JOURNEYS WITHIN A True Story of Time Travel, Past Life Regression, and Channeling By HENRY LEO BOLDUC FIRST EDITION Copyright 1988 by Henry Leo Bolduc PO Box 88 Independence, VA 24348 All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced without written permission from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages or reproduce illustrations in a review; nor may any part of this book be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or other without written permission from the publisher. First Printing April 1988 Second Printing, June 1989 Third Printing, November 1993 Fourth Printing, July 1995 Printed on Internet November 1997 ISBN 0-9601302-3-3 Internet Edition Copyright 1997 by Henry Leo Bolduc. All rights are reserved. Permission is granted for personal noncommercial use only. No further publication by any means is authorized, nor does this internet publication constitute a waiver of any rights. Adventures Into Time Publishers P.O. Box 88 Independence, VA 24348 TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS NOTE ON THE EDITING OF THE CHANNELED MATERIAL PROLOGUE SECTION I -- HENRY'S BOOK Chapter 1. My Search Begins Chapter 2. Moving Into Action Chapter 3. The Turning Point Chapter 4. The Adventure Years Chapter 5. Healing the Past Chapter 6. Opening New Doors Chapter 7. Adventure Into Time SECTION II -- THE VOICE OF VISHNU Chapter 8. Meeting The Eternals Chapter 9. Progressions, Balance and Counterbalance Chapter 10. Opening the Consciousness Chapter 11. From the Teachings Chapter 12. Readings SECTION III -- PRETTY FLOWER Chapter 13. Pretty Flower Makes Her Appearance Chapter 14. A Typical Gathering Chapter 15. The Story of the People Chapter 16. The Little Stories Chapter 17. The Fantasy Called Reality Chapter 18. The Door of Trust SECTION IV -- A SCHOOL FOR PROPHETS AND GUIDES Chapter 19. An Exercise for Group Hypnosis Regression Chapter 20. A School for Prophets and Guides NOTE ON THE ILLUSTRATIONS SAMPLE ILLUSTRATIONS Author's Note The book reports actual events involving real people. Except for a few instances in which the sequence of events has been changed for the sake of clarity, the facts have not been altered nor the names changed. NOTE ON THE EDITING OF THE TRANSCRIBED MATERIAL Much material in this book is quoted directly from audio tapes made during both regression and channeling sessions. The channeled and regression material is presented almost exactly as it was spoken. I have not corrected grammar, syntax, or diction. Some words are necessarily spelled phonetically. In rare cases I have added a few words for clarity or inserted an explanatory note; these are indicated by brackets [ ]. I have made a few omissions, again for clarity; these are indicated by dots, either three (...), for a deletion within a sentence, or four (....), for a deletion at the beginning or end of a sentence. Pauses, where the speaker hesitates or changes the subject abruptly, are indicated with dashes ( - ). I have added capital letters where they seem necessary. Of the vast material from both the Teachings (The Eternals and the Gatherings (Pretty Flower), I have used what seems of highest general interest and what best represents the messages of the souls who speak. I have not, however, included any material on health issues, since answers to health questions are specific to individuals. PROLOGUE I once heard a delightful story that the ancients came to earth, bringing with them the secrets of eternity. The ancients worried about how to hide these great secrets until mankind was spiritually ready to appreciate and appropriately use them. One lamented, "If we hide them on land, people will conquer the land and discover them." Another commented, "If we hide them in the sea, mankind will reach the very bottom of the sea." A third observed, "If we hide them in space, men and women will one day soar into space." They pondered. Then the wisest said, "Let us hide these secrets in the last place they will think to search. Let us hide the secrets in their own minds." And this proved to be the perfect hiding place. Not until recently has mankind dared to explore this final frontier; people are now searching their minds for the secrets of eternity. I am part of this exploration. I am a past-life researcher. I do hypno-regression to help people experience episodes of past lives. I also help people become channels through which voices speak from eternity. This is a book about how, and why, I do it. I have few theories to offer, but I have a quarter of a century of exploration, exhaustive testing and research to share with you. I didn't set out to be a past-life researcher. In fact, when I was young the word didn't even exist. I did have an early desire to be a priest, to help people achieve their spiritual goals. Later, in junior high school, I thought I'd be a detective, a goal implanted by watching far too much television. Now I have become a detective of a sort, investigating clues to the mysteries of time and the soul. And I sincerely hope my work helps people grow spiritually. My work takes a scientific and humanistic approach to previously uncharted areas of the inner mind. The belief in past lives is centuries old, but the methods of exploring and testing this belief are modern. One of the things I have realized over time is the spiritual significance of the human mind that is not to be linked or confused with religion. Religion has an important place in the community, but it oversteps common sense or becomes dogmatic if it says, "Only our religion and church have the answers; God is on our side only." No one owns an exclusive franchise on God or truth. God and the spirit are universal known to all people of all ages and places, if sometimes under different names. Naive people say jokingly, "Oh, when you talk of past lives, why is everybody Cleopatra or Mark Anthony?" But I say from experience that we were not Cleopatras or Mark Anthonys. We were street sweepers, murderers, cutthroats, rogues, and whores. We were also priests, priestesses, healers, helpers, nurturing mothers, and providing fathers. We were varied people with varied life experiences, just as we are today. Within this context, only cynics will declare that we were all famous personalities and only egotists will hope so. As a past-life researcher, my primary tool is hypnosis - a mind-awake-body- asleep process. Unfortunately, the word is loaded with meanings, not all of them favorable. As I see it, there are three kinds of hypnotists, each using hypnosis for different purposes. The first group comprises the stage entertainers. They use hypnosis almost entirely for entertainment, working with a person's mind to show one can do more things, or different ones, than one normally could. My early courses were in stage hypnosis and they taught me good techniques. I learned to work in front of an audience and I learned selfconfidence; it was impressive to me to see people respond to things I was asking them to do. The next group of professional hypnotists uses hypnosis as a therapeutic tool for stress management, cigarette cessation, weight and habit control, building self esteem, and other manifestations of a positive personality and a healthy lifestyle. In my years working at a hypnosis clinic, that was the kind of hypnosis I did; I gave suggestions to clients to encourage them to respond in certain specific ways. In this type of work, the hypnotist gives what is needed, whether a formula of exercises, suggestions, key words, visualizations or metaphors, to get subjects to respond in ways they need and want - to produce a desired therapeutic result. The third group of professional hypnotists believes that the best way to enrich lives is to enrich minds. They work to bring out information and feelings already in the mind or subconscious of people. This information can be from a present life, a past life, or both. This is how I use hypnosis now; I induce a trance and guide my subjects to reexperience past lives or to open themselves to the eternal. The object is to gain access to the subconscious by using hypnotic techniques for the purpose of allowing what is stored in the mind to come forth. I am not a magician; I put nothing in, but simply draw out what is already there. For those with a technical bent, I include information in this book on my methods. There is not always a therapeutic intent; the subject may merely want information - you can never learn too much about yourself. Other subjects do have therapeutic aims. This kind of person believes an unsolved past problem is affecting the present life. By bringing the problem into awareness it can be dealt with and let go, the first step toward solving the present-day problem. I have found that merely taking this first step is sometimes enough to solve the problem; on the other hand, success can come after multiple sessions. Early in my career, I had to decide how to approach my research into the subconscious. I could enter the academic world, as did Dr. Milton Erickson, a pioneer of modern hypnosis, and Dr. Ian Stevenson, whose research on reincarnation is unique. Or I could go in the direction of the spiritual entrepreneur, like Edgar Cayce, the preeminent American psychic, or Jane Roberts, whose channeling of the entity Seth made them both widely known. Even a world renowned, respected, and meticulous reincarnation researcher like Dr. Stevenson, with impressive academic credentials, has encountered resistance from his peers. So I realized that to have the freedom I wanted to pursue my hypnosis exploration goals I would have to work apart from the establishment. The academic world or even a structured organization could be stifling to my desire to map the mind and pursue truth wherever I saw it, wherever it led me. In later years I realized that the academic world and life as a scientist in "the system" were in the words of those already there: "...tenure wars, grant skimming, departmental cocktail parties, Byzantine academic politics, Department of Defense contracts, jealous colleagues, not to mention the work of actually doing the science. It turns out that 'doing science' is quite a bit different from studying it.* On the other hand, choosing the path of the entrepreneur meant that I would receive no financing from anyone; without grants I would have to fund all my research myself. But this is the path I chose and it has offered far greater freedom. It has been years since I've been to a cocktail party, and I'm a pacifist in the tenure wars. To compensate for lack of funding I worked slowly and used whatever resources were available. I learned patience and kept careful records of procedures and results. I suggest to others who wish to follow this path, this quest, that they first learn to keep an open mind - but not so open that their brains fall out! Build trust - not blind trust but trust for those people worthy of tnust, whether individuals or organizations. Later, when I explain the procedures I followed in my own search, I will welcome you to test and duplicate the experiments. These experiments can easily be conducted in any quiet home setting. You do not need stainless steel labs with state-of-the-art technology, only honest questioning minds and the desire to learn and to experience. The journey within is different for everyone, so you will want to evaluate your results for yourself. Then do accept the validity of your own experience. See for yourself if this work answers any inner questions, satisfies any inner needs, or resolves any inner conflicts. I find past-life-regression work does satisfy deep needs for me. Here are some reasons I do what I do. I have found my goal is to understand and to be understood, then to inspire others. I like to unravel the mysteries of the past through self-examination to appreciate the incredible sagas of the soul's journey. I like to awaken to awareness of my life's mission and the knowledge of my spiritual evolution, and to help others to do so. I like to recognize past friends and soul mates-echoes of the heart from some enchanted time and place; to find reasons to laugh at human folly and reasons to cry for human weakness; to realize how extraordinary every person is now and to appreciate the magnitude of their shared memories and experience. As I give talks, seminars, and workshops around the country, I discuss the latest discoveries in the field of past lives. So much information is being discovered by other researchers every day that our vocabulary and understanding change and grow rapidly. Part of my work is to simplify these complicated new ideas. I strive to translate new ideas and concepts into familiar words and images. One of these new words and concepts is "channeling." My hypnosis and regression work led me to this exciting new field. Again, I will clearly spell out my channeling procedures so you can test and replicate these experiences also. Hypnosis is the tool I use to guide both regression and channeling sessions. In regression work I guide people into their own inner minds. They journey deep within to examine memory imprints that we call "past lives." Whether these visions are always actual past lifetimes or whether they are metaphoric or symbolic doesn't really matter to me. What matters is that the person experiences new insight and selfunderstanding. The regression session focuses on a person's stored memory banks, deep within. The channeling session is completely different. It guides a person to other sources of information. These sources seem to come from "outside" the person; that is, an entity enters the body, or vessel, and speaks through H. In this book, Daniel and Eileen are the vessels; they become channels for the entities of The Eternals and Pretty Flower. These latter entities seem separate from Daniel and Eileen "outside" them, as it were. Yet both The Eternals and Pretty Flower stress the oneness of the entity and the channeler and, indeed, of the whole universe. What can we say, then? Are the entities real? Or are they figments of the imagination? Manifestations of the subconscious? Does it matter? I think it does not. I believe channeling tunes in to a person's superconscious mind - a kind of universal mind or infinite universal intelligence. Going to this higher state of consciousness is opening new channels to divinity, accessing the soul's mind - what some people call "angelic communication," the "compassionate mind," or the "God Force." Channeling does not originate in the conscious or subconcious mind but transcends them to the superconscious. That at least is how I understand it now. I have much to ream, as we all do, about the process. Of course I have had questions, doubt, and self-criticism about my work. I wish to help everyone, but experience has taught me that I can only help those who first ask for help, and then I have time only for a small number of those. I see my role more as a door opener and teacher to encourage and inspire other people to become guides and channels so they, in turn, can help even greater numbers - like being a teacher of teachers. Only one minor problem has arisen from my search into the secrets of the mind. Some few people heard it rumored that my work was "speaking to the dead." Such a description is born of ignorance. Had anyone said such a thing directly to me (these things always seem to come second or third hand), I would surely have explained that anyone can speak 10 the dead. Getting the dead to answer back is the hard part. Well, that is a very old joke, born perhaps of the days of seances and mysterious tappings by unseen hands. We work differently now, I hope. I myself have been fortunate to have received favorable notice from other explorers of the human mind. I have met and made friends with some of the advanced thinkers of our time. I consider it a great honor just to be a part of this new movement and the exciting time of enlightenment in which we live and learn. My 25-year search is a long time in which to realize how much I still have to learn. My search is still just beginning, it seems. All the secrets of the ages are not revealed in the blink of an eye of cosmic time. But in these years I have gained profound insight and experienced peak episodes that I am about to share with you in this book. I will present my story without embellishment. I do not pretend to be more than I am, nor do I hide in false modesty. This is a story of youthful curiosity and my eager search for answers. The adventure quickens! Working with the mind is like opening a window into eternity. Every mind is like an entire living universe, a mother lode of information. When we search deep within and travel the pathways of our minds and souls there is a joy of accomplishment. Like buried treasure, mankind is finding and unlocking the secrets of the ancients - mining them, at last, from their hiding places within us. * Jane Hooper, "Hard Science," Omni Magazine, October(1985): p.116. Chapter 1 MY SEARCH BEGINS The heart knoweth, the soul never forgetteth. Edgar Cayce, Reading 5351-1 In the late 1950s, when I was a teenager, my brother went to a hospital fair and spent five cents on a used book. That nickel changed my life. The book was The Search for Bridey Murphy, by Morey Bernstein.