The Joseph Communications

Crucial Trance Communications

Trance-Scriptions II: The View from the Balcony

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Trance-Scriptions: The collected Soul Group Messages sessions

Part II: The View from the Balcony

The ‘Higher Perspective’…

The ‘Bigger Picture’…

Joseph and his Soul Group have consistently sought to liberate us via their communications – to reconnect us with a spiritual way of thinking and being – to reintroduce harmony, peace and understanding-from-the-heart into our lives here.

That higher view… that clearer-and-further-ahead-seeing view from the balcony – as perhaps an appropriate analogy – was presented to us during every single trance session in order that we might address current conditions and attitudes on Earth from a higher vibrational viewpoint and adjust our approach to them accordingly.

Soul Group communications were never wasted; never trivial; never the pointless: ‘Hi! How are you all? Don’t worry – you don’t need to do a thing… Everything’s going to be all right.’ messages unfortunately sometimes attributed to channelled material. Instead, we were repeatedly encouraged to examine our views on life, the ways in which we relate to each other and to our world, and to remember – ‘re-member’ – re-connect with who and what we really are and to live joyously and nobly from that higher, Divine perspective as a result of doing so.

The following transcription is a perfect example of this – a highly relevant communication in light of current dominant attitudes and beliefs on Earth – shining, as it does, a spiritual spotlight onto and into some of humanity’s darker, more muddled and more divisive thoughts…

As usual, I drifted in and out of a trance state throughout this session, and those switch-points between clairvoyance and trance are indicated in the text. Also, and as with each of these text versions of filmed sessions originally presented on our YouTube channel, we are indebted to Jules Gadiot for his dedication and painstaking work in transcribing the material.

[Note: In offering this written version, I have occasionally transposed one or two words and taken out any repetition acceptable in speech but less so in a text. These slight and infrequent adjustments apart, the following is a faithful transcription of the original filmed session.]

Soul Group Messages – 2.

Spirit Communicators: ‘The African Gentleman’, ‘Joseph’, ‘The Big Indian’.

Michael (connecting initially via a clairvoyant link):

There has been a gentleman with me since this morning in a blue light. He is a black gentleman and he has a kind of necklace around his neck and shoulders. I would say he is from Africa. I would say he was part of a tribe, and he wants to talk about something that is relevant today but not in the way that it is being presented as ‘being relevant’ today. He is talking about diversity. He stands in front of me as an African gentleman, but then he becomes taller as a white gentleman in a brown robe; which looks… I don’t know… Egyptian. Then he turns into a lady with two babies. She is dark-haired and isn’t very tall. Then he turns into a ball of light, [so that] all I can see is the blue light he came in with.

The African Gentleman:

He says what he wants to do is to jog people out of their perception of what they are, because he has seen increasingly that people become locked into this vision of themselves as male; female; in their twenties; in their forties; of a certain colour; of a certain creed… and he says each of the images he has given us thus far is him. Because, in one of his lives on Earth – one life of many – he has been each of these people. So: he has been black. He has been white. He has been male. He has been female. He says he has been healthy in certain lives. He has been unhealthy in certain lives. But they are all him as a spirit. And he says ‘him’ is a misnomer. They are all an expression of the energy that he really is, and the energy itself is also an expression of him as essence. And that the ball of light he has shown me is also him, and is his choice of expression at times in the spiritual vibrations he now exists in.

Michael: So, he says… (switching to a trance link, with the African Gentleman taking over at this point): ‘Doesn’t that make a nonsense of attacking others? Doesn’t that make a nonsense of singling out others? And doesn’t it also make a nonsense of attacking people in a current frame and saying, “You are responsible for this in the past or that in the past.”? You don’t know who you have been! You don’t know whether you have been male or female in the past …whether you have been in charge of people or subservient to people. You don’t know whether you have been healthy. You don’t know whether you have been ill. You don’t know in what part of the globe you have lived. And those existences you might have had are only part of your infinite existence as the angelic being you really are. And you have, in the normal course of things, existences in other worlds as well, as part of your evolution as a spirit.

‘So, to shrink down that ‘glorious spread of energy’ that you really are into one form and say, “This is me and this is you and I oppose you because I don’t like this aspect of you or I don’t like this aspect of myself,” is such a confinement of thinking, such a confinement of what you really are. In the spiritual realms we, as the energy that we are – or the expression of God that we are – we push against vibrations to manifest. So, we are not the actual vibrations, we are not the actual energy; we are the impulse, the essence behind the energy. And so, we push against those vibrations – and pushing against those vibrations gives us form. And we can choose which form we come through as.

‘I can select, from my past lives on Earth, which of those past lives I would like to ‘wear’ today – and I say ‘wear’ as with a suit of clothes. I can choose to be the person you saw when I first came through, or I can choose to be the lady that I [once] was. I can choose to be the gentleman I was in the Egyptian area. It is down to me, but it is simply an expression. It is simply my energies pushing through, via memory, against the energies that are around me to form an image that others can relate to for a time. And if I want to change that image it is as simple as changing a shirt or a hat. I am not those images. I was those images in order to learn, but that’s all. And I can select them from this ‘wardrobe’, this spiritual wardrobe I have, to appear to others as I wish to appear to others, as I have appeared to you today.

‘Personality is a small thing. Earthly perception is a small thing until you enlarge it, until you tune into your core energy and allow that energy to transform and expand your consciousness, to reconnect it to spiritual consciousness, to God consciousness, to angelic consciousness. You have opportunities to do that every day; you have opportunities to link into your true self. And bearing in mind what I have said about the confinement of personality – the confinement of associating yourself with one form only and reacting to others from that point of view – doesn’t it sound freeing to be able to expand your view of how things are? Doesn’t it sound freeing to be able to relate to people as the energy – as the core energy – that they are, rather than as the ‘suit of clothes’ that you see in front of you and react to?

‘This is a time for connection to your spiritual self.

‘If I sound stern, it is because I am! It is because I look at what is happening on the Earth at the moment and it needs changing. It needs sorting out. It needs transforming. And the only way you can do that is by gaining an advanced and elevated perspective. But to gain an elevated perspective, you don’t go to anyone else. You don’t go to a town hall and say, ‘Please, Mr. Official, can you give me an elevated perspective?’ That elevated perspective comes from within you. It is yours by birthright. And by ‘birthright’ I don’t mean the point at which your current form was given shape on Earth. I mean by birthright from the Godhead. Expulsion, if you like… ‘expulsion’ is the wrong word… expansion from the Godhead, as a facet from the Godhead. It is yours by right, by being part of God.

‘And I see the people of Earth, different countries I have lived in, ignoring that, turning away from that and entrenching themselves in the suit of clothes they are wearing. Every day they confine themselves to a greater extent within the suit of clothes they are wearing and identify only with that suit of clothes. Don’t you want more than that? Don’t you want to connect to something beautiful; to something permanent; to something that relieves you of your worries; to something that takes away all the stress, all the doubt; to something that gives you a path that is a steady path, that gives you the means to know exactly what to do in any situation: how to react, when not to react? You can only do this for yourself. I can’t do it for you. No one you turn to for guidance on Earth can do it for you. I don’t care whether they are a priest; whether they are a member of government; whether they are someone who says they are an expert. No one can do it for you, except you!

‘You need to open your hearts. You need to open your hearts now. What I mean by that is that you need to connect via your hearts to your greater wisdom, to your greater self, to your greater capability. You are running out of time to do this. If I could show you myself now as that ball of light – and that is only an expression of me; it is only a connection point between me and others – if I could show you what Michael is seeing, the beauty he is seeing in that light, you would feel that is something to be fought for, that is something to be attained, that is something that is “…essential for me! …I must have that!”  Yes, you must have it, but you must work to have it. You have to realise you are more than you appear to be. Stop – please – confining yourself!

