Gardens of the Heavens — (2017) — Robert Bayer — Editor by Robert Bayer

The Gardens of the Heavens Robert Bayer, Editor (2017)

Table of Contents  The Garden of the Hesperides — Andrew Jackson Davis [p. 5]  Raising Flowers in Heaven — Mrs. J. H. Conant [p. 7]  Our Mother Yet Lives — E. V. Wilson [p. 9]  Apotheosis — E. V. Wilson [p. 11]  Flowers Blooming in Heaven — Eugene Crowell [p. 15  Heavenly Beauty — Mrs. Cora Richmond [p. 17]  A Flower Garden — Mrs. Cora Richmond [p. 19]  Helene’s Villa — Carlyle Petersilea

[p. 21]

 Spirit Life is a Garden of Flowers — William W. Aber - J.H. Nixon [p. 26]  Elysian gardens — William W. Aber - J.H. Nixon [p. 28]  Nature's Holy Temples — William W. Aber - J.H. Nixon [p. 29]  A Beautiful Garden — William W. Aber - J.H. Nixon  A Floral Welcome — JM Peebles  The Sixth Sphere — JM Peebles

[p. 30]

[p. 33] [p. 35]

 Love is The Blossom of Heaven — William W. Aber [p. 39]  The Ideal Garden — J. S. M. Ward [p. 41]  More about The Garden — J. S. M. Ward  Wondrous Beauty — Joy Snell

[p. 50]

[p. 52]

 Flowers for the Dead Soldiers — Mary Bruce Wallace  The Beauty Within — Mary Bruce Wallace

[p. 61]

 Heavenly Homes — Mary Bruce Wallace [p. 65] 2

[p. 59]

 Fields and Flowers — John S. King, M.D.

[p. 67]

 Heavenly Gardens and Then Hell — J. S. M. Ward

[p. 68]

 Water of Life — G. Vale Owen [p. 72]  The Tower of Angelic Life — G. Vale Owen  Gardens of Children — Charlotte Dresser

[p. 76] [p. 82]

 Children Stories Received and Arranged by 'Sis' — Charlotte Elizabeth Dresser

[p. 83]

 Spirit Land — Charlotte Elizabeth Dresser

[p. 85]

 Welcoming the Children to The Better Land — Mary Bruce Wallace

[p. 88]

 Preparing Houses and Gardens — Mary Bruce Wallace [p. 91]  Beautiful Angels and Beautiful Flowers — Caroline Larsen [p. 94]  Creative Visualization through Guided Imagery — Walter DeVoe

[p. 98]

 A Beautiful Walk — Arthur Findlay

[p. 107]

 Taking Care of Flowers in the Heavens — Arthur Findlay [p. 110]  Our Beautiful Heavenly Home — Arthur Findlay  Our Lovely Gardens — Arthur Findlay  A Beautiful Walk — Arthur Findlay

[p. 113]

[p. 115]

[p. 121]

 Taking Care of Flowers in the Heavens — Arthur Findlay [p. 124] 3

 Our Beautiful Heavenly Home — Arthur Findlay  Heavenly Colors — Arthur Findlay

[p. 127]

[p. 129]

 The Children’s Sphere — Anthony Borgia [p. 131]  The Soil — Anthony Borgia [p. 138]  The Flowers — Anthony Borgia

[p. 151]

 Our Gardens of Our Heavens — Anthony Borgia  Garden Fruit — Anthony Borgia

[p. 159]

[p. 170]

 House and Garden — Neville Randall [p. 182]  Heavenly Flowers — Neville Randall [p. 189]  Your Spiritual Garden — The Eloists [p. 193]  Garden in Eternity — Walter and Betty Shepherd [p. 205]

The Garden of the Hesperides Death and The After-Life Eight Evening Lectures on The Summer-Land Andrew Jackson Davis (1865)

In 1854 I had an opportunity, for the first time, to contemplate a celestial garden. It was unlike anything I had ever seen in this world. The Garden of the Hesperides, of which we dream, only vulgarly represents the beautiful fact. When I saw the immense landscape and the innumerable beauties that come up from the soil, and the labyrinth of leafage which gathered upon the vision to the right of the scene, I could not but ask, "Will someone tell me the extent?

After a few moments a cerebro-telegraphic dispatch came into the mind, whispering distinctly, "It would reach from here to Scotland â&#x20AC;&#x201D; near four thousand miles in length â&#x20AC;&#x201D; five hundred miles in width."

It seemed to be a far-extending avenue of flowers and beautiful trees, and there seemed no limit to the number of persons that were walking leisurely, lovingly, arm-in-arm; and oh! Like thousands of beautiful children that were at play through the devious labyrinths of that vast heavenly park!

Here I asked my friend Wilson if he would give me a description of that celestial Association.

He replied: "You remember the arcanum which I before disclosed, that those spirits which emanate from the earth, or from any other planet in the universe, are introduced into that society for which they entertain the most congenial sympathies and affections? This, like every other society or brotherhood, is thus organized. It is situated on one of an unnumbered host of islands, which mark and diversity the geography of the Spirit-Land. The name of this beautiful isle is Akropanamede, meaning 'All-Sided Perfection.'

It is of immense proportions, but slopes on every side, wave-like, to the water's edge, where the endless rows of flowering Ganclulea (or fragrant trees) add their symmetrical glory to the scene. These gandulea grow in the glorious gardens. They cover with their shade a musical porilleum here and there, and blend their perfume with the odor of the immortal voralia blooming in the courts; or with the incense which stealthily floats down from the dreamy pantrello; where millions of those fairy flowers perpetually breathe their holy prayers.

"The Isle of Akropanamede is shaped something like an earthly pear. It is more beautiful and heavenly than any terrestrial landscape can ever be. Raising Flowers in Heaven Mrs. J. H. Conant Flashes of Light from The Spirit-Land (1872)

Q. Do the dwellers in the spirit-spheres construct habitations, gardens, &c., according to their individual tastes? And by what process, and of what materials?

A. There are, indeed, gardens in the spirit-world so much more beautiful than what you have here, that you can form no just estimate of them. Indeed, everything that finds expression here is more fully represented with us. All the beauty of life, all the power of life, everything that is expressed in art, in science, in nature, all find a counterpart in the spirit-world. It would be absolutely impossible for us to give you so close an analysis concerning the material of which all their beauty and power are constructed, because you are bound about by the law of your human senses. Your eyes cannot see, your ears cannot hear, neither can it enter into your hearts to conceive all the glories that pertain particularly to the spirit-world. You may catch faint glimpses of its reality, but the clear noon-tide glory of the reality 7

you cannot behold, you cannot understand, until you too shall become disrobed of the flesh, and shall stand gazing upon it through spiritual senses. Q. The flowers, then, are not formed from the atmosphere, but are taken from some neighbor's garden, and belong to the owner of the garden?

A. They have the power to form them out of the atmosphere. But such flowers soon fade away; that is to say, they are absorbed again by the atmosphere, perhaps while you are looking at them; but those that are a natural outgrowth of the earth of course render obedience to the law of the earth. You pluck them from the parent stalk, and they live a certain time, and then droop and fade away. Yes, they do take them from the gardens of their neighbors.

Our Mother Yet Lives The Truths of Spiritualism E. V. Wilson (1879)

Well, after mother had ceased breathing for hours, Mary remained in the room near her until late at night. Mary says: “I felt that my mother was near me, and then I heard her step, felt her breath on my cheek, and then I heard her say in a whisper, close to my ear,’ Mary, open the door and let me out,’ and I arose, went to the door, opened it wide; I felt her pass me, heard the whispered good-bye, and I knew then that mother had left the form, and was with father, once his bride, pure and unsullied; and I knew they were happy in their home in the Summer Land, and then I closed the door, locked it, and retired to rest. I had let dear mother go, after eighty-three years sojourn here, and now I know that she is happy, and with my father, her lover and husband. God is good.”

Thus spoke the wife and daughter to us on our return from our winter tour.

Mother is not dead, but an angel in Heaven, — and the place where we laid the casket away we are ornamenting, and intend to make of the ground a beautiful flower garden, with a monument of roses, 9

beneath which, by and by, we will lay away our forms, and our immortal part join those that have preceded us.

Remember us, dear ones, in your own beautiful homes.

Apotheosis The Truths of Spiritualism E. V. Wilson (1879)

Gone on to the gardens of the Summer Land, from Beaver Damn, Wisconsin, in company with the angels, Ingraham Gould, in the sixtyfirst year of his earth-life.

