Journey of Souls: Case Studies of Life Between Lives

Transition

ALL souls, regardless of experience, eventually arrive at a central port in the spirit world which I call the staging area. I have said there are variations in the speed of soul movement right after death, depending upon spiritual maturity. Once past the orientation station there seems to be no further travel detours for anyone entering this space of the spirit world. Apparently, large numbers of returning souls are conveyed in a spiritual form of mass transit.

Sometimes souls are escorted by their guides to this area. I find this practice is especially true for the younger souls. Others are directed through by an unseen force which pulls them into the staging area and then beyond to waiting entities. From what I am able to determine, accompaniment by other entities depends upon the volition of one's guide. In most cases haste is not an issue, but souls do not dawdle along on this leg of their journey. The feelings we have along this path depend on our state of mind after each life.

The assembly and transfer of souls really involves two phases. The staging area is not an encampment space. Spirits are brought in, collected, and then projected out to their proper final destinations. When I hear accounts of this particular junction, I visualize myself walking with large numbers of travelers through the central terminal of a metropolitan airport which has the capacity to fly all of us out in any direction. One of my clients described the staging area as resembling "the hub of a great wagon wheel, where we are transported from a center along the spokes to our designated places."

My subjects say this region appears to them as having a large number of unacquainted spirits moving in and out of the hub in an efficient manner with no congestion. Another person called this area "the Los Angeles freeway without gridlock." There may be other similar wheel hubs with freeway-type on and off ramps in the spirit world, but each client considers their own route to and from this center to be the only one.

The observations I hear about the nature of the spirit world when entering the staging area have definitely changed from those first impressions of layering and foggy stratification. It is as if the soul is now traveling through the loosely-wound arms of a mighty galactic cloud into a more unified celestial field. While their spirits hover in the open arena of the staging area preparing for further transport out to prescribed spaces, I enjoy listening to the excitement in the voices of my subjects. They are dazzled by an eternal world spread out before them and believe that somewhere within lies the nucleus of creation.

When they look at the fully opened canopy around them, subjects will state that the spirit world appears to be of varied luminescence. I hear nothing about the inky blackness we associate with deep space. The gatherings of souls that clients see in the foreground in this amphitheater appear as myriads of sharp star lights all going in different directions. Some move fast while others drift. The more distant energy concentrations have been pictured as "islands of misty veils." I am told the most outstanding characteristic of the spirit world is a continuous feeling of a powerful mental force directing everything in uncanny harmony. People say this is a place of pure thought.

Thought takes many forms. It is at this vantage point in their return that souls begin to anticipate meeting others who wait for them. A few of these companions may have already been seen at the gateway, but most have not. Without exception, souls who wish to contact each other, especially when on the move, do so by just thinking of the entity they want. Suddenly, the individual called will appear in the soul mind of the traveler. These telepathic communications by the energy of all spiritual entities allow for a non-visual affinity, while two energy forms who actually come near one another provide a more direct connection. There is uniformity in the accounts of my subjects as to their manner of spiritual travel, routes, and destinations, although what they see along the way is distinctive with each person.

I searched through my case files to find a subject whose experiences along this route to an ultimate spiritual destination was both descriptive and yet representative of what many others have told me. I selected an in sightful, forty-one-year-old graphic designer with a mature soul. This man's soul had traveled over this course many times between a long span of lives.

Case 14

Dr. N: You are now ready to begin the final portion of your homeward journey toward the place where your soul belongs in the spirit world. On the count of three, all the details of this final leg of your travels will become clear to you. It will be easy for you to report on everything you see because you are familiar with the route. Are you ready?

S: Yes.

Dr. N: (raising my voice to a commanding tone) One-we are getting started. Two-your soul has now moved out of the area of orientation. Three! Quickly, what is your first impression?

S: Distances are ... unlimited ... endless space ... forever ...

Dr. N: So, are you telling me the spirit world is endless?

S: (long pause) To be honest-from where I am floating-it looks endless. But when I begin to really move it changes.

Dr. N: Changes how?