* Mr. Bernstein hypnotized a friend and asked her to reexperience episodes from her childhood. Then he asked her to experience her prenatal state. And then -- he asked her to go beyond. His friend, Ruth, began speaking of herself in another lifetime in Cork, Ireland. The book my brother bought for five cents was the story of Bernstein and Ruth's search for knowledge of lives before the one we experience "now" -- reincarnation, in fact. In its heyday, The Search for Bridey Murphy was a best seller and stirred up controversy and conversation. I was overwhelmed by excitement as I turned its tattered pages. The story added a whole new level to life. If the premise was correct, life was now a series of adventures rather than a single episode. Newspapers and magazines sent reporters to Ireland to try to check out the story. But I thought that the press had missed the point. For me, the question was not "Is every single detail accurate?" I accepted the book's truth. Its basic principles felt right, touched some hidden core in my being. Maybe I just wanted it to be right. No matter. I wanted to know, "Can this experiment be duplicated?" And, more important, "Can I do it?" I knew I would have to try. So, in my high school years, the adventure began. Because Bernstein had used hypnosis to bring Ruth back to past lives, I said to myself, "Well, I will simply have to learn hypnosis." I realized that hypnosis was just the first step -- the tool that would enable me to get to the important thing, the regression experiment. __________________________________ *Bernstein, Morey. The Search for Bridey Murphy. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1956. With the drive that fills explorers, I devoured information about hypnosis. I took courses, attended lectures, and listened to tapes. Most information available then was about stage hypnosis techniques, though I found some serious material, like a course for doctors, dentists, and psychologists that taught me more useful therapeutic hypnotic procedures. At 15, I was doing hypnosis. By the time I was 16, I felt I knew enough to start experiments in hypnotic regression. At a time when most of my friends were buying their first cars, I bought my first tape recording system. (At this point I was following Bernstein -- a ood model, by the way. I needed the tape recorder to record every session, as he did.) With this equipment and with interested volunteers, I was ready to begin. My friend, Calvin, volunteered to be my first subject. Earlier, Cal and I had practiced stage hypnosis exercises and I could tell when he was in a deep trance. On this particular evening, he and I entered the dimly lit room we had chosen for the session. Other friends sat around us in a half circle. A hushed silence fell as we began our first experiment. After inducing a trance, I repeated the techniques used in The Search for Bridey Murphy. I asked Cal to write his name, first in the present and then again as we went back a year at a time to the very first time he wrote his name. We watched in amazement; Cal wrote his name differently with each year. With the last, or youngest, signature, he described his grandfather placing a hand on his, guiding the pencil and showing him how to write his name. This is the actual writing Cal did. [Illustration #1] The success of this experiment encouraged me to venture further into the past. Cal was receptive and ready to work, and I will report the results of our work later in this chapter. Meanwhile, I continued working with friends, guiding other hypnosis sessions. I was learning to use this tool -- hypnosis that would help me achieve my goal, to duplicate the Bridey Murphy experiments. My biggest needs were for guidance and practice. There were no books or courses on methods of past life exploration. My high school psychology teacher encouraged me to learn hypnosis and even allowed me to guide a group hypnosis session in our class. The students who participated enjoyed themselves, so their evaluation sheets said. But I was often puzzled or discouraged. For instance, once in a trance a friend described one of his earliest present-life memories: his aunt dropped him from the top of a bureau. Later, when I asked his mother, she denied the incident had taken place. I jumped to the conclusion that my friend was "making up" the episode. I questioned the validity of what I was doing, and nearly gave up regression work altogether. Now, of course, I am glad I didn't, especially because years later, when I was visiting my friend's older sister, the full story emerged. As I was telling the story of her brother's regression, she blurted out that she had been the one who had dropped her little brother and had covered up the incident as best she could. This was my first big lesson that not everything in a regression session is exactly "accurate." I have learned to allow every subject tell his or her story without interrupting the flow of information. There is plenty of time after the session for analysis and judgment if accuracy is an issue. The First Past Life Regression Up to now, I had experimented with hypnosis as a way of helping people recall experiences from their present lives. It was time to see if we could go deeper into the past. Although I was young, I wanted to work slowly and carefully and to make a sincere, in depth study. Somehow I knew, or had a premonition, that this was something far more than a single experiment. This was something that would become part of my life work. Many of my friends wanted to "go first" on this journey, my first attempt to help someone experience past life recall. I chose Cal because I liked his receptivity and felt our earlier success augured well for this experiment. My preparation in learning hypnosis and regression techniques was about to pay off -- or fail. Cal and I agreed on the date, time and place for our first past life session. I felt both eager and apprehensive. The day ticked by slowly. Evening came and we gathered at Cal's. Earlier that summer a group of us had built a room in the large barn attached to Cal's house. This room, separated from the activity of the home, gave us an ideal place to work. Cal lay on the sofa as the group of friends and observers sat in a half circle. I dimmed the lights and turned on the tape recorder. Here is an excerpt from that first, hour long session. CALVIN August 19, 1962 Ashby, Massachusetts You are in a past lifetime.(1) Everything is so completely clear. Your mouth is nice and moist. Now I want you to tell me about the scene you can see. I'm standing in front of a house. I'm -- it's a wooden house and it's got some kind of a grass roof -- something like that. And there is two big trees in front of the house. I'm leaning against one of them. I got a beard and -- ah -- a grey beard. And there's a dog -- a dog standing beside me. I don't know, never seen the dog, but he's good dog. And um -- Cal then began to describe a life he lived as John O'Hara in 1762 near Berkshire County, England. After the session we were hushed into a long silence. We had all witnessed something profound and exciting. When we did start talking, we asked Cal if he remembered anything of the session. He did. In fact, he was able to add details of the lifetime he had just reexperienced. I was very surprised by this fact, as other subjects I had read about had no conscious recall after the session. Cal appeared fine -- reenergized, even -- after the experience. Our success encouraged us to schedule another session a week later. I knew that something important had happened that summer evening in 1962. I realized that my life's work had taken its first big step forward. But I had no conception whatsoever of the phenomenal events that were to come of it. For the next three years Cal and I continued to work together(2). In his second session, while returning him to the present, I specifically gave him the suggestion, "You will retain in your conscious mind only that which is important and beneficial for you to retain at this time." I was trying to guide Cal not to have memory after awakening if it was not good for him. Nonetheless, Cal did continue to recall much information; I have since found recall after the regresssion to be a normal and natural occurrence for many people. I also discovered that it was possible to have Cal explore more than one lifetime during each session. He could easily review and relive two, three, and four lives in a single session. The Word Spreads I lived in a small town. It didn't take long for word to spread. Soon I was flooded with volunteers eager to experience what Cal had. The friends who sat in on Cal's sessions saw that it was safe and interesting, so they wanted to try -- and they told their friends. Even I wanted to experience regression, but there was no one prepared to guide me. Cal and I listened to his recorded sessions, I to perfect my techniques and he to fill in the gaps in his conscious memory from subconscious recall. We soon realized that there were curious things about his past lives. Cal observed this first. One day he said, "Have you noticed that in every one of my past lives I died a violent death?" I had typed out the material on the tapes, and went to study the transcripts. Sure enough, Cal was right. There was a form or a mold or a design -- a kind of thread stitched through his lives -- a pattern that might warn him to be careful of possible violent death in his present life. A few sessions are necessary for patterns like this to begin to show. Two years later, a man came along who was to teach me the vital importance of understanding past life patterns. This man, Tom, heard of my work and asked me to work with him. He did not say if he wanted to learn more about himself or if he was just curious, and I didn't ask. Whatever his reasons, Tom proved to be an excellent subject. On Oct. 21, 1964, Tom and I worked together for the first time. During that session, Tom relived his life as Mokoutu, and talked of living on a smoking volcanic island, Ponjupo. With a smile of love, Mokoutu spoke of his mother, Moko. Then his story turned to pain and sadness as he remembered the drowning of his beautiful woman, Byutu. He often spoke in a language no one in our area had ever heard. He called houses "kieyoshuto" and described their structure of sticks and clay. He talked of his people's washing their clothes in the river, of the hard work in the garden, and of his dog. Mokoutu and his friends took their "kelia" (boats) to the deep water to net whitefish and rockfish. They returned from these expeditions as quickly as possible, because the Monokis, their enemies on another island, might attack their homes in their absence. "Don't go to the islands!" Mokoutu shouted. "Go halfway between! Never all the way!" Mokoutu's father had died in war, when enemies came in war boats to destroy their homes, to steal, to trample their gardens, to kill his dog. Mokoutu and his people fought bravely and fiercely, killing some of the war men. The rest fled. "How old did you live to be?" I asked. "Lived to be old -- forty -- fifty." I had learned from Cal and others that death is often as important to a person's memory and development as life. I guided him to the time just before his death. "Men standing," he said. "Old women weeping. Crying. Men sad. Presents -- gifts -- for me to take." He saw the young men leave, while the old men remained to "take a smoke." The old men stayed with him and told the story of the village. "Time," he said. Time for what? "To go." That was his simple description of his death. "Time to go." As I questioned him about his death state he described a "blue darkness" and then "swift movement." After a moment, he said spontaneously, "Leap! Move quickly!" I now guided him back to his childhood as Mokoutu and then to a life "before." This concept of lives "before" or "your next life" are probably not always chronologically accurate. But the sequence of lifetimes is confusing. For example, is your "first" life your present life or does it start the first time you enter flesh? This life "before" was in Belgium, where in his childhood he was with his mother, picking grapes. His father worked in a cotton factory. He talked about how he was too small to work in the "Allen Tavern." "Too small -- too small to work in tavern. Steins -- floor -- broke and I got mad. Men drag me -- stab." Tom's face contorted with intense pain and his body jerked. As a guide I feel my duty is to protect my subject, so I guided him forward to detach him from his pain. "It's something of the past," I said. "What happened after?" He said that he died and after death was "clear." I did not know what he meant, but he continued, "Clearness -- waiting very clear -- sky was very clear." Upon returning to the present and waking, he had little recollection of the session. Tom's Other Lives This two year period gave me confidence. I knew that the Bridey Murphy experiment could be duplicated and that I could do it. I