My brother was born into this life at Leeds, Kennebec county, Maine, on the 19th of January, 1811; born into the superior life on the 16th of July, 1871. In his exchange from this, to a higher, life, he has gained; we have lost a friend and a brother; Beaver Dam has lost a citizen that cannot be replaced. His genius, enterprise, and ambition, led him to do what few men will undertake — that is, to adorn the homes of the many, as well as his own. His nursery was the pride of the city, and will long remain a green and beautiful monument to his memory. Everywhere throughout the West, may be found the weeping willow, the mountain ash, and other ornamental trees, from “Gould’s Nursery.”

Fruit trees, bearing rich and luscious fruits, now testify to his earnest nature — “We are the works of thy hands.” Vines, bearing choice flowers and fruit, are found throughout the West — enduring 11

monuments uttering his praise through nature’s eternal laws beautiful and silent witnesses.

“Oakwood Cemetery,” a beautiful, shady place, where his ashes may rest undisturbed, where the living may wander, in spirit holding sweet communion with the past, present, and future — the creation of his brain and the fruit of his toil-is a nobler monument to his memory than all that art could create out of all the granite and marble ever produced from the hills of his native New England.

The gardener of Beaver Dam, the nurseryman of Wisconsin, has been promoted to the gardens and nurseries of the Summer Land. The trees of his nursery, in the pale starlight, bowed to the silent flowers and wept, as he left for the gardens of Eden; and the flowers and trees of the Summer Land rejoiced when he came to their blooming paths and evergreen glades.

“Welcome,” the angels cried, “to our bowers of love!” Turning, with a loving look, toward his beautiful home, in the Summer Land, then backward gazing, he saw behind him his own sweet home — his home, his flowers, his trees — the fruit of his life-toil — and, in their midst, his sons, daughters, and wife, all blending their sorrows in the shadowy evening hour of their loss.

Weep on, dear ones; it is well that you should weep, for tears are avenues of relief to our over-tasked natures. Then, turning his gaze toward “Oakwood,” he beheld fifteen hundred friends standing, in silence and profound grief, around his grave, through the long and imposing service of the brotherhood to which he belonged. Then he beheld the house in which he had so long dwelt lowered to its lastresting place - himself enfranchised an immortal, and knew that he lived to be remembered on the shores of time, and in the Summer Land, thus fully realizing the gracious gospel of our Christ, Modern Spiritualism; for he was a Spiritualist, pure and true and tender in soul.

To the dear ones left behind, he sends greetings from his home divine.

“My sons and daughters — children mine — I greet you from the gardens of Eden — from beyond the shores of time. I charge you all, my works continue. The nursery keep, and Oakwood, where my ashes rest, develop into full fruition, as I designed. “My companion, wife, and mate of mine, I thank thee for thy devotion and care through the long nights and days of watching, while my form burned with fever, wasting away. ‘T is past, Hannah. With a sudden shock, nature’s wheels stood still, and I knew but this: that time had ceased, and eternity began. 13

“To all who around my narrow grave gathered, weeping, in spirit I send you greetings. Weep no more for me, for ‘I am he that liveth and was dead; and, behold, I am alive evermore. Amen!’”

Flowers Blooming in Heaven The Spirit World: Eugene Crowell (1879)

In each heaven the dwellings, or homes, in regard to styles of architecture and general appearance, differ from those in the heavens above, and below, but in the cities there is a general resemblance between all dwellings or homes in the same heaven, except as to color. In the suburbs of the cities they vary in style, as they also do in the country. They are successively more beautiful as we ascend. These mansions are ready provided in the heavens, and upon the entrance of spirits they are conducted by guides to their respective habitations. Ail spirits in the higher heavens are in such perfect harmony with their surroundings that they have no desire for anything different. These mansions have previously been occupied, and become vacant from their occupants having advanced to higher heavens.

To each mansion in the heavens above the third, as before said, is attached a beautiful garden, in which perpetually bloom flowers resplendent in colors, of countless hues, and of exquisitely beautiful and delicate forms, and of every conceivable variety, while the grounds are laid out in the most artistic and pleasing manner and 15

intersected by charming walks. Mowers in these celestial gardens, unlike those of earth, never wither and fade while they remain unplucked, and yet buds and blossoms in all their various stages of growth are found on the same branches, and on the fruit-bearing trees and vines are constantly to be found buds, blossoms, and ripened fruit.

"Our employments are as human and natural as yours; such as would engage your attention were you living in a beautiful and perfect, yet natural world, where all were harmony and happiness, where the cares, the sorrows, the dark misfortunes and temptations of your lives were unknown, and where, from the perfection of your natures you would be capable of fully and perfectly enjoying your surroundings. We have none but proper and commendable desires, and all these find full and perfect gratification. We roam over beautiful meadows, and romantic roads, wander along the banks of lovely rivers and lakes, through grand parks and forests, and amid scenery beautiful, attractive, and varied beyond description, or even mortal conception. We have noble and beautiful homes, with convenient, spacious apartments, elegantly furnished. We have inviting

grassy

lawns,

luxuriant

flowering

vines,

shrubbery,

ornamental and fruit-bearing trees, and lovely gardens, these abounding with exquisitely beautiful flowers, of delightful perfume and endless in variety of form and color. 16

Heavenly Beauty Mrs. Cora Richmond. The Nature of Spiritual Gifts (1884)

If you are thinking of any friend, or if you desire to reach any friend, that thought takes the form that is best adapted to reach that one. If it is language that they can understand, it takes the form of words. If they are in earthly life, the language corresponds to the words that they are accustomed to hear. If they require symbolical expression, then the thought takes the form of the symbol which they best understand.

As in ancient days the symbol of peace was the dove, so in all the ancient records you read about the symbol of the dove that was seen flying from the Ark, and the symbol of the dove that came down from heaven, which is the exact expression of what may represent a spiritual or angelic thought. Many clairvoyants or mediums see around you symbols that are given as the result of spirit messages; flowers wreathed around you, symbols of doves, or birds, or rainbows, or stars, all of which are the expression of the thought your spirit friends desire shall reach you.

When you speak of flowers being brought from the spiritual world, why the whole realm of thought is a flower garden, and the soul itself is the source of that life that is symbolized in flowers. When you speak of stars being brought from Heaven as an expression of spiritual brightness, every spirit is a star that shines out in the darkness of time, reaching you by the symbol that shall best express the thought and condition of spirit life to you. And when you hear of homes and cottages nestling in the silent forest, and streams that flow down the vales, of hills that are covered with verdure, you must not think thereby that these are as moveless, as changeless as the hills over which man has climbed for ages here. But they are the ever varying thoughts of the spirit that gives expression to them; and he who is the artist, pictures for his friends the realm of his existence in transcending scenes of loveliness and beauty of which the earth has no prototype; dissolving views that reveal the ever-varying aspirations of the soul, and pictures that melt and merge away in the grand harmony of existence sight, sound, sensation, all blended in the divine perception of the soul; and when you tell us that this is not reality, I go to the soul of my friend who has made these pictures for me, and I say: â&#x20AC;&#x153;Make me again the living image that I saw;â&#x20AC;? and there it is pictured before me as beautiful, as truthful as ever.

A Flower Garden Mrs. Cora Richmond. The Nature of Spiritual Gifts (1884)

When you speak of flowers being brought from the spiritual world, why the whole realm of thought is a flower garden, and the soul itself is the source of that life that is symbolized in flowers. When you speak of stars being brought from Heaven as an expression of spiritual brightness, every spirit is a star that shines out in the darkness of time, reaching you by the symbol that shall best express the thought and condition of spirit life to you. And when you hear of homes and cottages nestling in the silent forest, and streams that flow down the vales, of hills that are covered with verdure, you must not think thereby that these are as motionless, as changeless as the hills over which man has climbed for ages here. But they are the ever varying thoughts of the spirit that gives expression to them; and he who is the artist, pictures for his friends the realm of his existence in transcending scenes of loveliness and beauty of which the earth has no prototype; dissolving views that reveal the ever-varying aspirations of the soul, and pictures that melt and merge away in the grand harmony of existence sight, sound, sensation, all blended in the divine perception of the soul; and when you tell us that this is not reality, I go to the soul of my friend who has made these pictures for 19

me, and I say: â&#x20AC;&#x153;Make me again the living image that I saw;â&#x20AC;? and there it is pictured before me as beautiful, as truthful as ever.

Heleneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Villa Carlyle Petersilea The Discovered Country (1889)

OUR little ship was now wafted to the shore, and we walked up a pebbly beach; but the pebbles walked along the rubies, topaz s,

were like so many jewels, and as we

shining shore, I could distinguish sapphires, emeralds, pearls, diamonds, opals, garnets, and

every valuable and beautiful jewel that I had ever seen, and the sand appeared to be of silver and gold. I thought of that heaven, the Christian s believe in. But even this little shore, of untold value, was far more beautiful;

which

lined with jewels

and my Helene was all my

own my affianced my bride.