‘I am a member of Joseph’s soul group. Michael hasn’t seen me before but I am a member who has stepped to one side to allow Joseph to speak… because the message – the Joseph message – is so crucial at this time… I have stood on the sidelines, thinking, I wish I could give voice to what I want to say. And today I have that opportunity. So, I thank you for that opportunity but, please, hand on heart, please, listen to what I am saying. You are not what you appear to be… unless you choose to be what you appear to be – confined, restricted, shoehorned into something that doesn’t go anywhere!

‘You are on Earth to expand your vision, to expand your senses, to crisscross the world, each of you, with spiritual energies, with healing energies, with loving energies. You are not doing that. It is time to do it!’

person standing on grass field while opening hands

Michael (via clairvoyance): I now have Joseph, who wishes to say something…

Joseph:

…He’s saying he wants to talk about the subject of expansion. He says, on the subject of expansion, which the other gentleman was talking about, the natural state of things, spiritually, is to expand. He says the universe – universes plural – exist to expand, to become more. That is why you see that outward movement of planets and galaxies and stars. The universe expands. The physical universe/universes expand as a result of the expansion of the individual angelic spirits within that universe. As they expand the universe expands. The universe is an expression without of what’s happening within. And, in the normal course of things on other planets, the angelic host visits those planets, in flesh, in substance, in a denser vibration, to move through the opportunities those planets offer to them, as a journey, so that they can expand.

Michael (reverting to trance, with Joseph taking over): ‘That is the purpose of all planets, anywhere in the universe. They are spheres – expressions – of angelic intent, that allow angelic spirits to move through them on a physical journey in order to learn and to expand. Otherwise, there is no purpose to the planets. And, once a planet has exhausted its possibilities for the angelic travellers [moving] through it, that planet is deconstructed; folded away. And another sphere is created by another area of the angelic host with different properties, with different opportunities, so that angelic travellers can move through that new sphere of experience and enhance the whole; expand the whole.

‘And this is done in a linked way: the angelic hosts, the angelic travellers, do not travel in isolation …in that their experience is taken back to the rest of the angelic host and permeates the entire physical universe, which evolves.

‘Why am I telling you this? Because on Earth at the moment you are not expanding. You are digging a hole, hiding in it, covering it up above your heads and sitting there, not expanding. Every day you are here is an opportunity… a blessed, God-given opportunity to become more than you were yesterday; to realise things about yourself; to realise things about others; to realise things about the planet, and to contribute to the planet, to contribute to each other, and to contribute to the universe. This isn’t happening.

‘Now, if you have read my book the Fall, you know why it is not happening. Read it – please – read it at this time because it is crucial that you understand what is happening.

‘Instead of contributing to the universe, you are folding yourselves in. Consider that. Consider that for yourselves at this time, and consider that for your children – the future generation. If you fold this planet in on itself, if you fold your life’s mission – which is to expand and become more – in on itself, why are you here? You are not fulfilling the purpose for which this sphere was created and for which you chose to come here. So, if there’s no reason for you being here… logically, why would you still be here? And that is the dilemma we in the Soul Group see around you at the moment. Unknowingly …and we don’t criticise, we point out… unknowingly, you are folding in on yourself an experience that should be expansive. You are shutting down your opportunities to grow. You are shutting down your connection to your true self, to who you really are, to the God that is within you and to the expression of creation around you.

‘This is a pivotal moment; a pivotal moment.

‘If you choose to be what you are from now on, everything that seems to be wrong on Earth at the moment will put itself right. If you choose to encapsulate yourself in what, if you would go within, you will find is wrong, then the road that leads through the Earth as a journey, as an experience, will be closed off. Only you can decide, each of you, whether that is what you want. If it isn’t, then simply celebrate your life. Celebrate the fact that you are a spirit. Celebrate that you are here to be loving, to be kind, to be gentle, to be caring, to be interlinked, to be a part of each other, to live in joy and in purpose. If you don’t want these things, then the Earth becomes, from your point of view, a toy that you have been given …perhaps ‘toy’ is the wrong word… a tool that you have been given to enhance yourself with that is no longer needed, that has been thrown out of the nursery, that has no purpose for the children who should be playing in it and with it in the right way.

‘You are running out of time.I expressed this in the books I delivered through the Band of Light.

‘You are running out of time.

‘I am showing Michael an hourglass and the sand is almost all at the bottom. Do we turn it round? Do we turn it round?! If you want it to turn round …embrace life, embrace spirituality, seek the higher vibrations through the way that you live and the way that you connect to people and the way that you connect to the Earth. If you don’t, the sand will run out.’

Michael (returning to a clairvoyant link): There is a spirit we call ‘the Big Indian’- a nickname we have for him. We don’t know his real name. He is a sweet, sweet man; a very tall man who has spent, as we measure time, a great deal of time helping people make the transition from this world to higher vibrations. And for many years he was in charge of a construct called ‘the boat’. Now the boat is something that has been fabricated, so that people who need an image in order to get from this vibration to higher vibrations are presented with this image of a boat that takes them across from this ‘shore’, once they have passed on, ‘died’ (to this world), to a higher ‘shore’. There is a transition to higher vibrations and the Big Indian was in charge of this, as we would measure time, for around two hundred years. He is with me – I am attempting to tune into what he is saying.

Michael (now via a trance link):

The Big Indian:

‘It was very emotional to see the peace that would descend on people as they were on the boat, as they were making the transition, as they could see the higher vibrational shore, which appeared as a shore in front of them, in front of the boat… to see the peace that descended on them. They would come onto the boat clutching their stomachs because they’d had stomach problems; or holding their heads because they’d been in an accident; or looking around nervously because they, in the middle of the night, suddenly found themselves on a boat rather than being at home in bed. But, as they approached that higher shore, peace descended on them. And for me it was like watching a ‘memory’ dawn on them. Because, with each person, the memory dawned on them of who they were and where they were, and the confinement of their earthly life fell away, and the confinement of the circumstances that had been around them as they passed over fell away. And, without exception, every face suddenly had a smile on it, and the vibration changed on the boat from one of confusion and fear and trepidation to one of peace, warmth, acceptance, love and recognition of what was happening.

‘It has become more difficult. I don’t work on the boat any longer. I work with Michael and the Band of Light in the work they are doing. I chose to do this. But every so often I look at the boat and see what is happening. What I see is greater difficulty in getting people to that point of peace; greater difficulty in convincing them that they are fine, that they are going somewhere wonderful. Such fear we have to deal with at the moment …such fear… and that fear is destructive. It takes longer to get them to that state of peace. It is distressing for us. We stand on the boat – my friends stand on the boat – and we talk to people and we have this aura of strength and Light and purpose and confidence that we give to people. But inside we are upset …upset that they are suffering in this way …upset that it is taking longer for them to reconnect to their spiritual vibrations; and the reason it’s taking longer is because they are frightened and because fear has become a god on Earth at the moment.

‘Fear has become a god!

‘If you knew that you could not die, that you could not be harmed, that there was love waiting for you, reconnection with family waiting for you, that there were wonders waiting for you (beautiful worlds, beautiful states of being ahead of you), and that your time on Earth was simply part of a short journey and that the journey would end but you would not, would you live life differently? I think you would. I think with the peace in your heart people discover once they are on the boat – if you had that now – your view of life would change completely.