continued my work. Tom was a Marine, and we could not schedule another session immediately, but on Feb. 7, 1965, we met again. Apart from the vivid description of his death state and his speaking a foreign language, our first session had been quite ordinary. Now, in Tom's second session, his past life patterns started to emerge. In this session he reexperienced two lives. The first was in 1912 in Norway and was not remarkable. There was no discussion of his death or the cause of death. The second, an earlier life chronologically, took place in France. Tom, now "Peter Foulke," described the beautiful countryside as he traveled through many towns and forests. He said that "Bradfire" forest was one of the nicest places he ever saw: "Large forest with straight trees -- very straight. Dark. Walk through the forest during the day and it's almost like night." "Did you ever go to any big cities?" I asked. "Stick with small towns and small people. People are friendly. Work here and there." And later: "Towns are nice. People are gay and happy and friendly." "What did you benefit from this life?" I asked. "I seen places, beautiful country." Peter Foulke wandered through 18th Century France as 20th Century Tom wandered through his life in the Marines. Then I asked, "How old were you when you died? Do you see a scene now when you left this life?" Not old -- forties -- about forty. How did you die? Died in bed. Of old age? No, heart trouble, drinking. And what happened after you died? Do you want to tell me about this? Going away from building. What form are you in? Go away from the building -- going north -- just leaving. In what form? Well, white -- silver form. It's pretty good. Going away -- getting away from everything. This happened. Leaving people that hated. Just leave. What's the purpose of death? Why do we die? Purpose? We just die. Things don't go away. We die and we -- can go on. Why should the body die and the soul live? Well, the body is just the soul's shield. It takes all the blows and everything caused by the human hate, despise. The body dies -- it has to. Is there anything else? Move on. Which way? Toward better things -- you move to improvement -- trying to look for happiness -- not so much just achievement. You have to move. If you stayed in one place, you wouldn't be progressive. Move on and you see and live more full -- better. Learning From Our Sessions At the time of these sessions, I could only observe and learn. I faithfully transcribed the tapes and read and reread the material. I was learning to grasp the valuable clues hidden in each and every regression experience. For instance, at the time I did not understand the implications of the material about alcohol Tom was presenting. In two lives, his deaths, one from the tavern stabbing and one from heart disease, involved alcohol. At the time of our sessions, Tom was a heavy drinker. He died suddenly in 1979, killed instantly in an alcohol-related car accident. Had I been more aware of the patterns that can occur from lifetime to lifetime, I might have seen the obvious correlation of his present life and his past lives in regard to alcohol use. I have come to believe that past life regression has therapeutic value if it helps us to understand our present lives and to make the changes necessary to clear away the wreckage of past lives. Perhaps I could have helped Tom bring about the changes he needed to make to avoid a repetition of his destructive alcohol use. But perhaps not. I had so very much to learn about the patterns and lessons of lifetimes. After-Session Events Reading about a regression experience is completely different from being there in person. The body movements of a subject being regressed are sometimes unusual and almost always different from those made in the conscious state. Subjects wring their hands, smile and laugh, cry and sob. Often after the session, the memory door is still open and the subject will continue to talk in great detail about the events he or she has experienced. For instance, during a regression a woman thought she was a servant in a house; afterwards, as she continued to "live" the experience, she realized she was the wife of the man she served. Sometimes the memory door closes but the subject continues to behave for a little while as if still in the regressed state. This was the case with a young man who experienced a past life as a leper. Others considered him -- and he considered himself -- unclean; he was disgusted with his body, which the disease caused to rot away before his eyes. After the session, he immediately got up and went over to the sink, where he washed his hands over and over. I watched and asked, "What are you doing?" Only then did he realize he was doing something unusual. There was still the need to wash his hands after being considered unclean. He was quite unaware of his action. He was astonished when I told him he had been washing his hands for almost 10 minutes. The repellent nature of leprosy and the subject's reaction brings up the question of dealing with "disagreeable" episodes in past lives. If the session brings forward a violent or traumatic episode, or a whole life, the subject tends not to recall it consciously when brought out of hypnosis. His or her subconscious protector takes over. In these cases I doubt if it is necessary or beneficial to share the content of the session with the subject, and I rarely do so, except when a subject makes a serious request, and then only after a month or two has passed. Odd as this sounds, no subject has demanded to hear the tape if I explained it was a tragic or difficult lifetime. Perhaps some inner voice or guidance reassures them that the experience of the regression in itself is enough. The subject who experienced himself as a leper followed that life's experience into and through death and achieved peace and understanding. He had little need for conscious recall in this life. It seems to be true that reexperiencing past lives, no matter how traumatic or violent, can have positive effects. Another time, I guided a woman into a past life as an American Indian. She came to me, she said, because her life had always been sad. She had a good job and enough money and a loving husband and child, yet she always felt sad. The recall opened dramatically. Her small band was attacked by another tribe while the men were away. The older women, the old men, and all the children were slaughtered. A few of the desirable younger women and maidens were taken as slaves. The subject watched her two children being killed. She was taken captive and barely survived the trek to her new home and a warrior husband. The subject was able to tell this much; the remainder of the hour session was filled with floods of tears. She cried for 40 minutes. Not knowing what else to do, I simply let her cry. As her anguish subsided, I gave positive suggestions about forgiveness and about closing the door to the past. Then I brought her back to the present. When I saw the woman and her husband months after the session I hardly recognized her. It was as if a giant weight of resentment had been lifted. She talked differently; she laughed; she walked more lightly. I believe she made a major breakthrough in changing her pattern of habitual sadness. She said she felt wonderful about the session, and had no need or desire to hear the tape; I saw no reason to give her a copy or to play it for her. Except for floods of tears, I have had no real problems in regression work. Not everyone has instant success either. This is a new field, a new science, a new study. There are no guarantees whatsoever. My early years were experimental; there were no manuals or courses. But I strove always for high standards of ethics and professionalism. As past life regression becomes more accepted as therapy, there will be the need for more schools and the sharing of knowledge. There is great need for therapeutic responsibility; when dealing with any trauma there are risks. In these early years I had only the vaguest idea of the challenge I was accepting. This is human reality, with all the shadows and all the joy. Past life regression is looking into the most secret, complicated inner workings and the profound simplicity of the soul. There is far more to humanity that behavior and statistics. The psyche is the human soul. Psychology, as I see it, is the study or the science of the soul. Past life exploration is to me in-depth soul study, the real essence and the real meaning of tomorrow's psychology. The psychology of the past -- and unfortunately, of the present -- has sometimes concentrated on behavior to the exclusion of other things. I believe this produces a narrow and stunted view of the soul. There is more to people than mere behavior. Working with past lives shows me how much more there is to a person's psyche than old-school psychologists will admit. The behaviorist view of an earlier generation of psychologists seems to me too distant and cold compared with the enriching humanism of the past lives approach. Through the continuous thread of lifetimes, with their patterns and lessons, I am beginning to view humanity in a clear new light. Deep within each of us is a timeless sensitive soul seeking to unfold and open into the light. This unfolding I call the human adventure. Notes to Chapter 1 (1)"Now I want you to tell me..." is an outdated method of questioning a subject. I would not use such a directive approach today; modern hypnosis uses indirect, open ended questioning. For examples of the newer method, see the guided group experience in Chapter 19. (2) We had five sessions together. They were witnessed and recorded in Massachusetts. The dates were Aug. 19, 1962; Aug. 26, 1962; April 4, 1963; August 24, 1964; and Sept. 30, 1965. Chapter 2 MOVING INTO ACTION The class philosopher, Henri has no use for pseudo-intellectuals. He enjoys life, death, adventure, and beauty. Included in his future plans are hypnosis, travel, and writing. Ashby High School Yearbook, 1964 Watatic 1964, the Ashby High School yearbook, had it right. After two years of regression experiments I knew where my life was going and what the next adventure would be. I had taken all the courses I could take and read all the books I could read. For instance, in high school I devoured books about Franz Anton Mesmer, the father of hypnotism.(1) Now I needed more, and the only place to get it was the Edgar Cayce Foundation in Virginia Beach, VA, home of the Association for Research and Enlightenment (ARE).(2) I sold or gave away almost all my possessions -- my record albums and recording equipment, even my car. (This paring down was to become a pattern marking periods of major change and growth.) I lingered in Massachusetts until Thanksgiving, so I could spend the holiday with my family. Then, taking only traveling clothes and my tapes, notes, and transcripts of regression sessions, along with the money I had saved by working weekends and evenings in an apple orchard, I got on a bus for "college." I matriculated, unannounced, one December night in 1964. I didn't have a plan; I didn't even know where I could sleep. I did know one thing; I needed to learn more about past life regression work. My technique as a hypnotist had improved, and I had kept accurate transcripts and case studies. I was acquainted -- barely -- with Edgar Cayce; I had read about him in the Bridey Murphy book. I knew he was America's preeminent psychic, and that he had conducted "readings," or discourses, given in a self-induced hypnotic sleep. I knew that he was a recognized source of documented past life information, and although he did not conduct "regressions," he did speak of people's past lives.(3) I also knew the name of his son. I had been impressed by one of Hugh Lynn Cayce's taped lectures on reincarnation. So when I got to Virginia Beach I looked up Hugh Lynn's address in the telephone book, cadged a ride to his house, and rang his bell. "Here I am," I announced. "I've been doing past life regressions. I have tapes and transcripts. Teach me." Or words to that effect. It was evening. Hugh Lynn and his wife, Sally, were just leaving for a dinner engagement. Instead of laughing at this a naive, brash teenager on their doorstep, they kindly arranged for me to stay at the ARE headquarters building, where I could also study. The next day I had the first of many talks with Hugh Lynn. He seemed interested in my work and asked me to give a talk and demonstration to a large group of the members, but I had sense enough to know I wasn't ready. Years later I was to give speeches and workshops at ARE; now, I was a student. I was full of doubts and questions. I had tried to ignore them, but they would not go away. What could past life study teach? What could be gained from knowledge of the unconscious mind? Where was I going and how? Did people think I was crazy for pursuing this "stuff?" Was I wasting my time and money? Did people want to know about past lives? Sometimes I doubted it. I wondered, "What am I doing this for? What do I do with this information, anyway? Is it all just wishful thinking? What if it is real? Will we have to return again and again and again until we get our lives "right?" In 1964, the Cayce Foundation headquarters were in a big white building that had been donated by Cayce supporters as a hospital that used procedures in the Cayce readings to heal. The building is a Virginia Beach landmark, perched high on a hill overlooking the Atlantic Ocean. In 1964 it contained offices, a small rack of books for sale, and a library that housed thousands of books on topics that paralleled the Cayce readings. It was and is one of the most important libraries in the world in parapsychology. In addition, the library contained all 14,253 readings, cross-referenced for anyone to read and study. The upper floors of the building had a number of rooms where members of ARE could stay while doing research and study. Hugh Lynn kindly arranged quarters for me there. An adjacent building housed a print shop and an auditorium for conferences. (Since then, the guest rooms have been turned into offices; the library has been moved to a new library/conference center; the single rack of books has grown into a large and active bookstore. The presses are still rolling and computers help ARE keep in touch with a membership of more than 65,000.) [Illustration #2] The Cayce Readings The more than 14,000 Cayce readings are a fascinating but difficult study. The technical language and vocabulary were far beyond my high school comprehension. Also, the flow of subconscious psychic channeled material was a whole new world for me. I could not just sit and read it as I would a story book. It was hard even to understand most sentences. I am good reader, but the material was very deep and unfamiliar, and it has a complicated syntax. I also read just about every book in the library on hypnosis and age regression experiments. I averaged about one book per day, reading late into the night, during the month I stayed at ARE. Here are some of the key questions I explored. Can we remember past lives? I answer, "Yes, we can recall past lives." But if I could prove it absolutely there would be no need for this book. Reincarnation, which is what we are talking about, would be accepted by everyone -- or almost everyone, as almost everyone now accepts that the world is round. We use electricity every day, but no one can define it. We fall in love, and who can define that? We accept many beliefs we cannot prove, and that does not affect their reality. Here is a parable from Kahlil Gibran that illustrates my point. OTHER SEAS A fish said to another fish, "Above this sea of ours there is another sea, with creatures swimming in it -- and they live there even as we live here." The fish replied, "Pure fancy! Pure fancy! When you know that everything that leaves our sea by even an inch, and stays out of it, dies. What proof have you of other lives in other seas?"