This was far better than the other heaven, for there they supposed not to marry, or be given in marriage; and I thought that I should prefer not to go to that a most lonely and unnatural life all, clothed alike, in

were

had always

heaven, for it would be

loving every body just the same,

long white robes, walking about streets of gold

praising

God; and he forever seated on a great white throne ever descended from that throne did not appear.

whether he

But this was the

reality; and oh; how much better I liked it.

"Look! Dear Herfronzo," said Helene, "that is my

home."

I looked and a beautiful valley lay smiling before me. A highway ran through this valley. The lake over had just sailed was its western boundary; undulating hills appeared. The valley was with beautiful villas, erected after the the villas were white with shining porches were

shining

whose bosom we in the east, green

dotted here and there

most fanciful styles. Many of

azure domes and golden cupolas. The

twined with honeysuckle and roses; and all

manner of beautiful flowers bloomed in the gardens. Fountains and white

statuary gleamed through the green and perfect trees.

Helene pointed to one of the most beautiful of these little villas, saying.

"That is to be our home for the present, dearest Herfronzo." And we paused a moment before entering,

for I wished to observe it. It was

a beautiful little edifice, a fitting home for my lovely Helene. Three pearly steps led up to an arched doorway. The door itself glistened with diamonds. The house was laid in blocks of polished marble; 22

the windows were very quaint and of stained glass. It was

crowned

with an azure roof and golden cupola.

We entered an exquisitely appointed room.

I was somewhat weary after my visit to earth; she this without my speaking of it; she pointed saying. "Rest there for a short time,

seemed to know

to an elegant lounge,

dearest Herfronzo, whilst I go

and prepare the dinner.

You do not mean to tell me that you prepare the dinner with your own hands? I said, in some surprise. "Certainly,

I do." she answered. "If

your dinner was not prepared by me, by whom should it be prepared?

Beautiful ladies, like yourself, on the earth, keep servants I said. They would consider it degrading to do menial service.

To prepare a dinner for you, is not menial service," she answered. "No service can be too great for us to render those whom we love, we serve each other for love in this hirelings."

world, and we have no paid

And are you the only one that loves me in this life? I asked. Not that her love did not fill my being and satisfy many relatives here and thought

me completely, but I had

that some of them ought to meet

me.

"Oh, no my darling; I am not the only one; there is this life but what loves you; but my love it is my privilege to prepare food spirit be satisfied

not an angel in

exceeds all other love, and

that you may eat and your hungry

therewith."

She now left me to myself for a short time, and I lay all that I had seen and heard. I experienced supreme rest and satisfaction. I was

pondering on

a delightful feeling of

here alone, in an elegant

spiritual home, with the woman of all others that I had most loved in the earth-life. She was

now youthful and beautiful beyond anything

I had ever dreamed. The house seemed to be just large enough for two; or, as they had told me, the rightful male and female angel. Everything was quiet, peaceful and restful. No

were one

servants, no

toil.

I started up but Helene must be toiling if she were preparing the dinner herself, and while she was toiling, I was would find her and help her and me but you have toiled

lying here at rest I

then, an inner voice whispered to

back to earth, that was hard work, and you 24

are weary, rest, So, in a say

rest. You can help your Helene at another time.

delightful trance of peace and rest I fell asleep. I cannot

how long I slept; but I felt a soft hand on my arm, and opening

my eyes, Helene was bending over me.

"Come, dear Herfronzo, our dinner is ready."

I rose to my feet. Her sweet lips met mine.

Spirit Life is a Garden of Flowers William W. Aber - J.H. Nixon Rending the Vail (1899)

The next spirit to write was Toms Nixon, and thus he wrote:

(a) "Friends, how sweet: to the mother that may feel her babe's restless head pressing her breast a long time after the body is deadâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;no, not dead, but only a changed condition.

(b) "Friends, when she is sitting alone in the dim twilight, thinking of other and happier days, she will involuntarily put out a quick, glad hand to the one that was never slow to answer; but now, alas! there is no tender responsive clasp.

(c) "Turning with a strong, keen throb of painful remembrance, she sees, in the semi-darkness, only the empty chair lonely and motionless, where once a beloved form rested and a warm heart beat.

(d) "And many and many a time, while the lonely hours of midnight are beating themselves away, you leap from dreams of remembered kisses and stretch out your empty arms in passionate longingâ&#x20AC;&#x201D; 26

feeling sure that your dear ones are with you once more. life is a garden of flowers."

(e) "Spirit

Elysian gardens William W. Aber - J.H. Nixon Rending the Vail (1899)

"Do you know that everything organic has its soul or spirit? That is what we have hereâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;the soul, the spirit, the essence of the apple, the peach, and every manner of vegetable production of earth.

448.

"But the deliciousness, to us, of all these fruits transcends all possible conceptions of mortals, and you cannot, you never will know anything about 'ambrosial' delights until you pass to these Elysian gardens.

"The souls of men, and women, and children, and beasts, and birds, and flowers, and fruits, and trees, adorning electro-magnetic hills, and dales, and banks of electric streams. Oh the glory of our homes! Unspeakableâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;incomprehensible to you. And when you first enter these celestial gardens, you will only wish you had been here fifty years ago."

Nature's Holy Temples William W. Aber - J.H. Nixon Rending the Vail (1899)

"This is a land where, in your eager fancy, you may rove in the gardens of beauty and listen to the music of birds and the enchanting murmur of rolling hills, and the gentle zephyrs as they blow along the sweet pathway of opening buds and blooming flowers or dance amid the pendant leaves of forests rare, where happy spirits dwell and immortal fruits on trees enduring grow.

"Human art may unfold a thousand beauties and give to the world important lessons of wisdom. There is no cathedral so grandâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;no temple more sacred than the open fields of Spiritualism: for Nature's holy temples are ever those of freedom.

"No iron bolts, no costly

bars can close their doors or shut us out from the spiritual gospel. (Signed) "Reed"

A Beautiful Garden William W. Aber - J.H. Nixon Rending the Vail (1899)

"Then I have no distinct recollection of anything until I awoke in the spirit spheres; and through all eternity I shall not forget that awakening.

(a) "I seemed to be reclining on a downy couch and all around me were flowers, whose subtle fragrance filled the room.

(b) "Back of the flowers were the most beautiful landscapes I had ever seen. The snow-clad mountains and the rivers of clear, limpid water seemed to be in rose-colored light.

(c) "At first everything seemed quiet; but, after I had thoroughly awakened, I heard music, the harmonious vibrations of which seemed to rise and fall as naturally as if produced by atmospheric waves. I asked myself could those beautiful sounds really be music. And, as if to answer, there appeared by my side the loveliest creature I had ever seen; and, although she spoke no words, I seemed to understand an answer in the affirmative.

"By this same thought language she told me that she had been my guardian spirit while I was in the body, and now that I had passed out of the body, she would show me over the home I had built for myself, and then her work would be over.

(a) "She said: 'This beautiful room that you are feasting your eyes on now is the result of self-denial and making others happy. But I have many things to show you that are not so beautiful.'

(b) "She led me from the room I was in into another. Here everything was so dark at first that I could scarcely see; but after awhile my eyes grew accustomed to the darkness, and all around me I could see rubbish of every kind. The air seemed heavy with a loathsome odor. This, my guide said, I had built out of my selfishness.

(c) "She led me on and on through rooms little better than this. Then she led me on into some that were a little brighter. Every time I had striven to be better I had created something bright.

(d) "She led me into the garden. There among the most beautiful flowers were growing the most obnoxious weedsâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;all, she said, the result of my spiritual idleness.

"She said, in order to overcome all of this and make a home as beautiful as those I saw around me, I would have to labor among the people on earth, and among spirits lower than myself.

"But I said, 'If I see any other spirits that do not need it, show them my garden, and only invite them into my best rooms.'

"She looked at me so sadly, and said: 'My child, you might do that on earth, but you cannot here'; and, to my surprise, I found this only too true.

"I found that I could read others' thoughts, and they mine, as readily as I could read those of my guide.

"I am striving to correct my earthly faults as much as I can. And I hope the lesson of my transition into the higher life may be of benefit to those who read it.

"Strive for high and pure thoughts and noble deeds on earth, and when you pass out of your body, only beautiful sights will greet your eyes.

A Floral Welcome JM Peebles Immortality and Our Employments Hereafter (1907)

My first clear recollection, after looking with mortal eyes upon the anxious faces of my dear husband and children, was of being borne upward, listening to the most heavenly music of welcome. ... As the last words of the song died away, I was tenderly laid upon a soft downy couch of beautiful flowers in a pure white temple, which, I have since learned, is here called the “Temple of Repose.” I only wish, dear ones, that I had the power to describe the marvelous beauty of that place. ... I awoke to find myself clasped in the arms of my living mother, followed by our own precious child, and all the dear ones who had reached the heavenly home before me. Oh, the joy of that meeting! . . .

