues. It is being offered beginning on June 23rd, 2009 at 12:01 am. We invite you to go to this page - www.wisewomanpublishing.com/womenofwisdom.html - to access the order page and then go back to this page to access the bonus page. On the Exclusive Private Invite page, enter your order confirmation code. That will allow you to gain entry to the bonus gifts that are available to people who buy the book on June 23rd.

A Widow Communicates with her Deceased Husband

2008-11-30T08:15:00.000-08:00

In October I attended a one-day workshop on developing psychic skills, sort of a refresher course for me. One of the most copasetic events happened when I went to lunch with the woman who had sat next to me. We hadn’t met before and spent our lunch in a sub shop getting acquainted.

She was tall, vibrant, and warm. She willingly spoke about her family, her position in a law firm, and her husband who passed away. She smiled when she relayed the news of her widowhood. I found that unusual and asked her whether she had ever received a communication with him from the other side.

No only did she give me a resounding yes, but she agreed to an interview because I told her how much I thought readers would enjoy hearing her story. Here are my questions and her answers:

Toby: What was your attitude regarding communication between the living and the dead before your husband passed away?

Smiling Widow: I had never given this thought the time of day because I had not met anyone who believed in communicating with the other side.

Toby: What was his attitude?

Smiling Widow: He certainly was NOT a believer. In fact, many years ago I just mentioned casually that I felt that I must have lived during the time of the Civil War because I identified so strongly with the book/movie Gone With the Wind. He brought it up when we were with a group of friends and I almost had a heart attack! I told him later to never mention that again and he didn’t. At one of my sessions with the psychic/medium named Jamie Clark, Jamie brought up that my husband didn’t believe in any of this when he was alive but he is really enjoying this now that he’s on the other side.

Toby: Describe the first time you imagined you had received a visitation from your husband.

Smiling Widow: In February of 2006, I went to the Arizona Broadway Theater and when I came out, there was a red looking blister on the outside of my right index finger that I hadn’t noticed when I went in. After a few days, it turned into a red heart and I knew it was him because he always sent me flowers for Valentine’s Day. I told a few friends but I don’t think anyone really believed me. However, several people at my office noticed it and commented that it looked like a red heart.

Toby: How did you feel at the time?

Smiling Widow: When I first noticed the blister, I didn’t give it much thought but when it turned into the red heart, I knew it had to be him. I wasn’t upset or afraid but comforted that he was able to do this while on the other side.

Toby: About how many visitations have you had?

Smiling Widow: Since that first time in February of 2006, there have been many. He shows himself in many ways. I believe the next instance was in a dream. It was so vivid and real and I’ve since learned this is one of the many ways of communicating with us. Also, there was the time shortly after the red heart that I had been to a group session with Jamie who brought up angels during my reading. I had been doing some readings with angel cards so that’s what I thought Jamie referred to. However, when my friend and I got to my house, she just happened to look up at the sky and there in a clear blue sky with nothing else around it were white clouds in the shape of an angel. That’s what he was trying to say: he was sending me an angel.

Toby: How has your emotion changed over time?

Smiling Widow: It was very comforting to me to know that he was still alive. I was brought up in the Protestant religion and always knew that there was life after death but I never knew or was told that our spirit is capable of communicating with those left behind after our passing. I really hadn’t given it any thought before. Now I am more aware of songs that come on the radio while I’m driving because he lets me know that he’s still around. He knows I was a big Elvis fan so there are many times I’ve heard his songs on the radio. It’s just a knowing that those were directed to me.

Toby: How have these visitations affected other areas of your life?

Smiling Widow: This has opened a door for me to learn so much more about life and living it to the fullest, knowing that someday I will be with my family again. I am more in tune with my surroundings and it gives me such a wonderful outlook on life in general. I have gone from that first experience to learning that there is so much more to life—one book or person leads me to the next learning experience. I know that there are no coincidences in life, that everything happens for a reason and that people come into our lives for a reason. We have to take the blinders off and be open to the experiences that will come.

Toby: What do you feel is the cause of these visitations?

Smiling Widow: When our loved ones cross over, they are still concerned about us, especially at first, because they know we have to deal with our grief. They want to check up on us and make sure we’re doing okay. Just because they are not in their physical body doesn’t mean that they don’t love us any more.