* Are we making it all up? I remembered my youth and the Santa Claus myth that all adults seemed to be in conspiracy to protect. I wanted real answers. I did not want fairy tales. I had peeked on Christmas _____________________________ *Gibran, Kahlil. The Forerunner: His Parables and Poems. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1961. So in the library I read books by other serious researchers who had done regression work that paralleled my experiments. Answers began to unfold slowly. There was no great flash of light nor instant revelation; it was not like that. But slowly, bit by bit, things fit together. Some things did not fit well and I put them aside. As it turned out, it took a few more years of living, learning, and growing before I proved to my own satisfaction that people just didn't make up past lives. Meanwhile, I delved for the answers in the Cayce readings.(4) In his conscious state Cayce was very wary of reincarnation. In his subconscious state he was an outspoken advocate. He said that in past lives we "find talents and strengths" (Readings 30222-1 and 2002-1) and that our recollection "brings peace that passeth understanding to inner turmoils" (105-1). The readings said that recall is for "soul development" (2121-2); it "helps others and brings them comfort" (764-1); and, most important, that the recall itself "brings awareness of the continuity of life" (1641-1).(5) These were fine explanations of the advantages of understanding past lives. But I could not find anything by Cayce that said we could prove their existence to anyone but ourselves. This dilemma led to my biggest question. What role does imagination play in past life recall experiences? In past life exploration, many people worry that their experiences are "only imagination." At times, I suspect this is so. Nevertheless, further research may reveal that even simple imagination may have strong messages embedded in symbols, as in nighttime dreams. Cayce suggests that imagination is the avenue to the visual faculty of the mind. My own experiments suggested that hypnosis enhances the image part of the mind; that is, people who could consciously visualize, imagine, or daydream seemed to be better subjects for hypnosis. Years later I was to understand the reason for this: hypnosis stimulates and enhances right brain activity and visualization is a right brain activity. There is a definite link between the part of the mind that stores and retrieves images and past life work. The processing of visual information is one function of the mind; we do this all the time when we recall anything from our experience. The creation of visual fantasy is another function of the mind; we do this whenever we daydream. The functions are separate and distinct, but they are often confused. Fantasy is fantasy. Retrieval of a stored image, whether the image is conscious or unconscious, is retrieval of a stored image. But there is a fuzzy border between the two. That overlap is what causes confusion in many people -- thinking that all images are fantasy. For instance, consider two Walt Disney movies. Real-story, true-event "imagination" would be like the movie, The Living Desert, while fantasy- imagination would be like Fantasia. My own regression experiments had shown me that most people recalled events through scenes, pictures, and images, though the other senses can trigger recall of past memories. A few subjects said they "heard" the information in their minds and repeated it. A few others said they "felt" or "sensed" the information that came forward. One said she "smelled the ocean," and much of her recall was triggered by her sense of smell. But for most the image facility was the key or the doorway to the past life memory. Most of their recall was of images and scenes, and because they had not consciously "seen" these images before, I could understand that some thought of it, or mislabeled it, as imagination. But this imagination stayed with them long after the session. With time comes the realization of what is valid and meaningful. Time separates the wheat from the chaff in past life recall; the impressions that last for a long time are more meaningful than passing flights of fantasy. When I searched the Cayce readings on this question I discovered an entirely new link of the imagination with past life study. Cayce said, "The ability to imagine other places [is] because of the past there" (379-3). I responded to this statement with a surge of enlightenment. The imagination is not in conflict or opposed to past life memory; it is a helpful tool. "So that's why my subjects can describe a particular place or time period so vividly," I thought. "Because it is actually remembered from their own past!" People are always so quiet in libraries, but I wanted to shout for joy when I found this nugget. In fact, Cayce told a person specifically to "Use your imagination to fill in details of past life" (1468-1). A reading told another person, "Turn to the mirror of life and ask yourself, `What do you suppose was served as supper then?'" (1179-2). Another person was told, "Visions and odors harken back to past life in the desert" (2662- 1). (This reminded me of the woman who started her regression by smelling the ocean.) What are the warnings about recalling our past lives? Cayce said, "Beware unless you are balanced in purpose" (5399-2).(6) Also, "Don't abuse the talent for recall" (340-15) and "don't dwell on it, rather abide in love" (1608-1). One person was cautioned that past life exploration could cause him to be "side tracked" from his present life (3360-1). I heartily agree. My concern was not that a person would get "stuck" in the past, because that has never happened in my experience (7), but that someone might dwell on the past or, worse, take it too seriously. I was beginning to realize that we are given a series of lives specifically to be able to start anew that we are born again to be free of the past, not sentenced by it. Insight and self-knowledge of our pasts can bring benefit, sometimes can help us change and grow. But the past is past. The readings encourage people to study themselves and their past lives and caution only of the "abuse" of recall. I had faith that if my intent was unconditional love in helping others there was nothing to be afraid of. Why can't everyone recall past lives? In one reading, Cayce said, "Doubt" (1152-9). To me, that summed it up in a neat one-word package. But really, there are many more factors than that. Some people are afraid of what they will uncover. Some people still think hypnosis is like a truth serum that will cause them to blurt out some deep secret (they won't unless they want to). Perhaps a bigger block than either of these is over-anxiousness. Some people are too eager and try to rush the process. The best subjects are neither too apprehensive nor too zealous. The qualities I value most are honest skepticism and an open and honest mind that is willing to accept new experience. What are other recall techniques? If using the imagination can help recapture past life experience, are there other methods? Looking into water, a mirror, a crystal ball, or one's own mind can be good tools for meditation. But a more practical method to enhance past life recall is to study the time period. The readings told one person, "Study Grecian period to recall lifetime there" (1732-2). Another person was told, "Study geography, scenery, windmills, etc., will give the person proof of experience there in Holland" (114-1). Another was told, "Study and vision monuments to recall Egyptian experience"(311-2). When I read this material in the ARE library, I wondered how many people already subconsciously study a certain era or place because of their earlier ties there. The readings gave sound advice; anyone can get insight into themselves by studying times and places that deeply interest them. To me, this gave clues to why some friends only read a certain era of history and others studied only certain places. And the opposite: Why some people dislike a particular time or place -- because of negative experiences, perhaps? One young woman I had recently regressed had had a sad and tragic life in China. After the session, she confided that she hated Chinese food and disliked everything Chinese. In her present life she had no ties whatsoever to the Orient. Travel can also help us get in touch with past lives, Cayce said. He told one person, "Travels to Williamsburg will stimulate recall [of] lifetime there with present husband" (578-2). To another, "Travel to Jamestown and the sense of familiarity what will come over them" (268-3). One person was told to "travel to Palestine to recall both the crusade experience and earlier" (341-8). Another: "Sit on the sands [anywhere] and remember Persia" (1837-1). And: "Travel to coastal areas of Connecticut to recall early settlement there" (1825-1). The readings even suggested travel and activity combined to reexperience events: "Go to the fort on the August moon and listen to your voice which was raised there" (3377-1). Many readings recommend meditation. Cayce suggested meditation "to recall details of life in Jerusalem" (853-8 and 1486-2). For another he recommended "Entering into the silence for the visions that may be brought from the Grecian experiences" (858-1). I loved the suggestions for travel. I took the advice and launched a new career of extensive travel. Studying was a nice, passive approach to past lives. Actual travel to other lands suited me better. There are feelings and vibrations that can only be lived; I do not find them in books. Little did I realize it then, but I was destined to fill a number of passports and to live in and travel to many countries. I love travel and recommend it as an exciting, if sometimes difficult, method of stimulating inner experience. Reading is a memory stimulant, Cayce said. Among the many books he recommended were historical novels and several books of the Bible, such as the stories of John the Baptist and Mary Magdalene and the first chapters of Acts. What about dreams of past lives? The Cayce readings said, "Dreams recall past lives" (5569-1). People were told that dreams recall major events in other lives -- Egyptian, American Indian, and Roman, for example. The study of our dreams, along with daily prayer and meditation, is one of the main paths on the road to the spiritual, according to the readings. My Days at ARE Soon after my arrival at ARE I started my personal dream journal. I put a notebook and pen by my bed. Before retiring I gave myself a suggestion to recall my dreams and write them down immediately upon awakening. There were many people, both staff and visitors, to help me interpret them (dreams are symbols that must be translated into words and ideas.) There are many kinds of dreams, I learned: Dreams to relieve stress, sexual dreams, dreams of fear, dreams of flying and occasionally dreams of past lives. Some dreams have personal meanings that apply only to ourselves. Studying my dreams was fun and I achieved some new past life insights, but to me this method was more haphazard than a guided regression. The dreams that have the most significance are recurring dreams. A Cayce reading explained, "A recurring dream validates past life information" (2072- 1). The recurrence of a dream definitely means a message is trying to reach the dreamer. To me, a recurring dream (even, or especially, a frightening one) needs to be discussed, explored, looked at, studied, meditated upon or prayed about in order that its message be fully understood. If the message is from a past life, a combination of dream analysis and regression can help understand the memory. The link between dreams and other lifetimes is not yet fully understood, but I thing it is clear that dreams and daydreams are a key to unlocking the mystery of the subconscious. Carl G. Jung said, "The unconscious helps by communicating things to us, or making figurative allusions. It has other ways, too, of informing us of things which by all logic we could not possibly know. Consider synchronistic phenomena, premonitions, and dreams that come true."