After a little a beautiful lady clothed in white came to our mother, and said, “All is ready,” when immediately she informed me that we were now to proceed to the “Temple of Prayer.” Heavenly music fell upon us like a holy benediction. We moved in a procession, I walking with our noble, loving son. Oh, how my soul is thrilled with joy at the recollection! After marching on through gardens and groves and flower-fringed walls, lovelier than any of earth, we paused before the 33

arch of a majestic temple. It seemed to be constructed of gorgeous flowers and intertwining lilies of snowy whiteness, every petal of which sparkled with crystal dewdrops â&#x20AC;&#x201D; all fitting symbols of the tears of joy and gratitude that filled my soul.

A low interlude now

arose, and to its measured rise and fall we moved in at the open portal, and formed a circle about the loveliest altar that I ever beheld. ...

The sign of the broken cross, decorated with intertwining flowers, was crowned with an arch on which I saw in letters of almost blinding brightness these words:

â&#x20AC;&#x153;In this Life there is no Death.â&#x20AC;?

While I

was admiring the unspeakable beauty of the temple, the music swelled into a full chorus, and multitudes of voices, chiming in perfect harmony, sang a sweet hymn of praise. From several stanzas I select this:

Oh, our Father, give the blessing, While we consecrate as thine One whose joy beyond expressing Bows her soul to Thee, Divine.

The Sixth Sphere JM Peebles Immortality and Our Employments Hereafter (1907)

Do not understand that these spheres are absolutely separated the one from the other. They interblend, and shade off into each other, something as do rainbow hues.

In the “first circle of this sphere, light dawns with great brilliancy. Here I saw a magnificent observatory. Newton was teaching. They have rivers, extensive plains, and lakes clear as crystal. They are building boats of a singular structure. They have scientific institutions for designs and new inventions, all of which, when perfected, are to be impressed upon the minds of the sensitive’s of earth, and then outwrought into practical use. The avenues are laid out with shadetrees for walking.

“The climate and influences are more congenial to the spirit. They have gardens arranged with choicest fruit-trees. The apple, pear, apricot, and fruit such as I had never seen, are beautiful and spiritual. They arrange their houses in groups, and have a kind of railroad to go from one group to the other. They are very refined in their manners, very loving and affectionate. 35

“In the third circle of this

sphere the spirits have vast educational places for assembling together, in one of which is the Poet’s Hall, where the risen poets of earth are preparing poetical versions of the heavens. They have plain yet elegant churches for spiritual culture. Whitfield is preaching to them upon the necessity of spiritual purity and perfection. They have here observatories. Herschel is teaching, and other noted astronomers have classes. Here also they are traversing the ether spaces in aerial cars, which will ultimately descend to earth.

I see many fountains around their houses, and flowers too beautiful for description. The food, exceedingly ethereal, is nutritious to the spiritual body. They have spiritual mansions, where spirits meet in sacred fellowship. I entered one, where I was received in fellowship. These spirits are very congenial to each other, and happy.

“In the ‘higher circles of this sphere light dawns in brighter effulgence.’ The spirits have large colleges to receive youthful minds as they come from earth, where sportive children are instructed in the higher truths of the heavenly life. Here also is a magnificent music hall; Mrs. Hemans, Hannah More, and others are here, rehearsing the lyrics of the heavens. Here too are colleges for preparing teachers to come to earth to instruct and inspire mortals. William Penn, Roger Williams, and others, are here teaching. Youthful minds are their students. Also a university of music, where it 36

is taught in its various methods. Places of worship for the adoration of God. Milton and others are here teaching, and they are also teachers of earth. Here, in amazement, I beheld the higher birth of several young spirits out of their earthly bodies. They were received with singing and words of welcome to their new home.

The scenery is beautiful, with sloping hills and undulating plains. Flowers in rich abundance perfume the air, and warbling birds commingle their music with the spirits. Their houses are laid out in large circles, twelve houses in a circle, with walks and grounds around them, with trees and shrubbery; various kinds of fruit are grown for their own nourishment; joy and harmony pervade everywhere. As they live in higher scenes or conditions, they are consequently the more highly spiritualized. Here the Indians have homes on one side of the river-bank, unique, yet beautiful. Luna, an Indian girl, Pocahontas, and others, are here happy and joyous, all commingling together in purity of spirit and in the love of God.

â&#x20AC;&#x153;In this circle the atmosphere is exhilarating to the spirit; the houses are in circles of six, with more extended grounds, and the flowers more variegated and richly perfumed; the spirits have arbors, with vines running round them, with fruit like the grape, but larger and purer. The spirit brightens after partaking of it. Mountains rise in the distance, with extended plains, with water-powers, and clear, 37

transparent lakes. They have colleges of design with landscape paintings. Hannibal, Chambers, and others are here in the capacity of teachers. I meet here three sons of Samuel Haynes, of Belfast, who are receiving instruction. The spirits have buildings for instruction in music, embroidery, and the composition of flowers, in their higher formations. Here I meet one by the name of Helen A. Pierce receiving instruction. Children are receiving instruction, and are learning to sing and play on the harp. Congeniality of spirit reigns prominent here. The young assemble in classes for the cultivating of flowers and the spiritual development of their minds, and all is done for the good of others and the glory of God.â&#x20AC;?

Love is The Blossom of Heaven William W. Aber The Dawn of Another Life (1910)

A mother that is all a mother, who sits at eventide, when the lights are low, and croons with tender voice the sleepy song to the slumbering infant in her arms, who holds it close in the sweet grasp of devotion and fondly dreams the future welfare of her child - this is love; and if you were very near, you could look with me and see God there! The mother who loves most the wayward boy, who grieves most for his welfare, who always has an excuse for his shortcomings, is a picture of self-sacrifice; is a model of the gentle but strong tenderness of a pure heartâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s love for its offspring!

Love is as innate in every thing that has life as the very life principle itself. We watch Nature in all its varying forms of beauty and see in all her wonders the love principle permeating and radiating in each tiny tree twig, in upspringing flowers, mountains, rivers and the mighty cataracts! Watch the great sun smiling on the rose garden, coming very near and kissing the crimson velvet of the petals jealous of the early dews, and making haste to cause them to disappear from off the tender bosom of the Queen of flowers! He is mightier and more stately than his rival of the night before; the pensive, sighing, 39

morning dew! Being conscious of his mightiness, he darts athwart the sleepy morning sky, and speedily shoots his rays on the earth and her children; but loving most the fragrant rose garden! But she does not care for him as she does her other and her favorite lover, the Breeze! The rain loves her so well that he sheds his bounty of life upon her. The dew softens and nourishes her, the great Sun in all his Majesty stoops and warms her with vivifying rays, and caresses her into such blushing beauty that other flowers bow in homage to her! But the Breeze only comes and brings her dainty sweets of fragrance; only whispers dreamily of her honey heart and is continually flattering her beauty, yet she languishes when he is absent, and if he comes infrequently, her hot tears fall and wither her wonderful face! He is wanton and fickle but she does not know it, for when he breathes the very same little tendernesses in the ears of other flowers, she vainly turns her head and dreams of the romance of his presence and the sweetness of his love-warm breath.

It is as natural for the love aura to flow in the life of the animal and vegetable kingdoms as it is in the life of Humanity. All nature has a language

specifically

for

its

particular

kind

common

understanding, and no day goes by but that the Animal and Vegetable kingdoms communicate just as we do, only we are not of their order and therefore cannot understand their tongue.

The Ideal Garden J. S. M. Ward A Subaltern in Spirit Land: A Sequel to Gone West (1916)

ON arriving at the house they occupied, Rex said, “We are going out for recreation. Like to come too?”

So H.J.L., R.L.W. and I set out together, and, after passing through some pretty country, came to, a beautiful house in a lovely garden. It was set back from the road and in pleasure grounds of considerable extent.

They were surrounded by a hedge of yew, carefully clipped which appeared about eight feet high and completely arched the gateway, which had a gate wide enough for a carriage to pass through.

J.W. “The gateway is wide enough for a carriage, but the coachman would be knocked off the box.”

H.J.L. “Yes. I don’t think, however, any carriages ever pass through this way.”

On entering we found broad beds (about ten feet deep) full of lovely flowers of every kind that are found in June in England. They were mostly herbaceous, though a few bush roses were to be seen among them. At the back of the beds, on either side, were yew hedges about six feet high.

This path was about a hundred yards long, and at the further end was a square pond, edged with flat stones. The edge of the stones, which were moss-grown in parts, over hung the walls of the pond by about four inches, and the water was about nine inches below the surface of the ground.