S: Well ... everything remains ... formless ... but when I am ... gliding faster ... I see I'm moving around inside a gigantic bowlturned upside down. I don't know where the rims of the bowl are, or even if any exist.

Dr. N: Then movement gives you the sense of a spherical spirit world?

S: Yes, but it's only a feeling of ... enclosed uniformity ... when I am moving rapidly.

Dr. N: Why does rapid movement-your speed-give you the feeling of being in a bowl?

S: (long pause) It's strange. Although everything appears to go on straight when my soul is drifting-that changes to ... a feeling of roundness when I am moving fast on a line of contact.

Dr. N: What do you mean by a line of contact?

S: Towards a specific destination.

Dr. N: How does moving with speed on a given line of travel change your observational perceptions of the spirit world to a feeling it is round?

S: Because with speed the lines seem to ... bend. They curve in a more obvious direction for me and give me less freedom of movement.

Note: Other subjects, who are also disposed toward linear descriptions, speak of traveling along directional force lines which have the spatial properties of a grid system. One person called them "vibrational strings."

Dr. N: By less freedom, do you mean less personal control?

S: Yes.

Dr. N: Can you more precisely describe the movement of your soul along these curving contact lines?

S: It's just more purposeful-when my soul is being directed someplace on a line. It's like I'm in a current of white water-only not as thick as water-because the current is lighter than air.

Dr. N: Then, in this spiritual atmosphere, you don't have the sense of density such as in water?

S: No, I don't, but what I am trying to say is I'm being carried along as if I were in a current underwater.

Dr. N: Why do you think this is so?

S: Well, it's as if we are all swimming-being carried along-in a swift current which we can't control ... under somebody's direction ... up and down from each other in space ... with nothing solid around us.

Dr. N: Do you see other souls traveling in a purposeful way above and below you?

S: Yes, it's as if we start in a stream and then all of us returning from death are pulled into a great river together.

Dr. N: When do the numbers of returning souls seem the highest to you?

S: When the rivers converge into ... I can't describe it ...

Dr. N: Please try.

S: (pause) We are gathered into ... a sea ... where all of us swirl around ... in slow motion. Then, I feel as though I'm being pulled away to a small tributary again and it's quieter ... further from the thoughts of so many minds ... going to the ones I know.

Dr. N: Later, in your normal travels as a soul, is it the same as being propelled around in streams and rivers as you have just described?

S: No, not at all. This is different. We are like salmon going up to spawn-returning home. Once we get there we are not pushed about this way. Then we can drift.

Dr. N: Who is doing the pushing while you are being taken home?

S: Higher entities. The ones in charge of our movements to get us home.

Dr. N: Entities such as your guide?

S: Above him, I think.

Dr. N: What else are you feeling at this moment?

S: Peace. There is such peace you never want to leave again.

Dr. N: Anything more?

S: Oh, I have some anticipation, too, while moving slowly with the energy current.

Dr. N: All right, now I want you to continue to move further along with the current of energy closer to the area where you are supposed to go. Look around carefully and tell me what you see.

S: I see ... a variety of lights ... in patches ... separated from each other by ... galleries ...

Dr. N: By galleries, do you mean a series of enclosures?

S: Mmm ... more like a long ... corridor ... bulging out in places ... stretching out away from me into the distance.

Dr. N: And the lights?

S: They are people. The souls of people within the bulging galleries reflecting light outward to me. That's what I'm seeing-patches of lights bobbing around.

Dr. N: Are these clusters of people structurally separated from each other in the bulges along the corridor?

S: No, there are no walls here. Nothing is structural, with angles and corners. It's hard for me to explain, exactly ...

Dr. N: You are doing fine. Now, I want you to tell me what separates the light clusters from each other along this corridor you are describing.

S: The people ... are divided by ... thin, wispy ... filaments ... making the light milky, like the transparency of frosted glass. There is an incandescent glow from their energy as I pass by.

Dr. N: How do you see individual souls within the clusters?

S: (pause) As light dots. I see masses of dots hanging in clumps ... as hanging grapes, all lit up.