Toby: Do you think your experience is special or do you think others could have similar experiences?

Smiling Widow: My experiences are not special except for me. Everyone can be in contact with their loved ones who have crossed over—just believe it can happen and it will. They are waiting for us to open up and recognize that they are still alive—just not in a body like ours.

Toby: Is your relationship with your husband ongoing or has he moved on?

Smiling Widow: My husband crossed over April 30, 2004 but it wasn’t until February of 2006 that he made contact with me through the red heart. I have no idea how many times he was with me until then. The visitations are not as often as at first because he has things to do on the other side and I have to get on with my life. There are times when I know he’s around, checking up on me and our dog, just stopping by to make sure we’re okay.

Toby: What advice would you give others who might be grieving?

Smiling Widow: Find a good support group. My husband had hospice care and they were wonderful. Know that everyone grieves in different ways and for different time periods. If you believe that there is life after death and you can communicate with your loved one, then find the people who believe as you do. There are many books on this subject and a good source is hayhouse.com. Reading helped me tremendously.

Toby: How has this experience enriched your life?

Smiling Widow: I have been blessed in so many ways through the many wonderful people I have met in the last few years. I have a sense of direction and am excited about the future knowing that my life will never be the same. Understanding that there are no coincidences has helped me to be more in tune with my life, to wonder what other people I will be drawn to, what book is going to be coming my way—what life has in store for me. This journey we are on here on this planet can truly be an exciting one when we are open to all possibilities.

How true the smiling widow’s words are. Blessings on her.

One disclaimer. I don’t know the medium she mentions at all, but because the smiling widow has faith in him I included his name.

Intention in Dreams

2008-05-26T10:50:00.000-07:00

Paying attention to or intending dreams is important to dream functioning. If I give myself a suggestion as to dream content before I go to sleep, I dream more precisely with less random content and fewer references to events that happened during the day.

When I focus my dreaming self to follow a certain scenario, such as when I do a dream experiment, I am successful in organizing the dream events to follow the pattern, perhaps not closely but there is definitely accord between my goal and the dream. However if I think nothing about what my dream content will be before I go to sleep, it is often unpleasant or negative. Sometimes my dreams are wonderful but less so unless I ask for something wonderful. There’s an aimless quality to the dreams otherwise.

For the past several months I’ve participated in dream experiments in an interest group on www.theintentionexperiment.ning.com. The group is open and free, so join it if you want to participate.

The group, led by Bill Schuh, uses the following procedure: Bill chooses a key holder from a group of volunteers and decides the date of the experiment. The key holder decides the key. The night of the experiment, participants from around the world try to dream the identity of the key. Then, the participants post their dreams to the website. After a few days, the identity of the key is revealed.

My turn as key holder has been very interesting. I chose a plaster cast of the letter M because of its associations to words like mother, mentor, miracle, mystery. You can see the key and my instructions at www.tobyheathcotte.com/fivewaysout.htm.

Here’s a summary of dreamers’ replies: Two people actually cited the letter M. Some tried to describe images like double triangles that were obviously impressions of the letter. At least five people guessed a pomegranate or apple as the key. That seemed an odd reference until some research discovered the pomegranate is used as a symbol for the divine feminine, a goddess especially Persephone, the Goddess, or Mother Mary.

I too dreamed that night, what at first seemed a humorous tangent:

First Grotto Dream – the night of the experiment

In my dream I went alone to a grotto in a woods where I laid a printed copy of the agreement about the experiment. I was aware in the dream that it was not my dining table area that should be the site of the key. I was also aware of my clothing, a long white gown that flowed past my feet like a medieval dress. However I don’t think I needed to walk as I was hovering over the ground, flying low. I went away and then returned to the grotto to find the agreement printed and sealed inside of the grotto. I considered this magic or a miracle as it was not possible in the dream environment to go into the grotto. One could only view it from outside. Some other teachers arrived and we started trying to figure out what caused the miracle of the sealed document and also why and how the dream location changed. The dream subject was an illogical dream sign.

When ideas about the Goddess kept coming from the participants, I searched on Yahoo for the word grotto. Many photos came up of grotto formations in nature. Many other photos showed either natural or manmade grottos honoring female deities, Mother Mary as well as Greek and Celtic goddesses.

Second Grotto Dream – twenty days later – I intentionally tried to dream about the grotto again and was successful.