‘You do have it now.

‘We have to strip away from you the skins of fear that have been put around you. We have to get you back to that heavenly state, that heavenly consciousness. How do we do that? We do that by being around you. Just because Michael can see me doesn’t mean that I am not around other people, doesn’t mean that around each of you there aren’t concerned spirits who wish to… not console you… wish to elevate you in your outlook, wish to elevate you in the way that you approach your life. Reach out to them! You won’t see them …[although] some of you will see them – some of you will be psychic… you will sense them. You won’t see them but reach out to them through your heart …connect to them …ask them to help to uplift you …and seek to uplift yourself. There is nothing to be afraid of. If you are not going to die, what is there to be afraid of? If you are part of God, part of all Creation (for ever and ever and ever, amen), what are you afraid of, what is there to be afraid of? Step out of that shell of fear and continue life as it is supposed to be lived – joyously – knowing that whatever happens on a physical level is only temporary; whatever happens on a physical level cannot harm you; you cannot be harmed. You will say, “Yes, I can be hurt, I can get a pain in my foot, or somebody could slap me across the face.” It is an illusion. It is an illusion of vibration placed around you so that you can learn. But it doesn’t have to be an illusion of misery, of sorrow, of fear.

‘We are around you every day – all day, every day! We cannot be other than around you because you are part of us. The whole universe is around you and within you – the whole universe! Reach inwards and outwards to that love. Become peaceful. Give yourself some time off from being afraid, from being doubtful. Give yourself some time off every day and invite us to join you. When you do that, we can strengthen your vibration; we can uplift your vibration; we can allow you to see things and sense things you don’t normally see.

‘As my brother said [reference to Joseph], you don’t have all the time in the world, unfortunately. You do, if you access your higher vibrations, if you come out of the mould, the confinement you have put yourself in.But if you don’t, you don’t have all the time in the world. I don’t want to see you on the boat any time soon… I want you to enjoy your lives.

Michael (reverting to clairvoyance): He says that to each person that watches this video and acknowledges what he is saying, he is giving a beautiful white feather – about eighteen inches long. He says: ‘I have one for each person who wants one. He says he will put it inside your clothes and it will be with you always. And in the middle of the night, if you are feeling afraid, you can reach inwards and you can clutch that feather and he will help you. And if you are uncertain when you are going into unknown territoryhold that feather and he will help you. He says it is a symbol from him but it is a ‘real’ feather in that it is energy created by him and by members of the Soul Group as a token you can have with you – just as you have a wallet or a watch or a ring. He says, ‘Incorporate it into your daily dressing… you know: “I put the watch on. I put the ring on. Oh, I’ve got my feather, it’s in my pocket…” or wherever you choose it to be.

And in times when you are uncertain, when you are frightened, hold it, remember it. It is a connection between our vibration and your vibration and, via that feather, via that symbol, we can bring you upliftment and peace.’

Michael: Is that all? Is that everything? Just as I am closing…

Joseph

…Joseph says he reminds people (as he said) that when they read the books (just as his brother, the Big Indian, has been talking about connection) he says: ‘We connect through the books as well; through those that look at the channel; listen to the chapters.’ Whenever those words he brought through are observed and considered, there is a connection. So, he thanks those who are giving out the Light as he has recommended and invited people to do in the books.

…He thanks those people who are giving out the Light.

‘Don’t give up. Don’t give up!

‘The Light is brighter now and brighter every day than it was the day before.

‘Keep sending out that Light on behalf of everyone.’

Michael (concluding): …And everyone’s gone… everyone’s gone home [smiling].

Michael, Jane and Maria discuss translating The Joseph Communications into Spanish

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Last week Jane, Tony and myself were surprised and delighted to be able to welcome dear friends Maria Luisa Zulueta, from Chile, and Adela Queseda, from Argentina, to the Sanctuary of Healing. Maria Luisa, over many years, has meticulously and painstakingly worked ‘behind the scenes’ with us to translate seven of the eight Joseph Communications books into Spanish, making Joseph’s message available to souls in Spanish-speaking countries.

During their visit, Maria Luisa also volunteered to translate my Step-by- Step Course in Higher Consciousness Living – available for free on our Youtube channel of the same name – into Spanish, via subtitles. We took the opportunity to film footage for future release, and we were thrilled to meet up after some fifteen years of corresponding by email and Zoom.

Our heartfelt thanks go out to the ladies for their continuing work to further expand the soul group message.

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Trance-Scriptions I: Never Say Never

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Trance-Scriptions: The collected Soul Group Messages sessions

Part I: Never say Never…

Following delivery of the final chapter of the eighth Joseph Communications book The Spaces Between I had vowed never to allow myself to go into trance again. Indeed, Joseph himself had warned the Band of Light that it would be dangerous for me to do so with regards to my current and future states of health. Regularly surrendering my mind and body to such high vibrations, then plunging my consciousness back into the relatively low and dense vibrational soup of the Earth plane had left me severely depleted, and I determined, whilst still wishing to bring through as much spiritual information as I possibly could, that I would deliver any further communications via a less debilitating, clairvoyant connection.

…Never say never, as the saying goes.

As the world continued to distance itself from spiritual consciousness and, as a result, plunged deeper and deeper into a kind of global madness, I agreed to give myself over to Joseph and the Persian Gentleman in a trance state one final time to allow them to address the current state of things on Earth with a view to them advising how to rectify them, the resulting communications being released on our YouTube channel as four new videos.

Over a period of time, I then felt a pressing compulsion to be of further service… to connect with Joseph and his soul group once more to regularly bring through additional spiritual insights, with a view to releasing these as a continuing series of ‘Soul Group Messages’, sourced clairvoyantly, on the channel. The dividing line between a clairvoyant link and a trance state is, however, a wafer-thin one in my case and, try as I might to keep them open, every so often I would make the mistake of closing my eyes, if only momentarily, which would instantly result in me take me being taken into trance.

As Joseph had forewarned, the aftermath of further trance sessions would be hard to take. I was ‘out of it’ for the best part of a week following each communication, and to say I felt less than well during each ‘recovery period’ – and then generally ‘sub-standard’ the rest of the time – would be an understatement. I persevered for as long as I possibly could, but promised Jane, who had been voicing increasing concerns, that I would stop if she ever asked me to. Eventually, and as my health continued to deteriorate, she did…  and so I brought the trance sessions to a close, having overrun my ‘trance engines’ and pushed them to the limit by some two further years.

The resulting thirty-or-so videos are still available on our YouTube channel, but have never been offered in written, keepable form to Joseph readers. Until now. In this new series we hope to make all of the additional communications from the soul group available to read and collect (we’ll eventually gather them into downloadable e-book form) beginning with the text below. You will notice that the communication opens as a clairvoyant link, with me describing the communicators in the third person, but that the connection then wanders into first person singular territory as I inevitably drift in and out of a trance state.

Heartfelt gratitude goes to staunch Joseph Communications supporter and valued member of our old friend Mandy’s Joseph Readers Group, Jules Gadiot, who meticulously transcribed the following text and many of those to come. Your dedication and support are greatly appreciated, Jules, and your hard work has made this series possible. As a result of your efforts, more souls globally will now be given access to the Communications’ message.

(A couple of final observations:

* Occasionally, in offering this written version of the original visual presentation, I felt the need to transpose the odd word and take out any of the repetition that is normal and acceptable in speech but redundant in a text. Apart from these very slight alterations, the following is a verbatim transcription of the original session.