Dr. N: Do these clumps represent various groups of soul energy masses with space between them?

S: Yes ... they are separated into small groups ... I am going to my own clump.

Dr. N: What else do you feel about them as you pass by on the way to your cluster?

S: I can feel their thoughts reaching out ... so varied ... but together too ... such harmony ... but ... (stops)

Dr. N: Go on.

S: I don't know the ones I'm passing now ... it doesn't matter.

Dr. N: Okay, let's pass on by these clusters which seem to bulge out along a corridor. Give me an example of what the whole thing looks like to you from a distance.

S: (laughs) A long glow-worm, its sides bulging in and out ... the movement is ... rhythmic.

Dr. N: You mean the corridor itself appears to move?

S: Yes, parts of it ... swaying as a ribbon in the breeze while I am going further away.

Dr. N: Continue floating and tell me what happens to you next.

S: (pause) I'm at the edge of another corridor ... I'm slowing down.

Dr. N: Why?

S: (grows excited) Because ... oh, good! I'm coming in towards the site where my friends are attached.

Dr. N: And how do you feel at this moment?

S: Fantastic! There is a familiar pulling of minds ... reaching out to me ... I'm catching the tail of their kite ... joining them in thought ... I'm home!

Dr. N: Is your particular cluster group of friends isolated from the other groups of souls living in other corridors?

S: No one is really isolated, although some of the younger ones may think so. I've been around a long time, though, and I have a lot of connections (said with modest confidence).

Dr. N: So you felt connections with those other corridors, even with spirits in them you might not know from past experience?

S: I do because of the connections I have had. There is a oneness here.

Dr. N: When you are moving around as a spirit, what is the major difference in your interactions with other souls, compared to being in human form on Earth?

S: Here no one is a stranger. There is a total lack of hostility toward anyone.

Dr. N: You mean every spirit is friendly to every other spirit, regardless of prior associations in many settings?

S: That's right, and it's more than just being friendly.

Dr. N: In what way?

S: We recognize a universal bond between us which makes us all the same. There is no suspicion toward each other.

Dr. N: How does this attitude manifest itself between souls who first meet?

S: By complete openness and acceptance.

Dr. N: Living on Earth must be difficult for souls, then?

S: It is, for the newer ones especially, because they go to earth expecting to be treated fairly. When they aren't, it's a shock. For some, it takes quite a few lives to get used to the earth body.

Dr. N: And if the newer souls are struggling with these earth conditions, are they less efficient when working within the human mind?

S: I would have to say yes, because the brain drives a lot of fear and violence into our souls. It's hard for us, but that's why we come to earth ... to overcome ...

Dr. N: In your opinion, might the newer souls tend to be more fragile and in need of group support upon returning to their cluster?

S: That's absolutely true. We all want to return home. Will you let me stop talking now, so I can meet with my friends?

I have touched on the commonality of word usage by different clients to describe spiritual phenomena. Case 14 offered us a few more. One person's "glow worms bulging out in places" is another's "floating trail of balloons." A description about "clumps of huge, translucent bulbs" in one case becomes "giant bunches of transparent bubbles" from somebody else mentally returning to the spirit world. I regularly hear such water-words as currents and streams used to explain a flowing directional movement, where a sky-word like cloud denotes a freedom of motion associated with drifting. Visual images which call up expressions of energy mass and group clusters to indicate souls themselves are especially popular. I have adopted some of this spiritual language myself.

At the final debarkation zone for the incoming soul, waiting cluster groups of familiar entities may be large or small, depending upon the soul developmental level and other factors which I will take up as we get a little further along. By way of comparison with Case 14, the next case demonstrates a more insular perception of the spirit world from a soul with less maturity.

In Case 15, the transition of this soul from the staging area to her home cluster is fairly rapid in her mind. The case is informative because it presents attributes of propriety felt by this soul to a designated space, as well as deference toward those who manage the system. Because this subject is less experienced and a bit edgy over what she sees as a need for conformity, we are given another interpretation of spiritual guidelines for group placement.