The â&#x20AC;&#x153;driveâ&#x20AC;? turned sharply right and left and ran parallel to the pond at a distance of five yards. Round the pond itself were clumps of iris and other plants and the rest of the space was filled with turf of an exquisite, velvety texture and beautiful green. In the pond itself were many water-lilies and in the centre a dolphin reared up and spouted a jet of water.

On the further side of the pond was the house, which appeared to be a sixteenth-century building, made of stone, with mullioned windows. The drive ran right round the pond, always at the same distance from it

From the drive itself, half-way between the gate and the pond on either side, was a short path about four feet wide, leading to a gateway in the hedge. This gateway was likewise arched over with yew but whereas the main gate way arch had its top flush with the top of the hedge, this had the arch raised but cut square.

There were two arches similar to the one we had entered by, one in the middle of the side parallel to the outside road, and one opposite. The former led into the drive where it turned round to the left, so we passed through the arch opposite.

Here we found people. There were four of them, two men about fifty, one about thirty, and the last a youth about eighteen or thereabouts. H.J.L. at once asked them, “Who lives here?” and one replied, “Miss H—”.

H.J.L. “Who was she on earth? Someone of wealth and position?” The Gardener. “No. She was, I believe, a woman of good birth, but poor, and all her life she longed for and dreamed of a house and garden such as this. She died at the age of thirty-five. I have heard from her own lips how, though compelled to live at Tooting, she used to be always planning the kind of house and garden she would have if only she were well off. Now she has it.”

H.J.L. “Why do you work here?”

The Gardener. “Because we like to do so. Three of us were gardeners when we were on earth, but Charles (pointing to the man of thirty) was a clerk. He always hankered after a garden, so drifted in one day and has remained ever since.”

J.W. “And do you have to tend these plants, and cut the grass and so forth, as on earth?”

The Gardener. “There is not the same amount of drudgery as on earth. These are the astral forms of plants that have died on earth. In time their astral bodies wilt away. The grown thin and wan, like that rose. Then a puff of wind scatters them, and they vanish into fine dust. See?”

As he spoke, a rose-bush in the rose garden we had just left, which looked so thin that we could almost see through it, vanished in a puff of smoke.

The Gardener. “We’ll have to put a new one there now.”

I noticed that there was a large collection of plants lying ready to hand behind a yew hedge which formed a square. 44

J.W. “How do the plants come here?”

The Gardner. ‘They simply appear here. I never see them coming, but am constantly finding fresh ones, I just plant them where I think they will look best. I think they have a sort of instinct, and come where they will be welcome.

This plant dump was well hidden by a yew hedge, but it was, nevertheless, a beautiful picture in itself, very different from the rubbish heap which would have been similarly placed on earth.

The garden here was full of chrysanthemums and other autumnflowering plants.

The Gardener broke in with: “Yes. We’ve a garden for every season of the year, and many other gardens as well. Next to this is the winter garden, though there is no winter here. Miss H— insisted on its being made, as it was always her dream to have a garden for each season.” We passed through another arch, and found a garden with a grass lawn in the centre, and round the sides, near the hedges, were broad borders full of evergreen shrubs. Many of them had silver and gold foliage. Others had masses of berries which looked like blooms at a 45

short distance, so large and fine were they. I had no idea such a variety of colours was possible. There were masses of white berries and of yellow ones, scarlet, deep red, purple, blue, and almost black berries.

I asked the Gardener, “Have you tropical gardens here as well?”

The Gardener. “No. Miss H— says that she wants to keep to a strictly English garden, and I agree with her. Not but these tropical plants are very fine, but I prefer our own plants. They seem more home-like. Have you seen the sweet-herb garden? It smells beautiful.”

He pointed to an arch in the top hedge, and we passed through into a garden full of marjoram, thyme, lavender, and countless other herbs. Then we came to the rock garden, and beyond it was a garden with bedded-out plants, but instead of going into this we came out again onto the drive near the house.

“Shall we call?” said Rex.

“Let’s glance at the gardens on the other side,” said H.J.L. “Jack will have to return soon.”

The Gardener. “All around this house, as you see, are lawns with beds of midsummer flowers. Look!”

We found at the back the house had a terrace with stone balustrades, and three flights of steps leading down to a fine lawn. This also was terraced, and bounded on its lower side by a wall level with the grass, from the crevices of which rock plants and creepers grew. The wall was five feet high and had a bed of herbaceous plants in front of it, and another lawn beyond which had a grass slope. At the foot of all were lovely orchards in full bloom, and from the terrace by the house, where countless wall flowers bloomed, one could see a lake stretching beyond the orchard, and hills beyond the lake. We turned back past the house. On the right of this as one faced it, and therefore corresponding with the bedded garden, was what the Gardener described as the sunk or Dutch garden, and next to it opposite the rock garden, was a garden full of quaintly cut yews, and centring round a bowling-green, with an exquisite little summerhouse and sundial.

“Here are the flowering trees and shrubs,” said the Gardener, and we found ourselves in the garden opposite the herb garden.

Grouped round a circular lawn were flowering trees of every description, while on the lawn itself were dotted about the smaller flowering shrubs.

The air was laden with the scent of the lilac and may, but there were several trees in full flower which on earth would have hardly sown a bud when may trees were in bloom.

The Gardener. “As I gather you must be returning soon to earth, let me show you the lily garden, and excuse me asking you, but you three gentlemen seem different. You, sir {addressing Rex), appear to be one of us, and as you are a soldier, l presume you are one of those who have fallen in the great war, of which a rumour has reached us even in the peaceful glades.”

Rex nodded, and he went on to me. “You, I think, from what the old gentleman said just now, are still living on earth.’

I hastened to explain my position, and he turned to H.J.L. “But who are you, sir?”

H.J. L told him briefly, and he replied, in a respectful tone, “Then you are one of the Messengers?”

H.J.L. “Oh, dear no! Only a relation of this young man who has come to this plane to help him. But let us hurry on.”

The gardener then showed us the lily garden, where were growing at once every kind of lily which will grow out of doors in England. But the beds were grouped according to the season, to avoid incongruity so far as possible. We then passed on to see the summer and, finally, the spring garden, in which were all manner of bulbs. At length we returned to the drive, and I said, “I must be going.”

The Gardner replied, “Besides these there are other divisions in these grounds. Thus, beyond the bedded-out garden on the left of ¬the house is the fernery. It is very pretty, and centres round a little stream which falls over a waterfall and then goes into the lake.

“There are several other men at work besides our four selves, and we are always busy, yet never overworked. If you two gentlemen would like to call on Miss H— she would be delighted to meet you, and if you are interested in old furniture, the house is full of it.”

They agreed to do so, and we parted. I went through the gate into the road. The view grew misty, and I lost consciousness.

More about The Garden J. S. M. Ward A Subaltern in Spirit Land: A Sequel to Gone West (1916)

I FOUND R.L.W. and H.J.L. in their house. This visit was devoted mainly to private matters.

After a while, I inquired, “What was the garden like beyond the house?”

R.L.W. “Lawn after lawn, terraced one below the other, till we reached the river, which here spread out into a lake. Above and below the lake were spinneys and orchards. On the lake were swans and a gondola. The gondolier was there, and good-naturedly offered to take us on the lake. So we went aboard, and as he rowed he sang a song. I suppose it was in Italian, but we understood it quite easily. It was all about the sunlight on the water.

“We enjoyed it immensely. As we returned we stopped to admire a beautiful fountain on one of the lawns. The jet of water appeared to me about one-hundred feet high.”

J.W. “Anything more to tell me about that garden?” 50

R.L.W. “Not much, except that we found the owner had a large aviary. The birds, however, were not kept in cages, but lived in the woods and garden. The only thing that kept them there was the bond of love for the lady, and therefore hundreds came to her.

“They liked the quiet of the gardens, and the fact that few people came to disturb them.

“She said, for the most part, they made little attempt to hunt for food, and spent most of their time in singing.

“There were countless flocks of butterflies also.

“They likewise appeared drawn to her because she loved them. All manner of butterflies I saw, not merely tortoise-shell and peacock, but rare ones such as the swallow-tail and the large copper and the Camberwell beauty, which are practically extinct in England.

J.W. “Well, I must be going now.” And so I left them.

September 26th.

I only stayed a few minutes, and told Rex mother was dying, and he said he would go down to earth to meet her. 51

Wondrous Beauty Joy Snell The Ministry of the Angels (1918)

Come with me,” she said, and placing an arm around me she raised me up.