* ____________________________ *Jung, Carl. Memories, Dreams, Reflections. New York: Vintage Books, 1965. p. 302. Many Kinds of Education My mind was filling with ideas and inspiration. I read almost a book a day, studied the readings, recorded my dreams. To balance so much mental exercise, I did yoga exercises in my room. I washed my clothes in the bathroom in the evening and hung them to dry near the radiator. I cooked my meals in the kitchen (everyone cooked for himself) and shared many a stimulating conversation with staff and visitors at mealtimes. I walked on the beach. Virginia Beach was then quite open, with ample dunes to explore. The years have brought in more hotels and condominiums. But the spirit of ARE has remained the same -- there are usually sensitive souls around to share sparkling conversation and experiences. In fact, the biggest benefit I received at the Foundation in the mid-1960s was the meetings with other seeking people. In daily conversation with people living or working at the Cayce Foundation I began to see honest minds with valid questions. These were not carnival psychics but real people with real experiences. Not only had Cayce questioned what this work was all about, but those after him did also. I was not alone with my questions. The ARE confirmed my research and gave substantiation to my work. I was excited by the readings and realized I was not alone; I was not "weird." People were there to study Cayce's information on holistic health. Some came to test their extrasensory perception. Many came to study the prehistoric past, others to look into the future. People came from all over the world with searching minds and most found the answers they craved. Even skeptics were welcome and many broadened their views. The Cayce material taught me that I could now look at life in a much fuller way. The information broadened my horizons and confirmed my own research that there is continuity to life. It now seemed that five or six lifetimes was no more miraculous than just one. To hear honest and sincere people discussing their previous lives as openly as talking about last year's trip to Europe was comforting. South and North I stayed at Virginia Beach another month working at the home of an author and movie producer who was writing a book on the legendary continent of Atlantis. As the weather got colder I felt the call of warm, sunny beaches. Staff members at the ARE gave me the names of a Florida chiropractor husband and wife team who were active in using hypnotherapy. Taking a bus to the Interstate, I started hitchhiking. Within two minutes (and I am not exaggerating) I got a ride all the way to Miami Beach, my destination. My hosts were a delightful couple; they introduced me to my very first psychics. Naively, until now I had believed that Cayce was unique in psychic channeling. In Florida I received my first psychic reading. The psychic did not know anything about me, nor I about him, but after meeting for just a few minutes he began to give me an abundance of information that was totally correct and then predictions that later proved to be correct. Later I had my first palm reading, an impressive one. Before I left, the chiropractor guided me through the deepest and best session of hypnosis I had experienced until then. In New England there had been no one to work with me to guide me as a subject. I had experienced good sessions by using pre-recorded tapes and made a couple of tapes myself, but this was my first "live" session of hypnosis. Traveling back north in the spring I was in Norfolk, VA, and ran out of cash. I had an out of state personal check that I kept for emergency use, but because it was a weekend no bank was open. A sign on a bar said "checks cashed," and although I was too young to drink I went in and explained my situation. The bartender asked for my local address, but I had none. He asked if I knew anyone locally; I did not. He said, "I would like to cash this for you, but I can't." I said, "Well, I was staying at the Cayce Foundation a few months ago; it`s about 20 miles away." His face lighted up and he said, "Well, then, of course I'll cash it for you." I thought he was kidding. But he told me to sign it, and counted out the cash. "They're all real good people over there," he said. Or something close to that; I was so full of appreciation I still don't recall his exact words. To me this experience explains better than almost anything else what the Cayce Foundation is all about. The Cayce material taught me a great deal; the Cayce philosophy and way of life, with its motto, "That we may make manifest the love of God and man," taught me even more. I believed I could gain still more understanding of soul development, and the way to do it was clear: Do the work. I could whole-heartedly welcome the field of inner exploration. If I did the work, went in and explored, if I was willing to take the steps, the answers would come. If I was willing to learn, if I had patience, if I was determined to understand the secrets of the mind, what the mind is, and what my purpose and spiritual destiny were, then I would have to do the work. Other people might misunderstand or reject this type of search. That could not be my attitude. I would search. If I was hurt or others were hurt, then I would put it down and stop. But if I could gain understanding and knowledge and realization of self ... if I could know myself through the exploration of past lives ... if I could attain insight, then that's the course I had to follow. To dive in. To search. To learn. Notes to Chapter 2 (1) Franz Anton Mesmer (1734-1815), Austrian physician. He believed that "animal magnetism," a mysterious inner fluid, had healing properties. It could sometimes be transferred from person to person by touch, inducing a sleeplike state from which the patients awoke cured or much improved. Mesmerism was discredited by the hostile 18th Century medical establishment and Mesmer died in obscurity, but some doctors continued to experiment and improve his techniques. One was a Scottish physician, Dr. James Braid, working in the 1840s, who coined the word hypnosis, from the Greek root, hypnos (sleep). Interest in hypnosis reawakened in the late 19th Century and has continued until today. (2) "Three organizations have been created to express and promote the worthy ideals which were articulated through Edgar Cayce: The Association for Research and Englightenment; The Edgar Cayce Foundation; and Atlantic University," according to James C. Windsor, Ed.D., president of the last two. The Association (ARE) is "an open membership organization dedicated to making available to all interested persons the readings of Edgar Cayce, and related materials and experiences, through publications, lectures, conferences, home study, group study and specialized programs." The Foundation serves "as the custodian of the Edgar Cayce readings and related materials," which it makes available to researchers and organizations. It also maintains a collection of books and journals in parapsychology, comparative religion, and mysticism. Atlantic University, which reopened in 1985, offers a Master of Arts in Transpersonal Studies, emphasizing "the integration of body, mind and spirit; and of Eatern and Western thought." Residential and independent study courses are offered. (3) According to the ARE, "Edgar Cayce (1877-1945) manifested one of the truly remarkable psychic talents of all time. Widely known today through the scores of books published about his work, he was able to enter a deep state of meditation and give accurate and helpful information on a virtually unlimited range of subjects. The transcripts of this psychically given information are called `readings.' For many years the information requested of Edgar Cayce related mainly to physical ills. The repeated accuracy of his diagnoses and the effectiveness of the sometimes unorthodox treatments he prescribed made him a medical phenomenon. The fact that he needed only the name and current location of an individual anywhere in the world in order to give a careful diagnosis of the physical condition compounded the mystery. Eventually the scope of his work expanded to include information and advice on thousands of subjects, including mental and spiritual counsel, metaphysics, parapsychology, religion, and prophecy of personal and world events." (4) The Cayce readings are arranged numerically. The first number is the one assigned to a person who received a reading, for confidentiality, and the second number is that of the reading given this person. Thus Reading 914-44 refers to a person, Cayce himself, and to the 44th reading for which he was the subject. (5) The first mention of past lives is usually said to have occurred on Aug. 10, 1923. However, it has recently been discovered that there is an earlier one, on April 22, 1911, when his secretary, Gladys Davis, made a notation in Reading 4841-1. This reference, being so unexpected and about a topic unknown to those present, must have slipped by without anyone's remarking it or understanding its significance. (6) I heartily agree with the Cayce admonition ("Beware unless you are balanced in purpose"). If you are a balanced person, and your purpose is balanced with your ideals, you can gain great insight from past life exploration. But if you seriously need psychological or psychiatric help, believing that the solution to your problems lies only in your past life experiences may be a serious mistake. (7) No serious or professional hypnotist would allow a subject to get "stuck" in the past. It has never happened to me, nor have I ever heard of such a case. I do have one undocumented story about a stage entertainer who undertook a successful past life experiment, but did not properly close the door to the subconscious memories at the end of the session. The subject functioned normally but was disoriented for a few days after the experience. Chapter 3 THE TURNING POINT Belief consists in accepting the affirmations of the soul; Unbelief, in denying them. Ralph Waldo Emerson Representative Men In 1974, my friend Patricia and I set out to drive by van through the United States and Mexico. On the first morning, we picked up a young man who was hitchhiking from Boston to Lansdowne, PA, a town just south of Philadelphia, where he was due that evening at a rehearsal at the church where he played the organ. The three of us talked. We all enjoyed the conversation so much so that we drove a full hour south of Chuck's destination. Turning, we headed back to Lansdowne. During that last hour, Chuck talked about the recent death of a young woman who was very close to him. Her death left him with the feeling that their relationship was incomplete, unfulfilled. Trust and friendship had developed among the three of us. I wanted to help Chuck. While it is difficult now to reconstruct the sequence of events exactly, I think I simply asked Chuck if he wanted to participate in an exercise that might help him understand the loss of his friend. I must have explained that I had done similar work before. He agreed. I suggested he mentally look into the eyes of the young woman, to send love from his eyes into her eyes, and to allow her to fade away. Chuck responded very well to this exercise. Then, spontaneously, with his eyes still closed, he held his right knee and talked about a pain he felt there and had -- with no apparent cause -- felt at other times in his life. I suggested we look for the cause of that pain, and I then guided him through a few steps of a technique for viewing past lives without hypnosis.(1) I asked Chuck to imagine enlarging himself to twice his normal size; then returning to his normal size; then floating safely a few inches above himself; and then returning to his body. Eventually, after a few more steps, I asked him to come down to earth once again, place his feet on the earth, and describe his feet. (In retrospect, this seems very strange and confusing direction to give in a moving van.) Chuck did the exercise. What happened next filled me with astonishment and awe. Chuck's Experience Chuck began to talk. In fact, he began a monologue that lasted 45 minutes, and which I stopped only because I knew he was due at his rehearsal. First he described himself as an old man in an Eskimo-like tribe in a frozen land. His tribe could not support its elderly; there was simply not enough food. Chuck suffered the fate the tribe prescribed in this situation; one of his legs broken was so he couldn't follow the band as it migrated. He was left to die. Next, without pause, he started to talk about a life in a place he called Atlantinus or Atlanticinus and later, Oceanus Atlantis. He was delivering a speech. His message was apocalyptic: He told the people in his audience they had five years left before the land was destroyed, and he begged them to flee with him and other leaders. As a guide or facilitator I had conducted many past life regressions. A few were dull, most were good, some were excellent. But what was happening with Chuck, right here in my van, was phenomenal beyond anything I had yet seen or imagined. Chuck was about five minutes into his speech before I realized we had a tape recorder in the van. I started it, picking up his speech in mid- sentence. CHUCK Spring, 1974 Near Lansdowne, Pennsylvania First Session ....need to be fed tonight, to be clothed tomorrow, and to love tomorrow after. You will follow every single origin that that has been before you, only to follow a conclusion you have not known. You will be part of me. You will be part of ourselves. We are teach[ing] each other. You must follow. Pack up everything you own. Pack up your idols. Pack up your possessions. Tell your children, tell your grandparents you must leave them. Break every tie. There is a mountain and a valley beyond it. There is a spring. There is everything ever that we have ever had; that we have never had. There is a being within us so strong that you cannot deny it. I will lead you; believe in me. We will go to a valley that no one has ever seen or no one will ever see again. There is a forest, a veritable forest. There is unanimity in our purpose, but our purpose is to be beyond, to a point where people will precede us and antecede us. People who have known us and never known us. Generations of generations will come after us and they will know where we were but they've never been. They will be in places to the north and to the south. They will to be with the fair skinned people from the East. We will create our own, Atlantinus -- Atlantinus Atlantinus! We will be there! We will die with you so that we will live with you. When our race is with our race, we will be. We will be what has never been, and we will die, but we will live, and you've got to be with us because that is what Louana was ever.(2) That's what she pointed. That's why I hurt. I've been among you, but I've been away from you for years. It's Louana. I've come out. She knew. She knew she had to break away so that I would be me, but it's us and it's me, so follow. Will you follow! Will you be with us! Will you be with me! Will you be with the passion and will you be with the purpose! Will you rise above your lowly rags and will you rise above your lowly existence! Will you be something that has never been! Will you dare to conquer what is unconquered! Will you go with me! Then we shall go. Then we shall go. Then we shall go. Chuck next spoke quietly in a language I did not know, though I am familiar with French, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, and Latin. With the next question, I was able to guide him back into English. I was relieved, for two reasons: it made the session intelligible and it reassured me my skills were sufficient to guide him during the session -- the possibility that I might not be able to was very real, as Chuck was totally living the experience. What's happening now? People. What are they doing? They're following a course that cannot be followed. Why? Its conclusion is so soon. They're abandoning what made them what they are to become, something they can never be. Too fast! They don't realize what they are. They can't. If they did, they'd slow down. They'd teach their children, but they're not teaching their children. They're not even teaching themselves. What are they doing? They're following a principle that can't be followed. What principle? They're selfish. They can't be. They're worshipping, they're worshipping the Power. They can't. It's not the Power they should worship. They should worship what made them powerful. They don't understand the difference. What made them powerful? They don't know. They know that they're gifted. They know they've conquered, but they don't know why, and they think they're omnipotent, but they're not. They're human. They're subject to weaknesses. I'm trying to tell them. They won't listen. There's a few. Launch ships. Go places you've never been. Start what we've started, but start it. Start it so they can be themselves and not what they're not. We'll kill each other off; you know it. You know we'll do something we can't ever recover from. You've got to go. You've got to leave. You've got to follow me. You've got to follow me