Case 15

Dr. N: I want to talk to you about your trip into the place where you normally stay in the spirit world. Your soul is now moving toward this destination. Explain what you see and feel.

S: (nervously) I'm ... going ... outward, somehow ...

Dr. N: Outward?

S: (puzzled) I am ... floating along ... in a chain of some kind. It's as though I'm weaving through a series of ... connecting links ... a foggy maze ... then ... it opens up ... oh!

Dr. N: What is it?

S: (with awe) I have come into ... a grand arena ... I see many others ... criss-crossing around me ... (subject grows uncomfortable)

Dr. N: Just relax-you are in the staging area now. Do you still see your guide?

S: (with hesitation) Yes ... nearby ... otherwise I would be lost ... it's so ... vast ...

Dr. N: (I place my hand on the subject's forehead) Continue to relax and remember you have been here before, although everything may seem new to you. What do you do now?

S: I'm ... carried forward ... rapidly ... straight past others ... then I'm in ... an empty space ... open ...

Dr. N: Does this void mean everything is black around you?

S: It's never black here ... the light ... just contracts to darker shades because of my speed. When I slow down things get brighter. (others confirm this observation)

Dr. N: Continue on and report back to me what you see next.

S: After a while I see ... nests of people ...

Dr. N: You mean groups of people?

S: Yes-like hives-I see them as bunches of moving lights ... fireflies ...

Dr. N: All right, keep moving and tell me what you feel?

S: Warmth ... friendship ... empathy ... it's dreamy ... hmm ...?

Dr. N: What is it?

S: I have slowed way down-things are different.

Dr. N: How?

S: More clearly defined (pause)-I know this place.

Dr. N: Have you reached your own hive (cluster group)?

S: (long pause) Not yet, I guess ...

Dr. N: Just look about you and report back to me exactly what you see and feel.

S: (subject begins to tremble) There are ... bunches of people ... together ... off in the distance ... but ... there!

Dr. N: What do you see?

S: (fearfully) People I know ... some of my family ... off in the distance ... but ... (with anguish) I don't seem to be able to reach them!

Dr. N: Why?

S: (in tearful bewilderment) I don't know! God, don't they know I'm here? (subject begins to struggle in her chair and then extends her arm and open hand at my office wall) I can't reach my father!

Note: I briefly stop my questioning. This client's father had a great influence in her most immediate past life and she needs additional calming techniques. I also decide to reinforce her protective shield before continuing.

Dr. N: What do you think is the reason your father is off in the distance so you can't reach him?

S: (during a long pause I use the time to dry subject's face, which has become wet with tears and perspiration) I don't know ...

Dr. N: (I place my hand on subject's forehead and command) Connect with your father-now!

S: (after a pause the subject relaxes) It's okay ... he is telling me to be patient and everything will become clear to me ... I want to go over there and be near him.

Dr. N: And what does he tell you about that?

S: (sadly) He says ... that he can always be in my mind if I need him and ... I will learn to do this better (think telepathically), but he has to stay where he is ...

Dr. N: What do you think is the basic reason for your father remaining in this other place?

S: (tearfully) He does not belong in my hive.

Dr. N: Anything else?

S: The ... directors ... they don't ... (crying again) I'm not sure ...

Note: Normally, I try to avoid too much intervention when subjects are describing their spiritual transitions. In this case, my client is confused and disoriented, so I offer a little guidance of my own.

Dr. N: Let's analyze why you can't reach your father's position right now. Could this separation be the result of higher entities believing this is a time for individual reflection on your part and that you should associate only with other souls at your own level of development?

S: (subject is more restored) Yes, those messages are coming through. I have to work things out for myself ... with others like me. The directors encourage us ... and my father is helping me understand, too.

Dr. N: Are you satisfied with this procedure?

S: (pause) Yes.

Dr. N: All right, please continue with your passage from the moment you see some of your family in the distance. What happens next?

S: Well, I'm still slowing down ... moving gradually ... I'm being taken along a course I have been on before. I'm passing some other bunches of people (group clusters). Then, I stop.