The room vanished from my sight, and with her arm encircling my waist I was wafted — I know no other word that would better describe it — swiftly through space, mounting, it seemed to me, ever higher and higher. We passed over the city, and though it was night and we appeared to be a great height above it, as I looked down I could clearly see the faces of the people in the crowded thoroughfare. I could hear the roar and rattle of the traffic as clearly as though I, myself, were one of the jostling throng. But as we sped onward and upward the sounds gradually became inaudible and the huge city disappeared from my sight. On and on we went, passing over spaces of open country, over towns and rivers and wide stretches of water, always, it appeared to me, rising still higher and higher until earth was lost sight of, and for a brief while I could see nothing.

Then we stopped and I was standing with the angel in the midst of a scene of such wondrous beauty that it filled me with rapture. It did not dawn upon me gradually as we approached it; it burst upon my delighted vision in a moment.

“Where are we?” I asked the angel.

“This is heaven, where we abide,” she answered; “and when we come here all cares and troubles are left behind. And now rest.”

We sat down together and a great happiness, such as I had never known before, possessed me. All the troubles that had weighed so heavily upon me had indeed been left behind.

I said to the angel: “What a wondrous sense of peace and rest comes over me! Can I stay here always?”

“No; not yet,” she replied. “Your work on earth is not yet finished. But you have many friends here and I shall be with you always, for I am your guardian angel.”

She had not before told me that I was under her special care, and the

assurance that her guidance and protection henceforth would always be mine came to me like a precious gift for which I felt grateful beyond words to express.

Then I became aware of a new gift of vision. I could see my own features.

But it was not the face that my mirror shows me on earth, but my spirit face that I saw, radiant as were the faces of those glorified beings I had so often seen take shape above their physical bodies from which life had fled, and like them I was clad in a spirit robe. Then I knew that it was in my spirit body I had left the earth where my corporeal body, still alive, remained, and to it I should return to finish my work on earth.

The entrancing beauty of the place to which my guardian angel had brought me is utterly beyond my powers to describe. I can only faintly suggest what it is like. I was in a vast, park-like garden, surrounded by mountains, dimly visible, so far away were they. It compared with the most beautiful of earthly gardens, as the glorified spirit body does with the physical body.

There are flowers there in magnificent profusion and trees and shrubs and stretches of greensward, and walks and rivers and streams.

Much of the foliage and many of the blossoms resemble those of earth, but with the wondrous difference I have indicated. Many of the flowers are unlike any I have seen on earth and in loveliness far surpassing them. The same is true of many of the trees and shrubs.

On some of the trees grow fruits that resemble those found on earth; other trees bear fruits that I have never seen here. There are many birds in this Heavenly Garden, but their plumage is far more beautiful, and their notes far more gladsome than are those of any of earthâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s feathered songsters. The whole place is pervaded by an exquisite and exhilarating fragrance. And the light there is a light that never was on sea or land. The wondrous glow that attends a beautiful sunset when all nature seems to praise God affords a faint conception of what it is like. Great artists seek to idealise the landscapes they paint. But here everything the eye beholds â&#x20AC;&#x201D; the light, the colours, the forms - is idealised far beyond the power of any human artist to realise whose vision has been restricted to earthly scenes.

Everywhere were the angel forms of transfigured men and women, both young and old, but all equally buoyant and vigorous, differing in features as do earth’s inhabitants, but each countenance radiant with a joy that is unknown in this world, and which invests the plainest face with a charm far transcending that of mere physical beauty.

What a contrast their bright faces were to the many care-oppressed and troubled faces that I had seen in London’s crowded streets when I passed over them with my guardian angel! But it was comforting to know that many of those weary and toil-worn men and women who are fighting life’s battle bravely would some day be as those I beheld about me.

These angels, it seemed to me, comported themselves much as do happy, kindly people on earth, sitting or walking about, singly or in pairs or groups, pausing now and again to exchange greetings or to converse with friends. There was nothing about them to awaken that feeling of awed surprise which, if some conceptions of the nature of the life that follows this were true, would be aroused on beholding for the first time those who had been transformed by death beyond all semblance to human beings. Angels they were, but still human — glorified human beings.

On earth, amid scenes of great natural beauty, the presence of a multitude of people often jars on one, and makes one less appreciative of natureâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s handiwork. But in the Heavenly Garden each one of the thousands of angels seemed to contribute something to the beauty and harmony of the scene and the sense of holy peace and joy that possesses one on beholding it.

But oh, the music! How it swelled and pealed, echoed and reechoed, and then died away in soft, sweet harmonies! And thousands of voices were blended in the songs of praise. Then did I realise whence came the music that I had often heard on earth, but which none of my friends could hear.

But here it was even more beautiful and inspiring.

These outbursts of melody and song seemed spontaneous. No signal that I could discern preceded them. Nor could I discover whence came the music like unto that of some wondrous and mighty organ whose tones some gifted musician might, perhaps, hear faintly in his dreams, but only in his dreams.

There was nothing that I could perceive corresponding to organised choirs such as are common on earth. All joined in the singing and the harmony was perfect. It seemed as though they simply yielded to a 57

simultaneous and irresistible impulse to give vent to the gratitude and love for the eternal Father, which filled their hearts to overflowing. And oh, the joy and gladness of it! It was the audible expression of that feeling which seizes upon some of us in those rare and holy moments when we seem to be brought near to God, and which here we are so powerless to express . Some of the songs were familiar to me, though rendered with a joyous exultation and perfection of harmony such as is never heard on earth. I joined in the singing of them, for I could not have kept silent had I wished to do so, under the impulse that possessed all there. Many of the songs were unknown to me, but they were all songs of praise and thanksgiving.

Among the throng of angels I recognised many I had known on earth. Some I had nursed. They greeted me with smiles and kindly words. To them I was as one of themselves â&#x20AC;&#x201D; one who had passed through the portals of death to reach heaven.

How long I remained there I have no idea. I had no sense of the flight of time. But when I found myself again in my room I knew that it was no dream that had dissipated my gloomy thoughts.

Flowers for the Dead Soldiers Mary Bruce Wallace Spiritual Reconstruction (1918)

We have seen on the battle-field gardens of beauty over the scarred earth, flower thoughts and emblems from all over the world.

The

pure white virgin lily, the flowers from dear home gardens of Germany, side by side with roses from England, thistles and the delicate shamrock.

Finally, we see streams of energy set free by prayer for the departed, on behalf of those who have left the body.

How they thank you, for

this is the sure way of thinning the veils between you and your loved ones.

All nations meet on these same battle-fields where God is working out the regeneration of Europe.

In the midst of all, is that purest

white from which all color, note and form, is derived; and as the life is poured out in rich streams, the souls long separated by time and by ignorance meet once more.

Within the veil, the atmosphere of purity and peace throbs with holy joy.

There are homes re-established here, the lost are found, the 59

pain of long silence is broken for many. From here the ministering ones go forth to teach and comfort the poor and the sad.

Centers of

healing at one with the river of life, send out their streams of lifegiving energy to your fainting earth.

Look up, for the Lord God

omnipotent reigneth in you and through you forever.

The Beauty Within Mary Bruce Wallace The Thinning of The Veil (1919)

On the plane where I now find myself we have personal Guides, but beyond this I understand we are each illumined by our own Higher Self. It is to help us to attain this that the Guides are given to us. They are distinguished by a brighter aura, and are so beautiful that we instinctively rely upon their help and advice. It is my Guide who is influencing me in this present line of action. On the other hand, we have perfect free-will to do as we choose just as on earth, and greater freedom to pursue and carry out our own ideals.

"Your world and this one interpenetrate. There are worlds within, and in to the Centre of Being. Not all here are conscious of your world. What I focus upon, that I can see; but our environment is not necessarily a counterpart of yours. We can make our own surroundings.

"Yes! Through your mind I can see the soul-side of your trees. We have scenery which apparently changes in colouring similarly to yours, but this is brought about by the desire of our minds. We do not respond to earth's scenes except through a sensitive. As you have 61

such a love of nature and such vivid feelings, I am able to see the scenes more vividly than through other sensitives."

"There are lots of children here, such darlings, and they are very happy and friendly. After a certain period of education they pass to higher planes. They are so lovely. Those who have a special faculty for managing children, make homes for them in cases where their parents are still on earth.

"There are also many beings other than man in these more subtle realms, as well as on other physical planets. We can communicate with them, and some of us study their habits somewhat as a traveller studies the ways of a foreign race. Many of these beings are very beautiful. I see them flashing through the air like the fairies of children's stories. Their bodies glow with light and colourâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;golden, rosy and sapphire. They have a lot to do with the inner molding of trees, flowers and Nature-stuffs.

You think I am romancing, but indeed this is actually what I see. I see also seraphs from far higher realms, wonderful beings who pass by on waves of light, and are veiled as with a mist. Some of these are winged just like your pictured angels.

"The highest spirits of all only come to us in vision or on rare occasions to cast light on something we need to know, or in connection with our work."