* It should also be noted that, at points where I have handed over completely to the communicators, these changes are indicated, as are the points at which I revert to once again relaying their comments via clairvoyance.)

Soul Group Messages – 1.

Spirit Communicators: ‘The Persian Gentleman’; ‘the Lady in Blue’; ‘the Chinese Gentleman’.

Michael (via clairvoyance): There are three people from the soul group with me and I will attempt to tune into each one of them in turn. The leader of this group of three is my principal guiding influence, the Persian Gentleman. The Persian Gentleman appears in different colours, according to what he wants to express and wishes to get across to us… he wears beautiful clothes and likes very ornate robes… and today he is in a very ornate yellow/gold robe. He is the first to speak because he is the organiser of the ‘meeting’, as it were… of today’s connection.

Michael (relaying the Persian Gentleman’s words and describing his actions):

He is holding a question mark; a big question mark… Holding it/placing it in front of him. He says it is the nature of the spirit beings that we are to examine possibilities, and we can only examine possibilities if we question …if we think, ‘What’s next?’ …if we look at circumstances and thoroughly investigate them from a spiritual point of view. He says it saddens him at this time that so few people are using that ‘question mark’, which is their spiritual right. He says that spirits on Earth should question every aspect of their lives daily. He says at the moment there is a trap people are falling into, in that they are shutting their minds – like a trap, like a prison block – they are shutting themselves in via the mind and not asking the questions that they should be asking from their hearts. 

The reason, he says, people on Earth are not doing this is because it is disturbing… it is disturbing at the moment to ask questions… but, in asking questions, you become truer to yourself, because in asking questions you identify with your Greater Self and you are able to reason for yourself and to reach conclusions for yourself and say at the end of the day: ‘This is what I am today, and this is what I am not today.’

He is directing me to the heart, as he often does, because the heart is the seat of spiritual knowledge. He is opening the heart like a flower, and says some part of each day should be spent asking questions from the heart. And he says this is done in private; the questions are unique to you; the answers are unique to you. But you will never be satisfied in living here – you will never be truly happy – until you identify once again with your true mission …and your true mission here as a spirit is to examine potential.

The Persian Gentleman (taking over):

If you fail to examine potential, you stagnate as a spirit and you do not evolve whilst you are here …And you are here to evolve… you are here to become more each day than you were yesterday. You do not become more by living in stasis! Within you there is a…

Back to Michael for a moment: (alright) he says, describe it as a conscience – he says that word has been all but eliminated in recent years.

– Then back to ‘PG’:

‘There is a conscience. There is a conscience in that you know within yourself what is right for you …what is not right for you …what is right in the way you approach others …what is not right in the way that you approach others …what is right in the way you observe and live in the world …what is not right in the way you observe and live in the world. All these things need to be accessed regularly. Regularly!

‘Many people on Earth wish to evolve spiritually. They look at people like Michael and say: ‘Well, I would like to be a medium. I wish I could see the Persian Gentleman. I wish I could see the area he is living in. I wish I could bring through communication.’ Seek first union with yourself – then you will be given access to additional spiritual vibrations. Seek first to identify yourself.

‘- What do you believe?

‘- What do you invest power in?

‘- What do you question?

‘If you don’t question, then your passage through life is halted. It has no purpose other than to sustain you as a physical being and mental being. As a spirit being you are supposed to progress, to learn, to advance, to influence – through your beliefs and the way you approach life here – the rest of humanity. And you can only do that if you question.

‘So, I am bringing you this question mark today and am saying that, if you wish to raise your spiritual vibration (and in doing so, you raise the spiritual vibration, only perhaps by the smallest degree, but you raise the vibration of everyone else) – if you wish to do this, then don’t accept everything. Don’t accept your life as it is. Go within your heart (there are instructions as to how to do this on the channels Tony and Michael have put together. There is further information as to how to access the heart-centre). Learn how to go to your heart-centre… and from your heart-centre – having shifted your point of consciousness from here [head] to here [heart] –question from your heart-centre.

‘Ask.

‘Not just about this world, but about our world, our existence: What is it about? What is my existence like? Where do I live? How do I operate? What is that scenario that follows physical death, as you call it – a misnomer – but your physical death? Question! Question life after death. Don’t just accept that there is something, and that’s fine, or that there is nothing, and that is also fine.

‘Question!

‘Discover!

‘Take yourself on a journey of discovery!

‘And the information you seek, by questioning, will be given to you because you will give yourself access to it. You will align yourself with higher vibrations and those higher vibrations will bring you answers …and also further questions. You will enjoy the process and you will enjoy expanding your consciousness and your reason for being here and the way that you approach everything here. And you will be fulfilling your original purpose as a spirit, in that you will partake in the wonders of this world, the joys of this world, the excitement and adventure of this world. You will forget, bypass and put to one side anything that does not allow you to have that adventure… that joy and excitement.

‘Every day there will be new questions.

‘Every day there will be new answers.

‘And every day you will elevate yourself, so that you no longer look at your existence as ‘an existence’ but as a progression of vibrations from the Godhead that is continually expanding, seeking, asking questions, finding answers. And you will also approach those around you – your family, your friends, everyone across the globe – in the correct way. In a loving way, a harmonious way, an understanding way. In a way that enhances their lives …simply because you are alive here, because your vibration will emanate outwards from you and affect and uplift everyone.

stacked of stones outdoors

‘So, we begin today’s meeting/connection with a question. And I now hand over to the second of our connections today.’

Michael (via clairvoyance): The Persian Gentleman has stepped back and there is a lady in blue stepping forward. She is dark-skinned. She has black hair; I haven’t seen her before but I know she is a member of the soul group. She is wearing a luminous blue robe, and she has with her an eagle, which seems to… come through her… as though the two are one, but there are two separate spirits here: there is an eagle and there is the lady. Around the lady I can see other forms of life coming into being and then disappearing. …A lion comes through her at knee height. There are other animals too. There is a huge black bear that momentarily comes into being and then fades away.

She says her purpose in speaking today is to urge a reconnection with nature and to promote an understanding that the spirits I have seen with her and, therefore, every spirit in nature …from leaves (which she is showing me) …to some exotic insects that, I think, exist in warmer climates than this one …to birds …to fishes …to microscopic creatures like amoebas (which she is also showing me) – she is saying that every expression of life is you. Every expression of life is you; every expression of life is a part of you. Every expression of life is worthy of its existence and has a purpose in the evolution and maintenance of the planet. She says the reason she allowed me to see various forms of life coming through her was to show that there is not just a close connection, there is a blending and an expression globally that exists because of us having an integration with every form of life. If you eliminate any one of those forms of life – if you take away the black bear, or the eagle, or the lion from the mix, from that integration, then the expression of evolution and the purpose of the Earth is not fulfilled because of that missing piece.

She also wants us to understand that the animals she is integrated with for the purposes of this connection/discussion this morning, are intelligent. She looks to the eagle – and I see the eagle coming through her again. It comes through her head and its wings are outspread – and she says (briefly taking over): ‘I receive wisdom from the eagle. I receive strength from the lion. I receive direction from the black bear.’.

Back to Michael: She is becoming emotional as she says this: ‘This is not appreciated on Earth. It is not appreciated that the various forms of the Divine, other than the human form, are purposeful, are wise.’

The Lady in Blue takes over again: ’For example, the eagle draws on the wisdom of countless generations of eagles. It is passed on to the next generation, to the fledgling eagle. The characteristics of the parents are not only passed on, but the planetary wisdom of every eagle that has ever manifested is passed on to the eagle chick as a natural thing.