Note: The final transit inward is especially important for the younger souls. One client, upon awakening, described this scene as giving him the sense he was arriving back home at twilight after a long trip away. Having passed from the countryside into his town, he finally reached the proper street. The front windows of his neighbors' houses were lit, and he could see people inside as he drove slowly past before reaching the driveway of his own home. Although people in trance may use such words as "clumps" and "hives" to describe how their home spaces look from a distance, this view becomes more individualistic once they go into each cluster. Then the subjects' spiritual surroundings are associated with towns, schools, and other living areas identified with earthly landmarks of security and pleasure.

Dr. N: Now that you are stationary, what are your impressions?

S: It's ... large ... activity ... there are a lot of people in the vicinity. Some are familiar to me, others are not.

Dr. N: Can we get a little closer to all of them?

S: (abruptly my subject raises her voice with indignation) You don't understand! I don't go over there. (points a finger toward my office wall)

Dr. N: What's the problem?

S: I'm not supposed to. You can't just go off anywhere.

Dr. N: But, you have reached your destination?

S: It doesn't matter. I don't go over there. (again points a finger at her mental picture)

Dr. N: Does this tie in with the messages you received about your father?

S: Yes, it does.

Dr. N: Are you saying to me your soul energy cannot arbitrarily float anywhere-such as outside your group?

S: (pointing outward) They are not in my group over there.

Dr. N: Define what you mean by over there?

S: (in a grave tone of voice) Those others nearby-that is their place. (points down to the floor) This is our place. We are here. (nods head to confirm her statement)

Dr. N: Who are they?

S: Well, the others, of course, people not in my group. (in a burst of nervous laughter) Oh, look! ... my own people, it's wonderful to see them again. They are coming toward me!

Dr. N: (I act as though I am hearing this information for the first time, to encourage spontaneous answers) Really? This does sound wonderful. Are these the same people who were involved with your past life?

S: More than one life, I can tell you. (with pride) These are my people!

Dr. N: These people are entities who are members of your own group?

S: Of course, yes, I have been with them for so long. Oh, it's fun seeing them all again. (subject is overjoyed and I give her a few moments with this picture)

Dr. N: I see quite a change in your understanding in just the short time since we arrived here. Look off in the distance at the others around this space. What is it like where they live?

S: (agitated) I don't want to know. That is their business. Can't you see? I'm not attached to them. I'm too busy with the people I am supposed to be with here. People I know and love.

Dr. N: I do see, but a few minutes ago you were quite distressed at not being able to get close to your father.

S: I know now he has his own gathering place with people.

Dr. N: Why didn't you know that when we arrived here?

S: I'm not sure. I admit it was a shock at first. Now I know the way things are. It's all coming back to me.

Dr. N: Why wasn't your guide around to explain all this to you before you saw your father?

S: (long pause) I don't know.

Dr. N: Probably other people you have known and loved besides your father are also in these groups. Are you saying you have no contact with them now that you are in your proper place in the spirit world?

S: (upset with me) No, I have contact with my mind. Why are you being so difficult? I am supposed to stay here.

Dr. N: (I prod the subject once more to gain additional information) And you don't just drift over to those other groups for visits?

S: No! You don't do that! You don't go into their groups and interfere with their energy.

Dr. N: But mental contact offers no interference with their energy?

S: At the right time. When they are free to do this with me ...

Dr. N: So, what you are telling me is that everyone here is located in their own group spaces and you don't go wandering around visiting or making too much mental contact at the wrong times?

S: (calming down) Yes, they are in their own spaces with instruction going on. It's the directors who move around mostly ...

Dr. N: Thank you for clearing all this up for me. You want me to know that you and your group friends are especially careful about infringing upon others' spaces?

S: That's right. At least that's the way things are around my space.

Dr. N: And you don't feel confined by this custom?

S: Oh no, there are great expanses of space and such a sense of freedom here, as long as we pay attention to the rules.

Dr. N: And what if you don't? Who decides what is the proper location for each group of souls?