to places that we've never been. We're explorers! We're adventurers! We're not self-effacing. We're not dignified without our dignity. They will follow themselves until they die. They will create powers they can't control. You can't allow it. We'll kill each other from within. We've got to start over. I know we do. We've got to start slower; we've got to realize what human dignity and value is. We've got to realize behavior. We've got to realize our minds. Don't you understand that people are worshipping us, but we're not worshipping-ful? They are worshipping us as ultra-beings and we're not. Can it be that we're not? Can it be that we've learned something for not- learning? There are people that have been before us. We've got to find them. We've got to find their secrets. Why are we different? Why are our colors different? Why are our heads bigger, our noses longer? Why are our fingers longer? Why are we taller? It's not from something we've learned. It's from something that's within us. It's inherent. We've got to learn it before we advance any further. We've got to take time to study what we are and what we will become. We can't be powerful without until we're powerful within, and we can't ever be powerful within until we realize our potential. You who believe me, you've got to follow me and Moran. You've got to follow me and Moran and Estes and Challis. You've got to follow the four of us. We are the Quadrant. We are the ones who are what we were. If you can see beyond your fingers, if you can see beyond the sunset, you'll know it's not the sun we revolve around. You know it's not ourselves we revolve around. It's a universe. It's a galaxy. You know that we are not the seasons. We're the reasons for the seasons. You don't know the reasons. You must know that the reason for man and woman is not because of some, some divineness within self. Did we create man and woman? Did we create learning? Did we create our noses, our bodies, our beings? Did we create sexual fulfillment? Did we create learning? No! We were created. We are what our predecessors were and what they built upon. So we must continue to build. Think of the horizons we can expand. Think of the enormous structures, the enormous learning. Think of the philosophy, the etiology. Think of what we are. Think of what we are now. It's one billionth of what we can become, not in our lifetime, not in our children's lifetime, but it's up to us. We must propagate. We must procreate. We must go to our centers of learning. We cannot think that we are the end. We cannot believe that this is the absolute end of what we are. We are a stepping stone. You're leading to destruction. Don't you understand? There will be mutants. There will be emaciated faces. There will be people who will never arise beyond what half of what we are. We must go to other lands, other horizons. There are places to the south that we have not ventured to. We must launch ships. We must launch everything that we have. We must build cities. We must build waystones. We must build pointers to where we have never been. We will build again. We will arise, only slower. We must use every single ounce of mentality. And we must learn what we are so that we can become what we will be. What will our children be? Will they be self- centered egotists? Will they be caught up with their own power? No. They can't be that. We'll never evolve. Think of what we can do. There are civilizations we've haven't seen. We must be there. You must follow me. See my hand. See my eyes. See what they tell you. Don't listen to my words; see my being! Look at it! Look at it! It trembles! Look at it! We will be! We will conquer what we are to be, what we haven't been! We will reach! There is strength within us that has never been strengthly tested. We must be. We must arrive. If this is the end, we cannot look at ourselves with pride. We must abandon sex. We must abandon bodies. We must be outside our bodies. We must be mind. We must be, we must be mentality and spirit. We will cover oceans. We will cover mountains. We are! Understand that we are! Your politics are worthless. Your physical sensations are needless. Your starving, your hunger, they can be overcome. There will be - - there will be people after us. There have been people before us. They are pointing the way to something, to somewhere we must follow. There are pathways that have been made but never recorded, and we will follow. Look at me! Look at the strength! You know me as a leader. You know me as a strong man. You know me as a man who can move temples with a single word. You know me as someone who has power from within. You know me as parentless, as brotherless, as sisterless, but you do not know me! You must abandon yourself. You must abandon physical being. You must abandon pain and hurt and pleasure and surface. You must be from within. It has come from your very stomach, from your intestines. You must be able to look beyond what is to be seen. You will follow! You will follow because I command it. Yes, I dare command it. I dare command what you are. I command what you think you are. I will lead. I will lead because it is within me to lead and I question it not. I question not! I know that you are with me. You will follow. You will go now. You will pack. You will bring your asses, your donkeys, your lambs, your llamas, your goats. You will bring everything that was in you. Everything material, everything financial -- you will abandon it! You will follow these hands. They will lay themselves down to the west and to the north. We will cross oceans. We must launch now before the entire Brotherhood abandons itself for power, and they will never do that successfully. There is a power from underneath that will kill us. We will be abandoned. We will be cast into the ocean. We will die. We will sink. We cannot allow it. I give you five years, five years, 364 days times five. I give you calendars. I give you dates. Follow me. If we die, we die, but we'll die living. We will die living instead of dying slowly. We must be, we must be better than what we are or else -- or else what have we striven for all these years? Our ships that go under, our vehicles that fly over mountains, are they to fly because we command them to fly? Did we invent them because we were the only inventors, or did we invent them so that after we die people will follow them? They will say, "Look at what our predecessors were. That is what we must become." We must discover why we are so light and others dark. It is because there is a light within us. It is because we have the power that we do not deserve, but that we must continue. You must realize that drunkenness and immorality will never ever sacrifice or never ever replace spiritual immortality. We will conquer. We will conquer because I see us conquering. We will rise above what we are. It is what Louana was. It is what her parents sanctioned. It is what I must continue and I will bear the burden if only, if only to die and leave you carrying it on. I will die helpless. I will die friendless. I will die, if only so that we can continue. Do you think that we go underneath the water because we are so gifted that we looked in silver plates for mirrors that told us that we were omnipotent that we were gods because we have seen others lower than ourselves? No. If all we are here for is self-preservation and for selfishness, then we are here for nothing! We are transient. Follow me, follow Challis, follow Moran. We are the way. We have given you the knowledge. You must contain within you the need for understanding. Then we will conquer, from worlds beyond, from horizons beyond, we will overcome what we are to be -- what others before us and after us need to be. And that is why I stand before you, and that is why I ask you: Will you follow? Will you be what our brothers cannot see? Will you be the preservation of a -- of a goal? Will you lower yourselves with brothers [others]? Will you continue a race that can never give hope to be what we are? In only a thousand years to be what we are? Have I reached that much? Is that single chord within you struck enough? Will you follow -- Challis! Challis! Challis! Then let us go to the west and tell them what we were and hope -- and hope that those under us will never undermine what we've become, because we are the hope. We are the compassion, we are! And we can never be less than what we are. Let others die underneath rubble. Let others waste themselves in principles that we'll never know. Let us be beyond what we are. Let us rise above flesh to be what our spirits command. Let us leave now. Let us launch. Let us journey. Let us continue. Let us propagate and procreate. Let us carry on those principles of humanity that our brothers have forsaken for power. Let us be -- let us continue -- let us go! My Doubts Removed Everyone has doubts, especially about new ideas and new discoveries. When does doubt become belief? At what point does belief become reality? Does a child, for example, believe it can walk when it sees other people walking, or when it takes the first unsure step, or when it can go a certain number of steps without falling? For me, belief in the existence of past lives turned into the reality of acceptance with Chuck. All my previous questioning and doubt suddenly took a quantum leap into unqualified conviction. I had never met Chuck until the day we worked together, and as far as I can tell, he had nothing to gain by faking any of this recall. When we talked later, I discovered he had virtually no knowledge of the concept of past lives or even of hypnosis. He knew nothing of my previous explorations in mental recall. Chuck did not know specifically what I was doing -- neither did I, for that matter. At this point my sessions were very much learn-as-we-go affairs. So he did not want to please the hypnotist, a phenomenon some people mistakenly assume accounts for behavior under hypnosis. I was not leading the witness with questions, or directing him to a conclusion, as the session was almost all a monologue. My mind was fully occupied simply with understanding what was happening; I could hardly formulate questions at all, much less lead him in a preconceived direction. When we started, I never imagined a full regression. I had only conducted such sessions in a controlled setting with preestablished procedures and at least a few witnesses. To attempt anything more in an impromptu session in a van on a highway was the farthest thing from my mind; I hoped only for a few basic exercises. But the door opened to a full, in depth, profound session. One step flowed easily into the next without effort and soon Chuck was in the deepest hypnosis. This was completely against my normal procedures. He was an able subject and seemed to have a flood of information waiting to burst forth -- and it did. There was no stopping him. Rather than the usual question and answer approach, he began the monologue I eventually had to stop so he could get to his appointment. I was astounded not only by Chuck's spontaneous speech, but also by his delivery. He spoke with commanding power and authority, in the voice of a man, not a youth (he was 18 at the time). He accented each important point by pounding on the dash of the van. I could not see his audience, but I could see and feel his pleading to them. There in my van, in the person of an 18 year old, I was seeing the great leader of a lost people as he warned them of their approaching doom. I believed it would require a phenomenal imagination and vocabulary -- more than Chuck had displayed in conversation -- to create and deliver such a story. I believed his Atlantinus to be Atlantis, the fabled lost island civilization, and the effect of his speech was all the more overwhelming because I believed his audience to have been inundated for thousands of years. I asked him later if he knew anything of Atlantis; he had no conscious knowledge of or interest in it. To him it was just a myth, an imaginary colony or a mythical island that had sunk in the ocean. In the second session (below), however, he talks of Atlantis, rather than Atlantinus, adapting the word to fit my vocabulary. After this session, Chuck had no conscious memory of what he had said. He was, however, shaken by the whole experience and knew that something unusual had happened. He left to go to his organ practice. We agreed to meet the next day. The Second Day When we met again, he still had no recall of the session, and asked what had happened. I made an exception to my usual practice and played the tape for him. (If there is no conscious recall of a session, I do not play the tape for the subject. I made an exception with Chuck because he had no painful personal recall during his first regression.) When we had listened to about a third of the tape, he closed his eyes and started speaking again in a monologue. I sensed that listening to the tape might be enough to propel him back into the past time and asked him to be careful not to do that, since I hoped to discuss the tape with him and then conduct another session. However, he went spontaneously into past time, without detriment to himself or the session. On this second day, he spoke in a tone of deep resignation about a time that seemed to follow the destruction of Atlantis. He spoke of the destruction; of how the people followed the principles of a person called Pyramadis; of what the people did; of the beginnings of the city of Rome. A great deal of history not all of it history as modern historians recognize it -- is related in this session. CHUCK Second Session Conquer -- there was no need to conquer. We were teaching, we were building -- the principles of Pyramadis. We had constructed them. The ancients worshipped us. Why? Why did we destroy two cities? To prove our power over men, or to prove our power? Was it an accident? It was a tragedy. It couldn't have been our fault. No, we're the gifted. It was meant to be by purpose. Ah, Challis. How I do respect you -- I disagreed with you. I called him a coward in the face of nobility, for the only true patriotic thing to do was to leave. And Ares abandoned. He abandoned his entire principles to save face. He said he would start again, but he didn't. He and I have been warring ever since. No, Ares, your chance will never come again. They've outgrown us, because we outgrew ourselves. We had so much pride in what we were that we refused to look in mirrors for fear it would spoil the image. You know, I often wonder, when you were lecturing, how many people wrote your words, 'cause you were so divinely wrapped up in self, it was beyond you to lift a pen. That light -- what you must have thought when you saw the light. You didn't believe that a light could undermine your world. It was to be a glow. I curse you. I curse you and shall always curse you. The view you are standing, watching us burn and I can't even feel enough hate to want to kill you. The time when I thought I'd most want to have you between my arms. I cry for you, for what you made yourself and your followers. To the east they expect us. To the north there is