"We do not need food as on the earth, but are easily sustained by air, light and water, although some of us take fruit too from the trees in our fields and gardens. Here we tend the trees by thought. Besides the gardens we find here seas, lakes, rivers, woods, mountains, every kind of glorious scenery. There are cities too, but fairer than your fairest dream of such. Ugly houses or slums we could not endure for a moment. There is no dirt or disorder here, and no bodily diseases such as exist on earth. Any want of harmony in feeling is at once shown as a shadow on the otherwise shining white soul-body. It can only be cured by thought and love.

"We refresh ourselves when weary with work amongst unevolved souls, by bathing in the exquisitely clear streams and rivers. We create our own garments and houses by the power of thought, or if we are unable yet to do this for ourselves, our more evolved friends make them for us. There is such close and sweet fellowship here between soul and soulâ&#x20AC;&#x201D; no jar, no discord, as on earth; for all speedily gravitate to their own affinities of mind and temperament, living thenceforward in perfect peace and harmony. It is verily the 'Kingdom of Heaven' which we long for you to make outwardly 63

manifest on earth. Believe me, this possibility is no mirage. It is the all-perfect plan of the Creator for man, in the Future. Then shall the words of the old Jewish prophets come true: The desert shall blossom as the rose; and all creatures dwell in peace together. It is our blessed mission to help to inspire you to make all these dreams actual even in your outer world."

Heavenly Homes Mary Bruce Wallace The Thinning of The Veil (1919)

"I think you will be interested to hear about some work I am doing here just now. I am busy making houses and gardens, lovely resting places for tired souls crossing over from the earth. They all need houses, of course, and do not understand at first how to construct their own. Here, on the third plane, we create by our thoughts.

Thus I made my own house and garden, just by thinking. It requires strong thoughts to build strongly, otherwise the things created will be flimsy. I take great pains to make these homes for folk very sweet and attractive, beautiful in every sense of the word, and harmonious in atmosphere; for that is the most important part of the work. One must establish in each home a key-note of joy, peace and harmony, so that the people who dwell there may feel uplifted, soothed and strengthened. It is really heavenly work for which some of us are better suited than others, and so we are asked to do it. One must have certain qualities of soul as well as of mind to be well fitted for this creative work; a restful and joyous state of feeling, for instance, is essential.

Rejoicing is active blessedness of mind which carries intense help to others. One needs also constructive ability, sense of order, a vivid imagination, and so forth. I could tell you lots more about this and similar lines of activity pursued in our realms for the welfare of the community."

Fields and Flowers John S. King, M.D. Dawn of The Awakened Mind (1920)

The spirit world is a second earth plane many times more beautiful and grand, with its duplicate of water and land, streams, rivers, lakes, forests, hills, fields and flowers, all vastly more beautiful than can be conceived; travel is as rapid as thought from the mind; unison and harmony exist instead of creed and contention; gardens and parks surpassingly beautiful, and trees, and birds and other animals in the primary spheres; no allotted place called Heaven, nor the Hell of torture, both of which are described by them as conditions rather than places; not one of hundreds who have communicated with me ever expressed a desire to again become a resident of the earth plane.

One spirit thus clearly expressed his view on this subject: "Oh, life is not the wonder or good, that men believe it is. To me before I died, I felt that I so wished to live and gain my health, so that I might work do; but after I was free I felt and realized and knew the wonders of the spirit view; and wondered how I could have felt content to live and suffer as I had to do in body frail, and thin and pale."

Heavenly Gardens and Then Hell J. S. M. Ward Gone West (1920)

â&#x20AC;&#x153;Cold! cold! Piercing feeling of cold. It pierced me through and through. Nothing I can write can give you any idea of that cold. The icy blast pierced me as no earthly wind ever did or can. I was a naked soul, no body, nothing to give me warmth.

I shuddered and shivered like this for many a seeming age.

â&#x20AC;&#x153;Suddenly it seemed to grow a little less. I was aware of a presence. How can I describe him, this glorious being? Then I could hardly grasp any clear idea, but having since been in his company constantly, I can describe him a little better. Even now he seemed to change every moment. At one instant I seem to know him well, at another he changes and I can get no clear idea of his face or form. He shimmers and shines and flashes, and seems as if he were made of fire. His robes, his face, his whole form is as it were fire. Yet that word gives but a faint idea, nor would the word light be any nearer. All colour, too, is there. This glorious one is my teacher.

“Hardly had I perceived him, when the whole room in which I stood and the people who were there seemed to dissolve and fade away. Lo! I was in the most exquisite scenery imaginable. Every lovely spot I had over visited was there, and countless others which I had never seen — beautiful rolling hills clothed with grass and trees; real trees, yes, and animals and even butterflies; flowers, too, of every description, not only English wild and garden flowers, but all manner of foreign plants, orchids and so forth, the like of which I never saw on earth. Nor did they seem strange or out of place, nor yet the sight of tropical palms and English oaks growing side by side. On earth it would certainly have seemed so, but here it appeared quite natural. “‘Where am I?’ I thought, and no sooner had the idea entered my mind, if indeed one can use the word, than the ‘Shining One’ seemed to answer.

“‘You are in the land of After-Death. Are you surprised that there are trees and animals here, and even grass? Know that here comes every thought which you have ever thought; soon also you shall know that is so, to your sorrow; and, further, here come also the spiritual forms of all that ever lived. Thus is our Spirit World built up and thus it constantly increases. All that lives, no matter how humble it be, comes here of itself. All thoughts come here. Hence you recognize many beauty spots you knew on earth. Hence also the

palm and the oak, and the orchid which you never saw. You have much to learn.’

“‘Do all thoughts live’ I cried (or thought). Even as the idea formed, the whole scene was blotted out from my perception.

“A horror seemed to grip me.

(Mr. K., etc., declare that here I again began to exhibit signs of acute anguish. — Ed.)

“Like a hideous nightmare, on every side visions seemed to press me round. They weighed me down. I, who but a moment before had seemed so light, now seemed to be crushed under an intolerable weight. I saw them not with mortal eyes, I perceived them with my whole being.

“I call them visions, but they were in real bodily form, like tableaux, moving and acting again before me all my past.

“My past deeds crowded before me, not in any order, but like a dream, all at once. Oh! the anguish as once more rose up deeds long since forgotten. Little or great, nothing was now forgotten. At last, after what seemed countless ages, an inspiration seemed to seize 70

me, and I prayed. I had not done so for years and years, but now I prayed, ‘O God, help me’ and as I prayed, really prayed, slowly the wild chaos began as it were to sort itself out. It, as it were, took a kind of chronological order, and the scenes took the form, as it were, of a street which stretched far away, far beyond my ken; and they will go on increasing as I progress till they reach to the judgment seat of God. And among them I saw many visions which came as a relief to my tired soul — little acts of kindness which I had long forgotten, times when I had resisted temptation. So I found, as it were, my location. — H. J. L.”

Water of Life G. Vale Owen Life Beyond The Veil: Book 3: The Ministry of Heaven (1921)

AND now, dear friend and fellow-pilgrim, let us take a journey inland from the Home of Rest and see what chances by the way to those who journey so. For we are both pilgrims, you and I, and are on the same road to the same brightness still beyond and away over the high mountains which border this sphere and that one next ahead.

We leave the grounds and gardens of the Home behind us and take our way down a long high colonnade of trees which leads to the open country, and as we go we notice that the way goes not straight onward, but follows the line of the valley beside the river which comes down by this way to the sea. Let me now before proceeding explain some of the qualities of the waters of this river.

You have read of the Water of Life. That phrase embodies a literal truth, for the waters of the spheres have properties which are not found in the waters of earth, and different properties attach to different waters. The waters of the river or fountain or lake are often treated by high spirits and endowed with virtues of strengthening or enlightenment. Sometimes people bathe in them and gather bodily 72

strength from the life-vibrations which have been set up in the water by the exercise of some group of angel-ministers.

I know of a fountain situated on the top of a high tower which sends forth a series of musical chords of deep harmony when it is set to play. This is used instead of bells to call the people of the surrounding lands together when some ceremony is forward. Moreover, its spray disperses itself over a wide radius, and is seen to fall around the gardens and homes spread out over the plain in the form of flakes of light of different colours. These flakes are so constituted as to bring to those on whom or around whom they fall a sense of the general nature and purpose of the meeting about to be held, a kind of glow which suffuses the whole being and brings a sense of comradeship and communal love which makes the recipient the more eager to be away to the gathering. Also by this process is borne through the district a sense of the time and place of meeting, and often, too, the knowledge of some Angel Visitor who is to address the assembly or to transact some business, as deputy of the Lord of his Sphere.