I awoke with an image of the icon in the grotto. It appeared to transform so it was hard to tell, but I thought of the iris flower with stem and leaves, a cobra’s head and neck, a swan with fluttering wings and curved neck – all three images looked similar in shape and seemed to flash in sequence. Then I saw the same review of the iris, cobra, and swan on the right side of the grotto. On the left appeared faint images like copies of checks the bank sends, three checks in all to match the three images.

I believe the Divine Feminine, the Goddess, Mother Mary, whatever you want to call Her, visited me that night and directed my energy to the real image. She also visited many of the other dreamers to show them the pomegranate, a symbol of Her to make us all more aware of Her truth in our lives.

This insight about dreaming intentionally is new to me. I believe intending dreams might be a step up in consciousness for humanity. If human life is about becoming more conscious and more consciously in control of creating our reality, both literally and symbolically, then dreaming intentionally would be more productive and revelatory than dreaming randomly or as a reaction to daily functioning.

Interview with Dyan Garris

2008-05-11T15:53:00.000-07:00

Hello Dyan and Welcome,

After you write your manuscripts, do you find it necessary to do major editing or does the text come to you in well-developed, organized segments?

Hi Toby. These are great questions. Thank you for the interview. I find that most of what I write comes to me in organized segments. Sometimes I’m not sure which segment goes where; but then it all comes together at the end, like putting a puzzle together. When I’m done I do have everything edited thoroughly for punctuation, grammar, and sentence structure. When I wrote “Money and Manifesting,” I was told to write the characters first. So I did. Then I was told they would just interact and to my amazement they did. Then I was instructed as to where exactly to insert the fiction around the information. It really was an amazing process.

Would you consider your work automatic writing or inspired writing?

I’ve never looked at it quite as automatic writing. But everything I write is co-created. So yes, I would call it “inspired.”

In either case, to whom do you attribute your creativity? Angels as separate entities or your own higher self or some other intelligence?

The best way I can answer that is that I don’t believe in the illusion of separation. I am not God or angels; but I am part of that, just as the branches are part of the tree. Everything I’m doing I’m co-creating.

Your intuitive cooking idea intrigues me. Are you assembling responses from satisfied users? Does following this method result in slimming or regulating weight?

The intuitive cookbook was so much fun to put together. There are twelve channeled messages in the book. They are food related, such as “The Sweetness of Life” and “The Measure of Success” and “Ode to Popcorn.” And there are several “Intuitive Speaking” paragraphs which encourage the use of one’s own intuition in making the recipe. The book has several reviews, which are posted on my main website. Here is the link: https://www.voiceoftheangels.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_reviews&cPath=1&products_id=3&zenid=8622a7ceb60a857b6dc94f599eb24e3b
I do believe that intuitive cooking results in weight regulation. When you’re tuning into your body and feeding it what nourishes it on every level, your body is going to respond positively to that.

Thank you, Dyan, and best wishes with your books, your CDs, and all your efforts to bring new and better understandings to people.

Love and light,
Toby

Each person who posts a comment on any or all of the blog tour spots will be entered in a random drawing for a copy of Dyan Garris’ CD – Release. In addition – the blog owner that hosted the winning commenter will also win a free copy of Release. Share your thoughts and comments with Dyan. She will check in throughout the day to answer questions. You’ll learn more and you have a chance to win a CD.

For more information about Dyan Garris and her virtual tour, you can check the full schedule at http://virtualblogtour.blogspot.com/2008/04/dyan-garris-may-schedule.html and there are more details at http://virtualblogtour.blogspot.com/2008/04/dyan-garris-may-blog-tour.html.
Her website is full of great details about all of the items within her “toolbox” and there are many special features. She provides the tools you need to have a full and happy life – http://www.voiceoftheangels.com/ and it’s not as hard to achieve as you think. Visit Dyan’s Amazon profile for links to many of her products - http://www.amazon.com/gp/pdp/profile/AYREZNHQDLRFM/.

Five Ways Out of the Psychic Closet

2008-05-09T09:10:00.000-07:00

If you have psychic experiences such as seeing a ghost or knowing beforehand that something will happen, you’re not crazy. These experiences are a part of life. If you have trouble convincing yourself of that fact, maybe this acronym will serve you, as it has served me.