‘Consider how wonderful that is. The experience of every lion is passed on to every lion cub. The adventure that every black bear has had is passed on to the bear cub. Because the barriers that exist in the human mind do not exist in the expressions of life, other than the human, that are brought forth by the devas.’

Back to Michael: She says she is talking about the need for there to be a reverence and appreciation of this: that the animal forms and deva forms have far more wisdom, often, than the human form does! And that there should be thankfulness in each day for every creature you see and interact with that is not of the human form. Thankfulness, yes, for every other human form, but also thankfulness for the birds you see in the sky as you walk; for the insects you see scuttling across your path; for the animals in the fields, for every expression of life you come across that is not you and not human…thankfulness and deep respect.

The Lady in Blue takes over again:

‘There was a time, in my culture, when we would seek the wisdom of animal forms and we would incorporate into our day that wisdom in order that we lived harmoniously and without harming animal forms. And we would ask to be guided by the oversoul of certain animals – by the oversoul, for example, of the eagle. We would ask for guidance in a certain way, knowing we could tune into that energy through the actual manifestation of the eagle that was around us, but also that we could tune into and be guided by that ancestral energy. Do you see how far you have removed yourself from the way in which you should be living?

‘What I ask today is that you take time – perhaps only a few seconds – to study and appreciate the animal forms around you… all animal forms around you, and to appreciate the expressions of nature around you. And by doing so, you reconnect with that global guidance that is there for you but you have forgotten how to use.

‘I would also suggest to you that the animal forms are not something to sacrifice simply because you want fulfilment in food. They are intelligent; they are sacred; they are part of you. And now is an excellent time to appreciate that and learn once again not only to live in harmony with them, not only to have respect for them, but to allow them to reconnect with you vibrationally so that you have additional guidance in your life. Love the eagle. Love the bear. Love the lion. Love the trees. Love the insects. Love the fishes. Love the birds. Love your connection with them. Love their ability to give you direction. Love their unique expression of Divinity …and you will move forwards.’

Back to Michael: Thank you. The third person in this connection is a rather jolly gentleman. I don’t mean jolly in that he is rotund – he is jolly in that he enjoys life and smiles a lot, and I recognise him as my partner Jane’s guide, who was Asian – Chinese, I believe. He is in a green robe that has on top of it yellow…um… not symbols… they look like shoots or leaves. He is coming forward and has in his hand… I am trying to see what it is actually, so bear with me. What do you have there? Right, I see. It is a seed…. the seed of a tree, but coming out from this tiny seed, there is a shoot, a sapling, I think it’s called, about this big [30 cm], with little leaves beginning to uncurl.

He says there are many presents given every day on Earth; lots of gifts are given. He sees cards being given … bottles of wine being given … clothes being given …and bigger things being given – like cars and holidays. People all over the world are giving things, but the things they give bring only transient pleasure.

He says it is vital at this time that a present should be given to every person that you meet every day …but what should be given is the seed.

The seed of what?

The seed of spiritual knowledge.

(The Chinese Gentleman takes over at this point):

‘Well, you will probably ask, “How do I give the seed of spiritual knowledge? I don’t know what to say to people.” You don’t have to say anything to people. Your vibration goes out to them whenever you connect with them. What you have to do, as my brother has said (a reference to the Persian Gentleman), is to raise your vibration; is to elevate yourself so that the seed begins to grow in you …you recognise and appreciate your purpose – your connection to universal consciousness – and you begin to understand your life. You question, as he said. You find answers. You find more questions, and you build up a picture from the heart, not from the head, of what your existence here is about.

‘And you then speak with authority to others without saying a word because your vibration from your heart connects to them… whenever you are in a supermarket; in a cinema; in a bus queue. Wherever you happen to be, your vibration mingles with theirs to a certain extent. And your vibration helps to form that seed within them so that they begin to question, they begin to become unsettled. If they are unsettled – it is great! It is wonderful! We want people to be unsettled because, in being unsettled, they begin to question, they begin to seek, they begin to say, ‘This existence that I thought was so perfect, is not perfect. What else is there? Is there anything else?’ And their seed begins to grow.

‘I want to say to you: recognise that whatever your dominant vibrations are, whatever your dominant… not beliefs… but knowledge (because spiritual understanding is knowledge – not belief. Belief needs tending – knowledge does not; knowledge exists) – so, whatever your spiritual knowledge is, that then goes out from you as a vibration that touches and enhances the lives of others and begins to form that seed within their hearts that will unsettle them.

‘I come with smiles, but the smiles have been earned during many lives that did not cause me to smile. During many lives there was a frown on my face, certainly from the point of view of the human aspect of myself that was on Earth. But in going through situations that caused me to frown I learned how to smile spiritually. And I discovered that, when I relinquished the physical body back to the Earth, once I came back to the spiritual spheres, my life had been a joy and I had learned so much. And I had extended and expanded my spiritual seed so that I could exist in elevated vibrations that brought me much happiness.

‘Your life, daily, in seeking to expand yourself, may not bring you the happiness and joy that I am exhibiting today in this life. But, as a result of that struggle, it will in the next. So there is a reason to be joyful every day in that knowledge, knowing you are spreading spiritual seeking, you are spreading a thirst and a hunger for spiritual understanding, and you are giving everyone you meet what they really need as a gift – not something material, but something that somehow unsettles them, somehow eases them or jogs them or jolts them out of that familiar life so they begin to grow their own seed, to open their own heart, and to take that journey, to step on to that road that leads to spiritual rediscovery. I say ‘rediscovery’, because they already know what that seed will bring them; they have just locked it away within themselves and accepted that the material approach to life is all they ever need.

‘There is a good word in there – ‘ever’ – because life goes on for-ever, and this aspect of life is just a small portion of a far greater and more wondrous journey. But this aspect can be infused with the vibrations of that greater journey to make this journey wondrous too.’

Michael: (Handing back to the Persian Gentleman, who concludes as follows):

‘…We will talk again. Different brothers and sisters from the soul group will speak each time.’

Michael: He says that he will conduct the connection to ensure that it is a safe and a high vibrational one.

And he leaves us with positivity, with clear vision, with a vibration to touch every person who watches this video, to touch and uphold and uplift them through what may seem like difficult times, but are only difficult because the aspects of life that they have been talking about are not being observed.

‘Observe them,’ he says, ‘and everything changes!’

The Joseph eBook Series

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Over the past few months, we have released a series of free eBooks. These eBooks chronicle those steps in the history of Michael G. Reccia’s mediumship that would not only lead to but also give voice to the connection that allowed Joseph and his soul group to deliver their vital message for us all via a number of public trance demonstrations and, of course, through the Joseph Communications series of books.

Here they are, collected together for the first time. Please click each book image to download your free copy.

Free eBook: Soul Group Parables I – A Collection of Pre-Joseph Philosophies

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Collected in this eBook are a number of the ‘philosophies’ given to me by the soul group as stories in pre-Joseph days, with the imperative that these should be delivered in spiritualist churches during Sunday services.

I hope you will agree that these little ‘parables’ are as relevant today as when they were first presented to congregations throughout the UK some decades ago. I also trust you will find them entertaining and enjoyable, that they will give you pause for thought, and that they will resonate with you as you read them every bit as much as they were intended to do all those years ago when I was taking my first tentative steps into what has – to date – proven to be a journey of some forty-plus years.

Click the cover below, or use the following link, to download your free PDF copy of The Road to Joseph.

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Soul Group Parables IV: The Man Who Went To Funerals – Part II

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A Pre-Joseph Philosophy.

The first part of this article can be found here.