S: (pause) The teachers help us, otherwise we would be lost.

Dr. N: It seemed to me you were lost when we first arrived here?

S: (with uncertainty) I didn't connect ... I wasn't mentally in tune ... I messed up ... I don't think you realize how big it is around here.

Dr. N: Look around you at all the occupied spaces. Isn't the spirit world crowded with souls?

S: (laughs) Sometimes we do get lost-that's our own fault-this place is big! That's why it never gets crowded.

The two cases in this chapter represent different reactions from a beginner and a more advanced soul recalling the final phase of their return passages back to the spirit world. Every participant has their own interpretation of the panoramic view from the staging area to the terminus in their cluster group. Some of my subjects find the transition from the gateway to group placement to be so rapid that they need time to adjust upon arrival.

When recalling their memories between homecoming and placement, my subjects sometimes express concern that an important individual was not present in light form or did not communicate with them telepathically. Often this is a parent or spouse in the life just completed. By the end of the transition stage, the reason usually becomes evident. Frequently it has to do with embodiment.

We have seen how the average returning soul is overwhelmed by pleasure. Familiar beings are clustered together in undulating masses of bright light. On occasion, resonating musical sounds with specific chords guide the incoming traveler. One subject remarked, "As I come near my place, there is a monotone of many voices sounding the letter A, like Aaaaa, for my recognition, and I can see them all vibrating fast as warm, bright energy, and I know these are the disembodied ones right now."

What this means is that those souls who are currently incarnated in one or more bodies at the moment may not be actively engaged with welcoming anybody back. Another subject explained, "It is as if they are sleeping on autopilot-we always know who is out and who is in." Those souls who are not totally discarnated radiate a dim light with low pulsating energy patterns and don't seem to communicate much with anyone. Even so, these souls are able to greet the returning soul in a quiet fashion within the group setting.

The sense of a barrier between various groups, as experienced by Case 15, has different versions among my subjects, depending upon the age of the soul. I will have another perspective about mobility in the next case. The average soul with a great deal of basic work to do describes the separation of their group from others as similar to being in different classrooms in the same schoolhouse. I have also had clients who felt they were entirely separated in their own schoolhouse. The analogy of spiritual schools directed by teacher-guides is used so often by people under hypnosis that it has become a habit for me to use the same terminology.

As I mentioned earlier, after souls arrive back into their soul groups, they are summoned to appear before a Council of Elders. While the Council is not prosecutorial, they do engage in direct examination of a soul's activities before returning them to their groups. It is not unusual for my subjects to have some difficulty providing me with full details of what transpires at these hearings, and I am sure these blocks are intentional.

Here is a report from one case. "After I meet with my friends, my guide Veronica (subject's younger teacher) takes me to another place to meet with my panel of Elders. She is at my side as an interpreter for what I don't understand and to provide support for explanations of my conduct in the last life. At times, she speaks on my behalf as a kind of defense advocate but Quazel (subject's senior guide who arrived before Veronica) carries the most weight with the panel. There are always the same six Elders in front of me who wear long white robes. Their faces are kindly, and they evaluate my perceptions of the life I have just lived and how I could have done better with my talents and what I did that was beneficial. I am freely allowed to express my frustrations and desires. All the Elders are familiar to me, especially two of them who address me more than the others and who look younger than the rest. I think I can distinguish appearances which are male or female. Each has a special aspect in the way they question me but they are honest and truthful, and I am always treated fairly. I can hide nothing from them, but sometimes I get lost when their thoughts are transmitted back and forth in the rapid communication between them. When it is more than I can handle, Veronica translates what they are saying about me, although I have the feeling she does not tell me everything. Before I return to Earth, they will want to see me a second time."

Souls consider themselves having finally arrived home when they rejoin familiar classmates in group settings. Their attendance here with certain other souls does resemble an educational placement system in form and function. The criteria for group admission is based upon knowledge and a given developmental level. As in any classroom situation, some students connect well with teachers and others less so. The next chapter will examine the sorting-out process for soul groups and how souls view themselves in their respective spiritual locations.