TRUST, The Five Ways Out of the Psychic Closet

T. Track your dreams
R. Repel ridicule
U. Use it or lose it
S. See your ability as a divine gift
T. Trust yourself

Track Your Dreams A direct route to your psychic self, dreams surface while the rational, analytical layer of consciousness sleeps. Focusing on psychic experiences that happen in sleep, such as precognition and encounters with departed loved ones, entices them to occur. You can track your dreams by recording them each morning in a dream journal. You dream about five times per night. Assuming you sleep every night, that’s more than eighteen hundred dreams per year. In thirty years of journal keeping, I managed to write down approximately one hundred dreams per year. That means at least seventeen hundred went out of memory, unrecorded. No wonder the sages say we go through life like automatons, using only a tiny portion of our brain’s ability. After you’ve attained the habit of writing down your dreams, read back through the dream journal at the end of each year and mark the dreams that have come true. If you’re like me, you’ll average four to twelve percent per year, the number of precognitive dreams found in research. You’ll also receive other benefits from tracking dreams, such as help in dealing with emotions, problem solving, self-understanding, and experiencing lucidity. All contribute to a better life and spiritual growth.

Repel Ridicule Scoffers come in two varieties: ones you can ignore or leave without looking back and ones you can’t. Tolerating ridicule from those with whom you have work, family, or love bonds can be difficult. Also, people deride psychic experiences, yours or anyone else’s, out of ignorance or in an attempt to deny their own. You can’t change anyone except yourself, but you can work to discover why your loved ones mock you. Explain to them what you are experiencing and ask them to respect you even if they don’t understand. It’s not easy to keep the fears of others from invading you, but encountering the situation with your loved ones invokes personal growth and builds self-esteem because you are honoring your experiences and your perceptions.
Use It or Lose It Psychic experiences, especially angel visitations or intuition, often come at critical moments to save our lives or give us insights. Unchecked self-doubt can deter positive outcomes if you’re not careful. I wish I’d come to this conclusion earlier. I wasted a lot of time. Once I had a horrible dream where someone I loved died in a car wreck. Because a few dreams with minor implications came true, I feared this one would also. I called the person and described the dream. Nothing bad happened to him in a car, but something bad happened to me. I took on myself awful responsibility by confusing awareness of the future with control over it. For a while I practiced automatic writing. Two spirit guides spoke to me and through me. They gave some excellent insights on life. I rejected those wonderful entities out of fears for my sanity so I also lost the ability to do automatic writing. No one knows better than I that, if you don’t use your psychic ability, you lose it. And if you fear it, it sometimes goes away.

See Your Ability As a Gift You understand synchronicity if you’ve ever picked up the phone to call someone, only to find that person on the other end having just called you. Or, you’re trying to remember the name of the actor who played in an old movie, then he appears on the TV screen, narrating a documentary. Some coincidences are bound to happen by the law of averages. Synchronicities are those that have such special meaning that they seem to have been designed. They let you know you are in the flow. Impulses can save your life. One morning I changed my route to school for no apparent reason then learned from the radio that two wrecks had happened on my regular route at precisely the time I would have been there. Premonitions can help you face bad situations that happen in everyone’s lifetime.

Trust Yourself Parapsychologists have already proven ESP exists with clairvoyance, psychokinesis, telepathy, and more. Now they’re trying to figure out how it works. As increased funding becomes available, more scientific proof will aid people in accepting this fragile facet of their being. The mystics have always known that psychic experiences can set a person on the path of spiritual growth that leads to lucidity and cosmic consciousness. Self-esteem grows when you honor your psychic experiences. Allowing rather than forcing helps them to occur. William James said it only takes one white crow to prove they’re not all black. One genuine psychic experience, if we’re honest with ourselves, is all it takes.

Dyan Garris Interview Coming Up

2008-05-09T09:07:00.000-07:00

On Monday, May 12, I’ll interview psychic and healer Dyan Garris about her writing process and intuitive cooking. This interview is part of a virtual tour. I invite you to participate. Her entire tour includes the following topics:

1. Manifesting2. Self-empowerment3. Patterns and belief systems4. What really gets in the way of people manifesting what they want5. Music as a way to unblock energy and as a healing tool6. Meditation, mindful meditation, connection in general7. Chakra balance and energy field8. Angels and angel cards9. Psychic ability10. Integration of mind, body, and spirit and why it's so important

Each person who posts a comment on any or all of the blog tour spots will be entered in a random drawing for a copy of Dyan Garris’ CD – Release. In addition – the blog owner that hosted the winning commenter will also win a free copy of Release. Share your thoughts and comments with Dyan. She will check in throughout the day to answer questions. You’ll learn more and you have a chance to win a CD.