Suddenly the scene around him dissolved then reformed as something else…

…and he found himself standing with The Man Who Went To Funerals in a solicitor’s office. He could see his three sons and his daughter sitting at one side of a large desk and, on the other side, his solicitor. It was evident that none of them could see or hear him or his spirit companion. The will was being read out and the man was delighted. He felt privileged to be allowed to witness the reading of his own will, but was a little less excited to find that he could also read people’s thoughts and that the thoughts emanating from his children were not at all what he would have expected them to be. As the solicitor read out the will, one of his sons was thinking, ‘Well, yes, I will take this money from you, Father, and it will make up for all the times you weren’t here for me!’ 

His daughter was thinking, ‘I never wanted your money, Dad, I only wanted you. Where were you when I needed you?’ 

The man turned to The Man Who Went To Funerals looking quite perplexed as the scene around them changed again. It was as though he had travelled back through the years and was witnessing a time when he and his wife had been married only a short while. He saw himself as an even younger man tearing away the packaging that surrounded a shiny red tricycle. Saw his eldest son, who at that time was only four, excited at the prospect of his father teaching him how to ride his new bike …ecstatic because father and son would be together for a whole afternoon.

Suddenly, the phone rang in the house and he saw his younger self going inside and heard himself talking on the phone to someone. His younger image came outside again and said to his wife, ‘I’m so sorry but I have to go in to work again. They need me for something only I can sort this out and it’s likely to take some time.’ He then watched his younger self leave and was shocked at the look of utter devastation on the face of his eldest son.

The scene morphed once again. It was now the present day and he found himself standing next to his ex-wife who was holding the keys to the home he had left her. She looked up at the beautiful house in front of her and thought: ‘I didn’t want your house. I just wanted you to tell me occasionally that you loved me. Was that too much to ask?’ 

The scene changed again and now he was standing beside his chauffeur who had just parked the Daimler outside his modest home. The man was covering the car with a tarpaulin and pulling it tight. The former businessman followed him into the house and saw him hang up the Daimler’s keys on a nail in the kitchen knowing, because he could somehow read the man’s thoughts, that he would never, ever drive it.

He asked The Man Who Went To Funerals, ‘What is wrong with these people? Why are they so unhappy? I’ve left them good things. Expensive things. Lots of money.’

‘But you didn’t give them your time when you were here. You didn’t express your love for them. You weren’t there when they needed you. You never once praised your chauffeur for his years of selfless service You never lavished attention on your children or your ex-wife. And that’s one of the main reasons she divorced you.’ 

At that point the portal of white Light appeared in front of the two men and they both stepped through it. On the other side, the now-young businessman was amazed to discover he was standing in the driveway of his brother’s house. ‘How can this be? He asked. ‘My brother died ten years ago.’ 

‘This is a replica of his house on earth,’ his companion replied. ‘This is the house he prepared for himself on the higher side of life as a result of his actions whilst he was on earth.’

At this point the man’s brother appeared in the doorway, ran up the driveway from his house to greet him and the two men embraced. His brother took him into the house, leaving The Man Who Went To Funerals to admire the beautiful garden of this splendid, semi-detached home.

His brother said to the former businessman, ‘I would like to move forwards into eternity with you. We can both move onwards together. There’s nothing to stop us. I’ve been waiting for you to come here for quite a while. I knew you were going to pass over and at what point because I asked Higher Authority if I might have that information. For now, however, you look tired. Why don’t you go into the guest room – you know where it is – and lie on the bed and get some sleep?’

The man realised he was indeed very tired. He lay on the bed in the guest room and tried to sleep. Unfortunately, every time he closed his eyes it seemed as though there was some sort of weird television transmitting images in the corner of the room, and through it he could see his sons and his daughter and tune into their discontent. He could also feel and see the unhappiness of his chauffeur and his ex-wife. He tried to turn away from the images but they seemed to follow him around the room.

Suddenly, The Man Who Went To Funerals appeared, sitting on the edge of his bed. ’Your brother would like you to move on and to evolve with him as a spirit, but you can’t do that, can you? You can’t leave your family and colleagues behind yet, can you?’ he asked. ‘I have, therefore, asked permission on your behalf and it has been granted. You will be allowed to return in spirit-form now and again to the Earth to inspire your children and your chauffeur and your ex-wife and all the other people who were important in your life. To advise them at certain points in their lives when they need help. To try to guide them via their intuition. They won’t physically see or hear you, but perhaps they will be able to pick up your intentions through their hearts and, this way, you can put right what, in your own view, you feel you got wrong whilst you were on Earth – the fact that you didn’t pay them enough attention, for example. …Didn’t openly tell them how you felt about them. Eventually, and if you wish, you will be able to move on with your brother but it could take a lifetime, relatively speaking, before you are ready to do so. I suspect that not until all those people you cared about – your children, your chauffeur, your ex-wife and others – are happy and have returned to higher vibrations themselves, will you feel your task has been accomplished and that you are able to move on yourself. It is such a pity. A few precious moments spent wisely whilst you were on Earth would have saved you so much time and angst here in the higher spheres. It is so much harder from here to reach and affect the lives of those close to you on earth than it would have been when you were in an earthly body.’ 

brown concrete cathedral

The Man Who Went To Funerals left the businessman lying on the bed looking troubled and moved towards the Earth again, this time to visit the most modest of the three funerals he had been instructed to attend that day… the funeral of an old lady. She had been in her late nineties – and you would have expected the church to have been practically empty save for the vicar and one or two surviving relatives. Instead, it was packed. Crowded with people. The pews were absolutely full. Men and women standing at the back of the church craned their necks to see and hear the clergyman taking the service. People had obviously come from work as well, taking a couple of hours off to pay their respects. Here was a policeman in uniform. There a nurse. At the front a fireman. At the back a secretary, together with so many other souls who had taken the time to attend this modest little service. Leaning on the coffin, peering around from behind thick spectacles, was a white-haired old lady. The Man Who Went To Funerals made his way through the crowd unseen and stood in front of her, placing a hand on her shoulder.

As he did so, her white hair turned to a beautiful auburn colour and her wrinkles fell away. Suddenly, he was standing in front of a young woman. About twenty-eight years old. Beautiful. Upright. Vital. She smiled a sweet smile and said, ‘Thank you for doing that. I don’t know how you managed it but thank you! And thank you for coming. I take it you have come to take me to “the next place”?’ 

‘I have indeed,’ the man replied. ‘But before I do so, I would like to ask you a question. You see, in a sense the only thing you will take with you to the next world is what you have left behind on Earth. What would you say you have left behind, sister? What is your legacy to this world?’ 

And she replied, ‘I wish I could say I have done great things but really I haven’t. I haven’t any family to speak of. They have all gone on ahead of me. I haven’t had any money to leave anyone because I only had a modest little job to keep me and maintain the roof over my head… and so I’m sorry but I haven’t done anything. I’m ashamed. I wish I had.’ 

Suddenly, the scene melted then reformed around her as something new, and she was no longer standing in the church. Instead, she found herself sitting, watching her younger self on the top deck of that bus where, quite by accident, she had sat next to the distressed young girl who, for whatever reason, had poured her heart out to her and said, between sobs, that she was feeling suicidal that day because her boyfriend had left her and she didn’t know what to do. She then watched her younger self talking to the girl and counselling her and somehow knew the girl hadn’t committed suicide after she had left her. 