ruin. To the south there is the sun. What would few follow? What did they follow? They don't know why. Maybe it's better. Maybe it's better.... I told Chuck he had no right to curse anybody and he laughed, saying: There is no curse. It is he who has cursed himself, and I am only the physical embodiment of that curse. He will die hating me for something that I am. He will die hating me because I am what he could never be. I am the sight for the blind. He is the sight from the mirror. I am the strength from within. It is in this hand, as long as he can never usurp my strength, he is nothing. He combated that all his life, you know. He fought the Quadrant. He fought Challis. He hated Challis and despised him because Challis would not fight. He hated me because I would fight and he could not beat me. Yes, Estes, you are right. It is not for me to curse. I beg you forgive that weakness. The curse is beyond destiny. Let us go to the Hall. Let us go. The last vibration will be soon. The fire is ignited. What is there left but to ascend? What is your name, your full name? Moran Charras, Challis Karmas. Ares Vilas, Ares Vilas, Ares Vilas. And what is the name of the land you are leaving? I am not, I am not leaving. I shall stay, for there is nowhere for me. What is the name of your land? [Here he lists, in Atlantian language, all the provinces of Atlantis.] He mentioned a ring, and I said, "Tell us about your ring." I remember. There was a large stone to be divided into four, and cut four different segments, and a ring, a large ring. Pinnacle in the center -- placed in such a way -- the roundness -- the oval -- the eclipse. It was the eclipse. An eclipse with an orbit. Thirty-nine degrees at parallel five would bring us far to the south.... It was like a map. It was like a geographical, nautical map. That was where the secrets were. We needed all four. Our last point, we buried the last secret so no one could find it -- and subjected ourselves to mirrors, so that we would never be able to remember what we did. That's why -- that's why Ares Vilas hated us so much. Because we stole the second key. The binary key. He never saw it because he had his friends working on it and had them executed and we knew. We kept him from destroying the world, but we sacrificed Oceanus Atlantis. That's why I'm free. That is why I'm free. My curse was in making him lost by losing myself. That is the secret of this ring. That is [pointing] the eclipse, the planet, the orbit, the moon. The orbit pattern 39 to the fifth. One, two, three, four, and five was the dark. I'm sure of it. I'm sure of that. The patterns, every layer is of orbital flight. Every layer is a pattern of air. Levels, by 1,000 [unclear]. Every light being the space between, so no collisions could possibly occur, and every pattern had a vortex. The vortex, there was something about the vortex. Yes, yes, every vortex, here [pointing], was in parallel with Ascension Hall, there [pointing]. It was our guiding; it was a guide. It was natural because we had no records of its creation. It was monolithic in proportions. [Pointing] That was for trade; [pointing] that was for dignitary; [pointing] this was uncharted. It was night. The configuration is perfect. Granlandia, Islanda, Sudias Articas, Estes Avilas. Thirty-ninth by the fifth binary sector. Where did we put it? By the spider. Oh, yes, we've put it by the spider.(3) Three degrees from the wing to the arrow -- four; Oceanus - - four. There was an earthquake there. I remember four Phoenician sailors accidentally drowned because of turbulence caused in Oceanus Four. If only they had known! Ares Vilas retreated to the west hoping to start again. He couldn't have made it. The west was uncharted and there was no one there. He and his whitefaces took it. They tried, but they segregated and they split. I remember the accounts. Ten years after the fatality, they had a monolithic war. Souls were dying, but the war continued. They crossed mountains. They crossed valleys, and every time the war would end another segment would start. In the end there was a revolution. And Challis Karmas came out of hiding after 27 years. Told his followers he would have no more to do with war. Promptly retreated to the Mediterranean and he started his sect. It was the same time the ancient Romans began conquering. The Romans under the direction of Montomus Caras and Antonus Romilis, who they said was raised by the heathen, but he wasn't. He was the nephew of General Maros. Estes and I had raised him. He was a fine general. He took after Alexis, who conquered the east. Netarnius Forests started the underwater colony in hopes that perhaps they could start again underneath and become their own civilization, but it never lasted. I remember -- I remember the Wavian telling us all that the pressure was too great, that a large force had cracked the top. And I remember Challis Karmas writing to me at last through the ballast that he had cast his ring into the sea, begging me to do the same. And Ares begged me to keep it in the hopes that one day when our futures were ready, our spirits would be united again, and have the rings together. It never worked. Ares retreated again into the east, hoping to get what he had buried. Ares Vilas went. Ares Vilas went, and ran and ran, creating colonies and hoping to band them together, but he couldn't teach them. He could not teach them. So Ares Vilas died in a show of martyrdom, proclaiming himself the last great hero and could not kill himself properly, needed the aid of a Sarian sister, who came back to proclaim her great deed. Chuck now speaks in a different tone of voice. He is quieter, introspective, almost reserved. We were gods then. We were revered as gods and we were, but only to others. We made ourselves gods in others' eyes because we were so weak in our own. If only we had taken time to realize what we were -- that we had had fathers and forefathers. If only we had realized what we were. Instead, Ares Vilas did the final call. And Atlantis burned for seven years. Seven god-awful years and collapsed as a nation. Ares Vilas did one great purpose. He had discipline. His followers had discipline and they had discipline after them. And all we could have was compassion. But that was the secret of the ring. That was the secret. I understand the ring. There are three more like it. From here on, Chuck seems to be going in and out of the trance, from past to present life, on his own. By now, he was really guiding his own session. I had very little influence over what was taking place.(4) I was learning that the biggest job of the guide is to protect the subject from external disruption and to gear the session in a certain direction if it needs it, if the subject gets stuck. Chuck seemed to know where he was going, and I was wise enough to let him go there. I don't believe this. This is the Milliyear 1974. I am in the present, as a Chuck, but I remember what I was. I was somebody else. Somebody else in a different time. There's a voice. It keeps telling me I've dealt enough with origin. I should go to transformation. What else am I? What else am I? What's the voice saying? What's the inner voice saying? Yes, yes, I remember. I was there, I remember. I remember the great scene. It was him coming off the boat and all of us laid down our arms. We couldn't fight him. He was one of us. He was the greatest man our country had ever produced. How could we fight this man? I remember going home and telling Juliette, "There will be another war." I remember her crying, but it was happiness, because we were going to be victorious -- But we lost -- He wasn't the general any more -- and me a mere lieutenant, commanding a cavalry of half-starved men who had lived on pride and sacrifice for months. Disgraced and ashamed and hoping to regain honor by fighting the vilest, filthiest, stinkiest, cruelest, most ludicrous and lewd, vulgar, repulsive army on earth who called themselves "proper, and the true army" -- We had to fight Prussians to beat the French. I remember. That's not all I am. That was very short. So confusing. Too many trials, but not enough tribulation. This cannot be. I can't have been all these things. You've been all these things and many, many, countless more. They are all within the part of you that goes into the making of what is the you and it's all part of soul development. It's all part of the evolvement, that this voice is saying that you must evolve to, what you must strive to. These are all memories and experiences of things that you have done, you have been. Frightened. What else was I? Who am I? I'm scared. I sit here now and I see what is, but I'm scared. How do I deal with myself now? What do I say when I look in a mirror? What am I to become this time? Why now? Look ahead. Look yourself to what you will become, to what you must do in this life. Look ahead now yourself to what you must be, to what you must fulfill and to what you must accomplish in this life. Don't be frightened. Just look ahead. Let it come. It's clear. It's very clear. We have been fighting a war for thousands of years in different bodies, in different faces, in different times, but it's the same war. It's the Quadrant. It's Ares. It's Napoleon, it's Waterloo, it's every single war. The battle is not yet ended. The lost keep searching for themselves and Challis still roams this earth trying, trying hard to keep the war from going on -- trying to break down that blind obedience -- and I keep trying to find compassion in a world that turns heartless. You said it yourself, it was the war of Karmas. It was karma gathering to fight unjustice past, and it's that way ever since. If Atlantis had fought Atlantis, if the victory had been decisive -- the earth [death?] would not have needed to continue. Atlantis would be here. But Atlantis died, not the people, not the karma, not the reasons, not the evil or the good. It is good versus evil. It is the wisdom versus the youth. It is why I could not give my blessing for Atlantis. It was why I could not kill my general. It was why I lived a pauper. It was why I died an alcoholic. It was why I could not see the reason for the hanging of John Wilkes. It is why, it is why the battle will never end. Look ahead. Look ahead in this life. What must you do? What must you do in this life? I must find Challis. How will you recognize him? I will know him, his eyes. I recognized them before, but we didn't meet. I saw him in passing. It was recognition. It was a half smile. "Welcome, brother, to the fight. Welcome, because the fight is continuing and I can't talk with you now, but later." I must find Challis. In this life, I must find Challis. We must talk. We must put away our hatred and our longing. We must find ourselves here. We must make this the last stand. This must be the last stand. Moran, Challis, and Estes. Estes had the idea, but he didn't have the strength. He had the knowledge, but he didn't have the ability to carry it. We must unite and be one as we were once one. We must come face to face with Ares, but we cannot, we cannot allow it to battle. Is Ares on the earth's planet at this time? No. Ares was always late with us. He always came later. He was always the late arrival. I could tell. We must await him coming. We must sit down and reconcile, for it's our only hope. There must be a reconciliation, because annihilation will never work. We've used too many people carrying on our cause -- carrying on the principles -- carrying on a war that should have long ended. I must find Challis. I must find his eyes. Where will you look? Inside myself. If I know myself, then I will know Challis. I will know where he is. I will know what he's thinking, and he then will be able to find me. He's not here. I don't sense him. I remember sensing imminent danger with imminent joy. Challis was that way, a blind man who saw with his fingers. A blind man who glowed in his eyes. They were colors. I could see them at night. There is such a man. Where is he now? He must be to the south. Yes, he must be to the south. The West isn't ready, and the East is in turmoil. The South is all that's left. I must finish here and I must go to the South. I must find Challis. I must find Estes. We will stand against Ares Vilas. They never could pronounce his name in the West.... They never understood our language. I am -- I is -- Ares. We used his name like he used a godhead title. Ares -- Ares -- Ares -- Ares. Challis: the fountain, the seaman. Moran: morales [morals?], dignity, loyalty, compassion. Estes: Always looking, always seeking, always going to the east. Estes, Estes, Foturas. After the session, we were all hungry, and we went looking for a park in which to have a picnic lunch. Somehow we needed a real lawn to "ground" ourselves after our wrenching soul traveling experience. We found no park. Instead, a cemetery, strangely appropriate, with green grass on which to sit. (I have never before or since had lunch in a cemetery.) Chuck's mind was full of memories. He remembered much of the second session. The whole experience was unexpected and fantastic. Truly, Patricia and I didn't know what to say or do. In retrospect, we obviously should have stayed on and continued working with this young man, but we didn't. We simply said goodbye after our picnic and left. We never saw Chuck again. After our return from a two-month trip in the U.S., we wrote, but he had moved, leaving no forwarding address. I was unable to follow up on what he did and what happened to him. I often wonder if he did follow the map that he had outlined for his present life. Patricia and I resumed our trip, going to the Mayan ruins in the Yucatan, and north to the Oregon and Washington coasts, then back to New England. There, we were to start a whole new adventure. Notes to Chapter 3 (1) In 1974, I attended several classes a week at the New Birth Center in Groton, MA. It was started in 1972 to educate people in psychic development, health food, and organic gardening; it has since closed. Patricia and I met there and formed a loving relationship that lasted several years. At the time of our trip, she was not yet familiar with my regression work. At the center, I learned a technique called the Christos Experience; I was using variations of this with Chuck. The purpose is to open a subject's awareness -- to show him he can reach beyond a limited perception of reality by changing size, floating, etc. The subject is given time to accomplish each step. To send love, the subject is asked to close his eyes, visualize the eyes of another, and then, when this is accomplished, to send love from eyes to eyes. The technique is described more fully in The Case for Reincarnation, by Joe Fisher (New York: Bantam Books, 1985, pp. 138-143). (2) I do not know if Louana was the name of Chuck's friend, the girl who died. At the time, so much information was coming through, and I was so astonished by its extent and depth, that I did not think to ask, either during the session or the next day. (3) He may be referring to the giant earth drawings that appear in many parts of the world; for instance, the spider on the plains of Nazca in southern Peru. (4) A subject's taking control of the entering and exiting in hypnosis is rare, but not without precedent. A young woman I had guided a few years earlier described a violent scene in which she was stabbing someone or being stabbed with a knife. She was particularly surprised that there was a definite sound to this act. (From her description the lung cavity was probably punctured by the knife.) She willed herself back to the present and out of hypnosis, refusing to discuss the episode. As I write this 16 years after her session (her first and only one), she still will not discuss the memory with me. Chapter 4 THE ADVENTURE YEARS Begin with that in hand, but begin if there would be anything accomplished. Talk is well. Action is wise. Deeds are golden. Edgar Cayce, Reading 254-35 The years between 1964, when I went to the Edgar Cayce Foundation, and 1974, when I met Chuck, were eventful ones. I traveled. I married and divorced and got to know the son of that relationship. I worked at many jobs. I started a successful antiques business.