For more information about Dyan Garris and her virtual tour, you can check the full schedule at http://virtualblogtour.blogspot.com/2008/04/dyan-garris-may-schedule.html and there are more details at http://virtualblogtour.blogspot.com/2008/04/dyan-garris-may-blog-tour.html.

Her website is full of great details about all of the items within her “toolbox” and there are many special features. She provides the tools you need to have a full and happy life – www.voiceoftheangels.com and it’s not as hard to achieve as you think. Visit Dyan’s Amazon profile for links to many of her products - http://www.amazon.com/gp/pdp/profile/AYREZNHQDLRFM/.

Doubles, Fetches, Doppelgangers

2008-03-27T13:52:00.000-07:00

One night when my children were small, a rustling sound awoke me. I saw or thought I saw my four-year-old scurry into the bathroom. I sat up and called to him then felt ridiculous. He looked transparent and wore an Indian-style feather on his head like little boys often do. Neither of my sons had such a feather in his toy box. I got up to go check on him. I went into the bathroom to find it empty. Sure enough, he lay in his bed, sleeping restlessly.
Clearly, I could have been dreaming. After all, I had been asleep before seeing the image. I dismissed the incident. In fact, I found it a relief to do so. I hated the intrusion of any possible psychic information. It complicated everything. Either that or a part of me wanted to confront myself.
A few days later, I saw another double. My friend Connie and I both taught at the local high school. Both of our husbands attended graduate school at Indiana University. She had a baby girl. While our kids played in the meadow between our married-housing apartment buildings one Saturday morning, Connie and I made plans to attend a bridal shower for another teacher that afternoon.
I volunteered to drive and told her I would pick her up at 1:15 in the turnaround at the apartment complex where she lived. At the time, Connie wore a red sundress with matching scarf around her head. Because I was in shorts, I asked her if she intended to change clothes. She said yes, and we agreed to dress up more.
At 1:10 p.m., wearing a dress, I drove into the turnaround and saw or thought I saw Connie walk through the door. I assumed she’d changed her mind because she wore the same clothes. I glanced at the curb as the car came to a stop then looked back to find her gone. Perplexed, I wondered what had happened to her. Momentarily, she came through the door actually wearing the same clothes.
As she approached the car, I called, “Did you forget something?” She shook her head. “Did you look out and then go back to get a drink of water or something?”
“No.” Connie looked at me suspiciously. “I just came down the elevator. I’ve not been outside since I saw you this morning.”
“I meant just now. You said you were going to change your clothes.”
“What’s the matter with you, Toby?”
The matter was that I didn’t want to admit that I had seen her double. My conscious mind anticipated that she would wear different clothes.
I couldn’t use the excuse of being asleep this time. I’d seen her wide awake, with the engine running on my car. I mumbled something inadequate, and we headed off to the bridal shower. But I didn’t forget, nor did I understand what had happened. I rationalized that my imagination had been working overtime. I couldn’t have seen Connie before she came through the door, therefore I didn’t see her, I lied to myself.
As the years have gone by and similar events have happened to me on occasion, I've come to realize that I'm not unusual. In fact such episodes happen so often and across cultures that many languages have names for the experience, double in English, fetch in Irish, vardoger in Swedish, doppelganger in German, ka in Egyptian. It is not known what causes the double to become visible and little research has been done on it.
In the absence of expert testimony, I'll give my opinion. There's nothing to fear from these appearances. Sometimes they might herald the impending death of the person. If the person does die soon after, the person seeing the double might simply be receiving a warning to help prepare him or her for the inevitable.
In my own case, the persons whose doubles I saw are still alive many years later. The double might simply be restless energy on the part of the other person, a projection of the aura perhaps. Seeing one might be disconcerting at the moment, but later it can become a comforting memory and example of the awesome scope of human capabilities, both to project the double and to see it.

The article is partially excerpted from Out of the Psychic Closet: The Quest to Trust My True Nature to be released by Twilight Times Books Summer, 2008.