Next, she witnessed her younger self in her own little kitchen on various days from the past pouring cups of tea for a variety of people who always, for some reason, seemed to come to her when they were in trouble. She heard herself saying to people things like: ‘Of course you can stay for the night. …Of course, I will be there if you need me. …Of course, I will go with you to the place you are so afraid of visiting, to support you there, if you want me to go with you and it will make you feel better.’

She turned to The Man Who Went To Funerals and said, ‘I don’t understand, why are you showing me these incidents from my life?’ 

‘Because these are the times when you made a difference to the world,’ he replied. ‘When you knew what to say to people; when you helped them, and somehow found the words from within you to make them feel better. These were important contributions to the lives of others,’ he explained. 

At that point an oval of white Light appeared in front of them and they stepped through it together. The woman then found herself on a road. Not a highway with cars on it but a perfect, perfectly flat road that led to a city in the distance. The city was amazing. It appeared to be made out of crystal and Light. It glowed with such pretty colours, and she wanted so much to be there, so she set off with The Man Who Went To Funerals walking beside her. She then noticed, as she looked to one side, that there was a second road leading from the city back towards the portal of Light and that along this road all kinds of people were heading for the oval. There was a Native American in full headdress. An Inuit in furs. A Chinese Mandarin in silks. There were more conventionally-attired people too: Doctors. Nurses. Solicitors. People in work clothes. She asked The Man Who Went To Funerals, ‘Who are these people and where are they going? Are they going back to re-incarnate on Earth?’ 

‘No,’ he replied. ‘They are “guides”. People who walk the path with souls on Earth who are having a hard time or who need to make important decisions. They whisper words of advice, help and encouragement to them, or try to place in their minds concepts that will help them to move, through the grace of God, in the right direction for the good of their souls. They attempt to make the course of their lives run more smoothly. To help people evolve as spirits and to become a little more God-like.’

‘That sounds fascinating,’ she said, ‘I would love to be able to do that.’

‘And, so you shall’, he replied. ‘Don’t you remember why you went to Earth?

‘Remember?’ she asked.

‘Yes, as a soul you decided to return to the Earth one last time because you wanted to be a guide and felt you needed more experience in order to qualify for that work. That is why you found yourself talking to and comforting so many strangers. Why you always knew what to say, because the God within you and the guides you have around you that you were never able to physically see, were able to prompt you through your intuition to say and to do the right things.’ 

By this time, they had reached the city and, as she walked through an archway of Light, a man wearing a robe that seemed to be made of the same Light approached her, embraced her and said, ‘Welcome back, Sister!’ 

She looked at him with a puzzled expression. ‘Do I know you?’ 

He replied, ‘Your memory will come back presently. I am part of the soul group – the family – you left so many years ago in order to incarnate on Earth… and we are so delighted you have come back home to us safely and that your mission has been accomplished.’

The Man Who Went To Funerals said, ‘I will leave you now but will no doubt meet up with you again in the future when I attend someone else’s funeral and see you there as a guide sitting unseen next to someone in the congregation.’

* * *

The Man Who Went to Funerals went back to his home in a higher vibrational reality, lay down upon his bed and took a well-earned rest.

He needed that rest because he knew that, day after day in the myriad days that would follow, he would have so much to do for so many departing souls. 

*  *  *

What we take with us is what we leave behind. Not our cars. Or our houses. Or our money, but rather what we have done for ourselves and for others. That is why it is important each day of our lives to try to deal with the people we come into contact with in the best, the most spiritual, ways we can. In the kindest and most loving ways we can, even if people do not treat us with similar kindness. Even if people treat us in quite another way. We must also consider that we are only here on Earth for a short amount of time and that the people who are around us – the people we love and who are important to us …our partners and our friends… should be appreciated openly. How often do we tell them how we truly feel about them? We might not be here tomorrow morning to do so. The time to show them we care is here and now.

We should also consider that we are here for a spiritual purpose and that our nine-to-five jobs are really just a means of filling in time. How do we know, for example, that we are not here to train to be a guide? How do we know who we are here to help and to elevate in consciousness? We don’t! We should, therefore, listen to our inner promptings each and every day and, if we strongly feel we should do something, then we should do it. If we feel we should talk to someone in a particular way, or make time for someone, or counsel someone, or help someone, or comfort someone …we should do it!

Then, when the time comes for us to stand next to our own coffin (because, let’s face it, we will – I, writing this, and you, reading it, will not remain here forever); when the time comes to ask ourselves what we have left behind, we will be able to say, hand on heart:

‘I tried to leave behind the very best for everyone…’  …and that is all that God asks of us.

Soul Group Parables IV: The Man Who Went To Funerals – Part I

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A Pre-Joseph Philosophy.

Don’t ask me how but somehow I did it. Somehow the involved and often complex spiritual concepts given me by Joseph’s soul group to replay as ‘philosophies’ in spiritualist churches on Sunday afternoons across the country became fixed in my memory so that I was able to deliver them, without notes, to the congregations sitting in front of me.

The following story is almost a ‘novella’ in its length and scope, and is one of my personal favourites. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I appreciated being able to share it with those attending the services it was initially intended for.

Here, then, is the first part of ‘The Man Who Went To Funerals.’

The Man Who Went To Funerals dressed in his crisp white shirt and understated black suit, knotted his respectful black silk tie and thought about the job he was doing.

It was a good job.

And it was fortunate that he liked funerals, he considered, because he had been tasked with attending them every day now for quite some time All kinds of funerals. All over the world. From lavish state affairs where there were so many people attending the service they spilled out of the doors of the cathedral, down the steps and onto the pavement and the surrounding lawns and roads …to much smaller affairs where the deceased had been so old there were very few living relatives left and, as a result, there was often just the minister and a handful of people in the chapel. 

On this particular day he had three funerals scheduled and he knew his work was cut out for him — as indeed was the case every single day. He moved at speed towards the Earth and arrived bang on target in the midst of proceedings for a recently-deceased South American President. A dictator.

All the stops had been pulled out to make this an occasion the people would never forget. Outside the cathedral stood a black carriage drawn by a team of six black horses wearing black plumes on their heads. Inside, the space was packed with dignitaries from all nations plus representatives from the country’s secret police and the military, and only the front pew at the left-hand side was almost empty as this had been reserved for the president’s wife who knelt silently, a veil covering her face and hiding her tears.

At the front of the cathedral, facing the altar, the president’s ornate, gilded coffin lay on a flower-bedecked plinth. Standing by it, also facing the altar, was a tall man in a white dress uniform with rows of medals on his chest, 

The Man Who Went To Funerals walked up the steps of the cathedral and passed unseen amongst the people who were there to pay their last respects. He strode up to the altar and, reaching the man in white standing next to the coffin, placed a hand on his shoulder. The man whirled round and cried: ‘At last! Someone who can see me! …I take it I am dead, yes?’

And The Man Who Went To Funerals replied, ‘Yes, Mr President.’

‘I thought so,’ mused the president. ‘For the past week I have been unable to attract anyone’s attention. I take it you are some kind of angel or guardian spirit who has come to transport me to heaven?’ 

The other man replied, ‘Well, I have come to take you to the next stage of your existence, Mr President, but before I do so I would like to ask you a question. You see, in a sense the only thing you take with you into the next life is what you have left behind in this one… and I would like to ask you what good things you consider you have left for your people?’ 

At this the President puffed out his chest, pulled himself up to his full height and said, ‘When I came into power my country was a very poor one. We were threatened by neighbouring states and I waged war on them because it was a matter of them attacking us or us attacking them, so I decided to strike at them first and we completely vanquished our enemies. I strengthened the military. I made sure that everyone in this country worked and there were no shirkers. I am extremely proud of what I have done and, yes, I have left something very significant behind.’ 