(1) I also continued taking courses on hypnosis, personal development, applied psychology, mind development, mind science, and psychic development, and continued guiding regressions for friends and acquaintances. And I was unhappy inside. My life, I often thought, resembled a wave that I rode precariously on a slippery surfboard. I wanted more control of my life. I wanted to grow up. My studies helped. So did Patricia, whom I met in 1974 and with whom I had a loving relationship for four years -- four years that coincided with a period of enormous personal and professional growth for me. I call these the "Adventure Years," after a house I bought in 1974 when Patricia and I returned from our transcontinental odyssey. In retrospect, I see that the Adventure Years had two main facets: the experience of living in a group house; and the development of my professional life as a hypnotist; and each contributed in its own way to my personal growth. The house, which I bought from my parents, is in Ashby, MA, a quaint little town not far from the New Hampshire border. Patricia and I set about renovating it, using century-old board siding from the big barn to panel some of the rooms (it had 11, not counting the two baths, a solarium, and a four story tower). We used the barn and part of the house for the antiques business and rattled around in the rest. But we didn't rattle around for long. Because we were frequently in Europe on antiques buying trips, we found housesitters. Many came; few left. In addition, we held "open invitation" weekends for friends and acquaintances who wanted to explore new regions of consciousness. Some of these people stayed too. Soon the house was filled with a large, shifting, human population, plus 18 cats and dogs and -- in the fields -- a horse named Fred. We named the house "Adventure Into Time," and called it "The Adventure." It was an apt name. We who lived there were seekers. All came for reasons of their own, the teachers as well as the novices. But most who came to stay or study were embarked on personal adventures into new knowledge and understanding. Learning and Teaching at The Adventure Although we never planned for it to become a teaching center, it quickly evolved into one. With new people came new ideas and perspectives. Our community offered classes on self-hypnosis, therapeutic massage, yoga, astrology, and whole health cuisine conducted by people who were, or are now, professionals in their fields. Everyone, visitor or resident, contributed to the whole. Some came with music, others to read palms, cards, or auras. Psychics used their abilities to flash on past lives. (One of them asserted that many in our community had been together at least once before, in another lifetime in medieval Europe, and that the souls of many American Indians had visited our tribe, or lodge.) Two professional astrologers lived at The Adventure, and other astrologers came who had studied ways of detecting past lives in individual horoscopes. My own chief interest, or course, was exploring the past. I also started experimenting with guiding people into the future, but I soon saw that for me, this was a less productive avenue. The subsconscious mind has access to stored material from the present and the past; the future is not so readily available, as it comprises only probabilities based on past and present. Besides, the patterns of past lives also reveal the directions future lives are going. The sheer numbers of people passing through gave me an opportunity to conduct countless past life regressions and to fine tune my skills as a hypnotist. Before long, I filled two cartons with tapes of sessions. Working and living in a close community with these varied and wonderful people became quite an adventure in itself, one of the most significant learning experiences of my entire career, for I gained much in my ability to relate to people. The Providence Hypnosis Center Meanwhile, the question of my professional life occasionally arose. I was happy and successful in the antiques business. Still, I told Patricia one day that if I were ever to change vocations, I would like to work full time in the field of hypnosis. It was one of those speculative conversations that ordinarily lead no farther. Then, not long afterwards, I received a phone call from Robert Bow, the director of the Providence Hypnosis Center in Providence, RI. Would I like to come to work for him, with a view toward purchasing the center in the near future? I would. Bow had been a guest at one of our open invitation weekends and had seen me do a demonstration of group hypnosis. He evidently liked my style, and followed up with his astonishing phone call. I went to work at the center in October, 1975, and in 1976 became the director. I worked hard to build the clinic up, and we soon became one of the largest in New England, with four therapists besides myself. We specialized in helping people to lose weight and to stop smoking cigarettes. We later offered a number of other personal development programs and courses on hypnosis and self hypnosis. I also found time to write booklets about self hypnosis that were published through the center. In 1977, with George Parker, a colleague there, I co-authored my first book.* I was invited to speak at the local medical center and at schools, colleges, and civic organizations. I attended professional development workshops and conferences and conventions of other professional hypnotists. Later, I was a speaker at meetings of these same organizations. I enjoyed the local speaking engagements. Most of the time I simply spoke of hypnosis and its therapeutic uses. Sometimes, however, the occasion was more dramatic. One of these evolved from a talk at a high school psychology class. Though the topic was hypnosis the question of past life regression quickly arose. The students and teacher were eager for a demonstration. I was reluctant to agree. Although I had had audiences, this would be the first time I would perform a regression in a classroom setting. Moreover, I didn't (and still don't) like doing this kind of soul work in a class or demonstration setting; it is too much like stage hypnosis. Finally, I was concerned about the atmosphere. The regression experience is characterized by high degrees of emotion and openness. These must be respected; in particular, the audience must not mock the subject. Could I create the right mood and setting? Something in the climate of the group reassured me, and I agreed to come back the following week and perform the regression. The teacher volunteered to be the subject. In hypnotic regression, he quickly experienced touching episodes with two sons of a past life. The class was enthralled as he revealed secrets of his heart and rekindled the sparks of past love. ________________________________ *Bolduc, Henry, and George Parker. How to Unlock the Power of Your Mind With Hypnosis and Explore the Riddle of Reincarnation. Ashby, MA: Adventure Into Time Publishers, 1977. Out of print. After awakening, the teacher held his hands to his face and sobbed in a full, sincere, and spontaneous release of joyous emotion. I feared the students would mock his tears, but they were most considerate, mature, and understanding. Working as a hypnotist at PHC was totally valuable. Hypnosis became an everyday tool, not an occasional one. The best thing I learned was to work with all kinds of people in all kinds of circumstances. For instance, before going to the center, I might have been intimidated had a high ranking state policeman in full uniform walked in, asking me to hypnotize him so he could quit smoking. Not now. Though I very much wanted him to succeed (for the prestige, if nothing else, for he was on special duty as the governor's chauffeur and bodyguard) I had learned something. The most you can do is the best you can. In this case, it wasn't enough; he was in too much of a hurry and didn't give himself a chance, for all my rooting for him. Seeking Personal Growth At the beginning of the Adventure Years, I was at a very precarious place in life, especially as regards my relationships. I had recently been divorced, and though my relations with Pat were warm and rewarding, I was aware of some deeper immaturity. Selling antiques is a fine business; so is working in the field of hypnosis. But I dimly realized then -- as I strongly realize now -- that personal growth, especially through marriage or relationships, is the paramount life issue for me. In the Adventure Years, I began in a serious way to develop the process of change that I continue to use: I reprogram my present and work to explore and understand my past, including my past lives. Because my knowledge and experience is in the field of hypnosis, it seemed obvious to me to use what I knew. Rather than go to a hypnosis clinic or center, I decided to work with self-hypnosis tapes. I used (and use) two kinds, the commercial ones and those I make for myself. The commercial tapes are prerecorded and are sold in bookstores, pharmacies, and in the mails; they are used to reprogram a certain aspect of personality or behavior or to reach a certain goal. I quickly realized I could make my own tapes for very specific individual projects and goals. For instance, in the early 1960s, I used commercial tapes on personality development. Soon I made my own tape to cure fingernail biting. (As you see, not everything I work on is "serious" -- although my fingernail biting was a serious, advanced case.) Since then, I have made tapes to help me feel more at ease when speaking in public, to help me relax, to help me listen better to others, to find a good love relationship, and many others. Using these, I began to reprogram myself, shedding some of the silliness of youth. I could not change the world, I realized, but I could change myself and my world. I believed my immaturity was rooted in past lives; I could soothe the scars on my soul by delving into my own past lives. I had seen the healing process as I worked with others.(2) I believed the process could work for me and that insight from my own past contributes to my soul growth in the present. Here is an example of how knowledge of my past lives helps me in the present. As I said, one of the nagging problems of my life has been my difficulty with intimate relationships. In the mid-1960s I was living in a remote part of Spain, where I went to escape the bitter New England winter. Ironically, the house where I lived was made of stone and was unheated, as are most in that part of Spain; I was not much warmer that winter than I would have been at home. In addition, I was full of sadness over a failed relationship and the loss of a son [from the relationship] who had gone with his mother. I brooded over other unsatisfactory relationships too, for I saw the beginnings of my pattern of difficulties. For several days, off and on, I prayed and meditated, hoping for insight into the origins of my problems. One day, I sat drearily in my room, sick with the flu and a high fever. In my fevered state, a waking dream, or vision, came, with very strong images and powerful feelings of sadness and tragedy. I was in a past life, in France, and I was abandoning a wife and our three children, two who had been born and one I didn't yet realize had been conceived. By the standards of the day, it was a good life; I had work, we had food. It was a normal peasant's life. And I was leaving that good life to go on one of the Crusades. In that vision, I saw that I left my wife for the magic, the joy, the glamour, and the glory of the Crusade -- and for the lure of riches. My comrades and I were going out to fight the infidel for Christ, and we thought it was going to be great fun. We were fools! They called the Crusade holy; for me it was hell. We marched, and we marched, and we marched. When I got to the very sight of Jerusalem, to the very sight of the Holy City, I died on the side of the road. I died of disease and exhaustion. My body fell into the ditch. The Crusader army kept marching. That was the vision. It provided me with physical and emotional release. I cried; it seemed as though I cried for hours. When I finally dried my eyes, I was filled with peace and self-acceptance. I was grateful that my prayer for insight had been answered. In my mind, I sent to my French wife my profound regret for abandoning her and our children. I did not really know what to do with the information I now had. But at that time, it was enough that I had information that shed light on my state of mind; that my pain had been relieved; and that I experienced calm and self- acceptance. Nor did I feel a need to do anything. I simply resumed my life. When I recovered from the fever, I traveled throughout Spain buying antiques in the tiny mountain towns (I was apprenticing with a dealer who taught me the trade), living almost as a native. After six months I returned to New England, working in the apple orchard (as I had in high school), traveling, working at other odd jobs -- experiencing life. But my vision stayed with me. In retrospect, it is a key episode in my life. Later, at The Adventure, I was able to confirm its truth when I was the subject of a series of guided past life regressions. The hypnotist/guide in the following exchanges is George Parker. HENRY Summer, 1974 Ashby, Massachusetts Okay, tell me about it. It is me. It is in Jerusalem, the Holy Land. We ravaged a city. We burned a city like a heathen. We raped and we plundered. We killed. We destroyed everything. We burned their bodies. We burned their homes. It was a horrible place -- a horrible thing. Jerusalem? Near there. In the land of Jerusalem. Do you remember capturing Jerusalem? I was killed soon after. What was your name? I died, I died disheartened, disgusted, rejected by my friends, condemned by the enemy. I died very bitter. I know what I have done. Having sinned in the name of God. Having destroyed in the name of Christ. Having killed in the name of religion. My name is John. From what country did you come?