Online Precognition Research

2008-01-26T11:24:00.000-08:00

At 1:00 a.m. on the morning of January 25, I awoke and recorded the following dream:

I felt as if I were in the body of another younger woman. My husband and I and our small daughter bought a house at the bottom of a hill and moved in. We could look up at the top and see a casino, neon, glittering, and beautiful. An earthquake opened up huge fissures. I saw it happen. I heard people screaming and running, trying to get out. A young man fell through a railing. Others grabbed him and pulled him back, including a young woman who acted proud of being strong enough to do that. The next day reporters came. My husband had at one time been a reporter. He took one of their cameras and said something like “I’m back” to film my daughter’s doll abandoned in the yard at the time of the catastrophe. He and the reporters displayed crass emotions. People were laughing as they sifted through the debris. I was horrified by the selfish, empty destruction.

Imagine my dismay when I watched the evening news and saw that the Monte Carlo Casino burned in Las Vegas at 11 a.m., just ten hours later. In my dream the destruction came from an earthquake. In reality it came from a fire, but the juxtaposition in time and the similarity between the appearance of the casino in the video and in my dream shocked me enough to switch channels to see the images several times. Those images confirmed in my mind that I had at some level of consciousness been aware of the events about to unfold.

For a long time I dreaded my precognitive dreams because I had some notion that, if I knew something was about to happen and couldn't prevent it, then I was to blame. Everyone hates to feel guilty, and I let my fear get in the way of any usefulness in my abilities. Now I realize that I'm like most people. None of us understand these abilities we have. Even people who are far better at precognition than I don't understand the why of their abilities very well

Some things are already known about precognitive dreams. I'm summarizing research done by Arthur T. Funkhouser of Switzerland:

Most precognition happens in dreams rather than in waking life.

Precognitive dreams can be induced through intention.

Precognitive dream subjects are generally mundane, such as dreaming that you'll meet a person named Virgil when you've never known anyone by that name.

People who record their dreams find precognitive elements in 4 to 12 percent of them.

Most precognitive dreams play out in the ensuing 24 hours although a few take years for fulfillment.

Emotion tends to induce precognition.

There is much more to be learned about precognition. Online research allows many of us to participate. If you have dreams that intrigue you, I encourage you to join one or more of the following research sites as I have done and help create greater understanding of ourselves:
psiarcade.com/gaia - a new site - the goal is "to correlate collective dreams with world events, including natural and unnatural disasters, to see if collective dreams are predictive"
mainportals.com/precog.shtml - a site that has been in operation for several years with the same goal
aspr.com - The American Society for Psychical Research - the oldest and most broad-sweeping. Click on Online Research to enter your experiences in the database.
theintentionexperiment.com - a new site with "a series of scientifically controlled, web-based experiments testing the power of intention to change the physical world"

The sweetest of dreams to you!

My First Psychic Experience

2008-01-06T16:17:00.000-08:00

When I was in second grade, my best friend was killed in a car accident by a drunk driver. Two months later while I lay on the ground in my back yard, she leaned over a cloud and said hello to me. I asked her how she liked where she lived now. She said it was a good place then turned and disappeared.

The good news elated me, and I ran into the house and told my folks. They informed me it was impossible to talk to my friend because she was dead. They convinced me that I made up the whole thing and encouraged me to play with other children in the neighborhood.

From that time on, a part of me was never completely certain what had happened. I couldn't forget it, but neither did I want to mention it. I began to distrust my perceptions. Especially as I grew into a teenager, I had disturbing dreams that I tried to repress because I feared they would come true. Somehow I got the bizarre notion that, if I dreamed something, then it happened, I was to blame.

My parents didn't react as they did to be mean to me. They were trying to protect me. In the process they squelched a part of my nature.

Once I was grown I had to acknowledge that some of my dreams did seem to come true. That knowledge set me on the path of self-exploration that continues to this day.

If you have a child who sees ghosts or talks to an imaginary playmate, try to keep an open mind. Who knows? Your child might grow out of it. If not, it's important to remember we all experience the world in somewhat different ways. At least don't tell them they're wrong.

Kahil Gibran said of children, "They come through you but not from you, and though they are with you, yet they belong not to you. You may give them your love but not your thoughts, For they have their own thoughts."