At that moment, the scene around them changed – dissolved then reformed as something new – and they were no longer standing in the cathedral but, instead, found themselves in a tired little living room where, sitting on a settee was a dark-haired young woman who very obviously couldn’t see them. She was crying and holding in her hands a framed photograph of a young man in a military uniform. The President turned to The Man Who Went To Funerals and asked, ‘Who is this girl?’

‘This is Juanita Chavez. A common name in your country, is it not? Juanita Chavez lost her husband – the man whose photograph she is holding – in the war you waged against your neighbours. There are so many like her. He was just twenty-three years old – it was his third day of action on your behalf when he was killed.’ 

And the President replied, ‘Well, what better way to die than for the glory of your own fatherland? He is a martyr! It was a glorious victory! Why is she crying?’ 

Immediately their surroundings changed again. Now they were standing within a fenced compound looking at a line of low huts that stretched from their eye-line almost to the horizon. The Man Who Went To Funerals asked, ‘Mr President, do you recognise this place?’ 

‘Of course, it is one of our intelligence camps.’ 

‘Yes, where you brought men and women and even children from neighbouring countries because you wanted information from them. Here you had them tortured and murdered. And the President said, ‘Not murdered… when they gave us what we wanted we stopped immediately and left them alone.’ 

The scenery around them dissolved and reformed again and they found themselves standing outside a dusty town hall. To an outside wall hundreds of photographs had been pinned and nailed. On the ground below the photographs were little vases with flowers in them, and rosary beads and wooden crosses and candles.

The President asked, ‘Where is this?’ The Man Who Went To Funerals replied: ‘This is your neighbouring country. The one you went to war with, and this is the town hall in a small village in that country. People here have turned this side of the town hall into a shrine. Mark well the faces in the photographs, Mr President. The men, the women and yes, even children. These are the people that ‘went missing’. People who will never return. Either they were killed in the war or you took them to your ‘intelligence’ camps. Here people grieve daily for those loved ones who will never return.’ 

Suddenly an oval of intense white Light appeared just in front of the two men – a doorway into the next stage of life; the next vibration of existence. Sensing he should step through it and before he did so the President turned to The Man Who Went To Funerals and said, ‘You seem to be suggesting, Sir, that I have done many things wrong. If I had my life to live again, I would live it in exactly the same way! I made decisions based on the good they would do for my country and I would make them again. If you are trying to tell me that, because of my choices and because of my life I am going to hell rather than to heaven then so be it. I defend entirely what I have done with my days!’ 

He stepped into the oval of Light. The Man Who Went To Funerals stepped through with him and, on the other side, the President (having secretly been terrified as to what he might find on the higher side of life) was relieved to discover he was standing not in a hellish landscape but on a sandy shore looking out towards a golden sunset. Out to sea and coming towards him he could see hundreds of small sailboats. In each of them were people, all waving at him, all dressed in white robes, all cheering and smiling. He turned to The Man Who Went To Funerals and said, ‘See? Even here I have a presence. Even here there are people who want me, who need me. I am guessing they want me to take charge of them and of this place, wherever it is!’

white sailboat on body of water under white sky during daytime

He smiled and looked out across the shore and the gentle waves towards the flotilla. But then, as the first boats pulled up onto the sands and their occupants jumped out and came running towards him, his expression of delight turned to one of terror as he recognised, from the photographs pinned to the crumbling plaster of the town hall the spirit had taken him to minutes ago, people he had dispatched to the spirit spheres. Men. Women. Children. They advanced on him not with guns, or knives, or even clenched fists, but with kind words, saying, ‘We forgive you. We love you. We want you to know that everything is alright.’ 

His face a study in sheer terror, the President turned tail and ran away from the seashore, deep into the country of that strange land.

As he ran the skies grew darker and darker until he reached a grey, grimy-looking town. There, on a grey street of grey terraced houses with rotting, shuttered windows he found a front door that would open and barged in, slamming the door behind him, bolting it and cowering on his knees in a corner by a little table in the dark. The Man Who Went To Funerals passed straight through the door as if it wasn’t there, carrying with him a lit lantern which he placed on the table. ‘Mr President, why did you run from these people?’ he asked. ‘They are the people you murdered, interrogated and tortured and they have come to tell you that they forgive you.’ 

The President shouted that he could deal with their anger and with their bitterness; with their need for revenge, but not with their love. ‘I can’t face their forgiveness!’ he cried.

His companion said, ‘As a result of your actions in life, you have put yourself by your own judgment into a place we call the Lower Astral and into this empty, grey little house. You are not a prisoner here, however. You can get out of here any time you wish to simply by opening the door and facing the people who wish to love you and to embrace you. To forgive you. There is no need to stay here and no one is judging you. God is not judging you. I am not judging you. You are judging yourself. True, there are things in your life that you will need to reconsider… and certainly in the future you will need to work to put them right, but why exist in this greyness when you can be in a very pleasant place indeed right now? Won’t you come out with me?’ he asked.

The President shivered, ‘No, I can’t face those people!’ 

‘Very well,’ said The Man Who Went To Funerals. ‘When you wish me to come for you, just turn towards the lantern. Look at its Light. Until then I have no choice but to leave you here. Until that moment – until you decide to come out into the Light – it’s your funeral.’ 

The man moved back towards the Earth and on to the second of the three funerals he would be attending this day. It, too, was quite a lavish affair, not on the scale of the presidential funeral but grand nevertheless. Rolls Royces were parked in the church grounds. Inside, the mourners wore fine suits and expensive furs. Standing by the coffin at the side of the altar was a stooped, wizened old man, bent over by the cumulative effects of years and rheumatism and arthritis. The Man Who Went To Funerals moved through the crowd unseen until he reached the hunched figure, who brightened as he approached and said, ‘Thank goodness, Son! Someone has come to talk to me at last! I take it I am dead? …No-one here seems to be able to see me.’

‘You are,’ said The Man Who Went To Funerals.

‘And I take it you are some kind of guardian angel or guiding being who will take me to the next stage of my existence?’ 

‘Yes.’ said the man. ‘But first, and before I do so, I have to ask you why you still appear to be so old?’ 

‘ I don’t understand,’ said the old man. 

‘Why don’t you think yourself younger? You’re no longer in a physical body – all you need do is to imagine yourself as you were at the time when you felt healthier, less bent, less aged, and you will revert, as a spirit, to that age in outward appearance.’ 

The man considered this for a moment, then said, ‘Well, I rather liked being thirty-six.’ 

‘Then remember what it was like to be thirty-six.’ said The Man Who Went To Funerals.

The old man thought for a moment, and suddenly his hair grew back, his wrinkles disappeared, his eyes changed from their former faded, milky colour to an intense blue and he stood upright, now a young man of around thirty-six years of age.

‘That’s better,’ said The Man Who Went To Funerals.

‘And now, before I take you to the higher side of life, I would like to ask you a further question. It is this: What have you left behind? In a sense all you will take with you to your next life is what you have left behind. Not cars. Not money. But your legacy to others. So… what would you say you have done that is “good”?’

‘Well,’ said the now young-again former businessman, ‘I have provided well for my sons and for my daughter. I’ve even left a house to my ex-wife so there is no resentment there. I have also given my chauffeur, in return for his years of faithful service, one of my Daimlers. So yes, over the years I have made sure that everyone would be comfortably off and able to live very well as a result of the things I have left them. I am quite proud of that.’ 

Suddenly the scene around him dissolved then reformed as something else…

To Be Continued…