The chief property of the waters of this river whose banks we now follow upward is that of peace. In a way far beyond all earthly understanding all the qualities of its waters infuse peace to him who strolls beside its waters. Its various colours and hues, the murmur of 73

its flowing, the plants to which it contributes fertility, the shape and appearance of its rocks and banksâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;all, in a very intense measure, bring peace to the soul who needs it. And there are many who need that peace among those returning from the lower spheres across the great lake, for it is a strenuous life we lead at times, my friend, and not at all the deadly monotonous existence so many earth people imagine. So that there are times when it is necessary to lay the burden down for a while, and for our future operations regain that calm and strong quietude of spirit so necessary to the adequate carrying out of our allotted work.

You must also understand that there is in everything here a permeating personality. Every forest, every grove, every tree, lake, stream, meadow, flower, house, has a pervading personality. Itself it is not a person, but its existence and all its attributes and qualities are consequent on the sustained and continuous volition of living beings, and their personality it is which is felt by all who come into contact with each and any of these, and that in a degree in ratio to their sensitiveness in the particular direction of the resident personality. Some, for instance, are more sensitive to those beings whose activity lies in the trees; others to those of the river. But all seem to sense the qualities of a building, especially when they enter within, for these are erected mostly by spirits more nearly of their own quality and degree, while most of what we might call nature 74

spirits are of a state and manner of existence and of function much more removed. Now, what obtains in these Realms is usually found true in your earth sphere also, only in a lesser degree of intensity as sensed by the ordinary individual, consequent on his deep immersion in matter at this present stage of evolution. It is only less apparent, it is not less.

The Tower of Angelic Life G. Vale Owen Life Beyond the Veil - Volume 4 - The Battalions of Heaven (1921)

THERE is in the Sphere Ten a vast glade amidst a forest-land. It is surrounded by the forest, from which there emerge into the open many roads which lead away into different quarters of the sphere. From these there branch off paths in all directions, which are much affected by those who would draw aside from the company of their fellows for meditation, and communion with those in other spheres.

Beautiful is the peace which here prevails. The trees and flowers and the brooklets, a lake here and there, with the birds and forest animals for only company, entice the student to wander here and drink in its atmosphere of peace.

But our present business is in the glade. It is

so great in area that you would perhaps name it a plain. It is filled with gardens and fountains and temples and buildings put to the use of study and research.

It is a University, but of such a plan that it might stand for a City Beautiful. For in motive here beauty seems to rank equal with knowledge.

It is not circular in shape, but rather oval. At one end of 76

the oval there projects from the forest edge a high broad porch, flanked with trees on either side, and above the trees there appears a wing of the building, with a balcony running high up the wall, and giving a far view over the glade. The remaining building is embosomed in the forest, except the Towers and Dome, which you see soaring above the porch and beyond it. Were it not for these, you would not know there was a large group of buildings there, so thick are the trees about it.

There are five towers-four of equal size, but not of patternâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;and, in their midst, the Dome. The Great Tower rises farthest away, and is continued to a great height, ending in a very beautiful design. This cap is in the form of a heavenly palm-tree, whose leaves are interwoven in filigree to form a crown set with jewels and surmounted with a semblance of a constellation of suns, also bejewelled richly. All thisâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;the four Towers, the Dome, and the Great Towerâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;has a mystical significance, which

only those who have passed into the

Temple of the Holy Mount do fully understand.

These explain to the students of the University so much as they are able to assimilate on occasions of great Festival; and some of the Mysteries of that place are explained by Manifestation. Of one such occasion I am minded to tell you, but will first be a little more full as to this building itself.

Beyond the Porch there lies a lake which is 77

approached by steps on to which the porch gives, and which stretch to some distance right and left..

The main building rises from the

lake, and all its gardens and the clusters of lesser buildings are joined to it by bridges, mostly with roofs. The Dome covers a hall which is used for observation. This work is not like that carried on in the wings of the Temple of the Holy Mount for sending help and maintaining communication, but for the simple study of the Spheres.

This study is elaborated, by classification, into a science which is continuously progressive, because the Spheres are for ever readjusting themselves in their relation each to others. So there is no finality in the pursuit of knowledge in these heavenly realms.

The

Four Towers have each a group of buildings of their own. I cannot give you their names, but you may write them down as the Tower of Sleeping Life, which you would call mineral; the Tower of Dreaming Life, which you would call vegetable; the Tower of Waking Life, which you would call animal; and the Tower of Consciousness, which you would call human.

The Great Tower is the Tower of Angelic Life, which watches over all those forms of life below it in degree of progress, and also crowns them all. moving.

For towards the Angelic order is all the lower creation These Towers are served by the House of the Dome, and

to it they turn for any specific item of knowledge they need in their 78

work of research and classification. On the powers generated within the Dome House they rely to help them in that matter.

The four

Towers are each of different design, and you would know at once, as you looked at them from the plain, what order of Creation they were intended to picture. They are designed to that end. The work again within them infuses them each with its own peculiar character, and from that infusion the design emerges and becomes the pattern outwardly displayed.

The Great Tower is very lovely to see. It is of no colour of earth; but call it golden alabaster set about with pearls, and you get an idea of it.

It is almost like a vast and splendid fountain of liquid gems in

perpetual play. But instead of the plashing of waters, there is given off a harmony of whispered music, so that none can approach that building but he is moved, almost to enchantment of ecstasy, by the influence it sends abroad.

The waters also axe beautiful, for they

wind in and out of the flower gardens; and here is a rill, and there a lake in which the Towers, or Dome, or some gem of architecture, is reflected, and lies in placid, restful beauty, like an angel-child in its cradle, so to say it for you. I will take you within the Great Tower and note a few of its qualities.

Even gardens are there, planted on broad ledges thrust out from the side-walls of the Tower. And so high and so wide is this great shaft 79

that, those items, which are of roomy proportions when you mount up to them from within, yet do not impede the view into the sky above, nor alter the contour of the opening atop.

And as you look about,

you see how the light alters and blends, or grows or dies away at different parts of the ascent. So, at one home, as it gives on to the well of the Tower, there seems to be shining the noonday sun.

On another the evening sun seems to be setting and lighting up the ledge garden, with its lovely green trees and arbours, with a sunset glow. At another part of the structure there is an aspect, yea and a sense, of sunrise on a fresh spring morning, with the singing of birds and the ripple of mountain rills into the meadows belowâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;for running water is not absent here in this wonderful place.

Music, also, from one dwelling or another comes sometimes from several at one time, and yet the interior of the building is so vast that they do no invade each the theme of the other's melody.

Now, from

what I have told youâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;and that is but a tithe of the wholeâ&#x20AC;&#x201D; you might deduce that you were in some place where slumber was chief resident, and case the motive of its founding. But cast back your mind to the name I gave these Five Towers and you will see that such is not the case. This Great Tower supervises the work of the other four, and the Dome draws from here the power required for its work. Here reside Angels of great rank, and come and go from very 80

high realms to give of their mighty strength and far-flung experience, to aid those who now seek to tread the way they went before ages ago.

Gardens of Children Charlotte Dresser Spirit World and Spirit Life (1922)

"The gardens devoted to children are far more beautiful than any known to you. The flowers are of exquisite beauty, many-hued, and with forms unknown on earth. There are lakes with water crystalclear; fountains softly splashing; tree-shaded nooks and corners; and wide, open places for games or play. Can you imagine children playing in lake or fountain without spoiling their beautiful garments, or catching cold? Can you imagine a sunshine that does not burn, or winds that bring no dust, or play and exercise followed by no fatigue?"

Children Stories Received and Arranged by 'Sis' Charlotte Elizabeth Dresser Spirit World and Spirit Life (1922)

"Can you guess what I talked to my children about to-day?" she wrote one evening. "I told them that you were my friend on earth, and I told them how you loved music. Then they wanted to try to sing, and I wish you could have heard them. They made many sweet sounds, but no time and no harmony. Then I described how you used to beat time to have us sing together. Then they all tried that. I thought they were very dear, trying to follow my motions and keep together.

"The lesson was, of course, unity in action, and that to work together in harmony meant better and bigger things than for each to try separately. I think the idea appealed to them and increased their desire for united and harmonious action. "

"I do so love the work with the children, and their quick responsiveness to my thought. I am teaching them about unselfishness now, and how to send their thoughts out to others in kindness and love. Sometimes a newly arrived child feels desolate and lonely without the sheltering protection of a mother's arms. Then the children can be of the greatest service in surrounding the 83

little one with love and tender thought. There are many ways in which children can learn the true office of unselfishness and love, and their gentle and loving attentions to others react upon themselves in added happiness.

"I wish you could see them, all so dainty and light and beautiful.

To-

day we walked in the garden looking at the flowers. Then we tried to find the colors that each liked best, and each picked out her favorite color. One chose a pink flower, and said that was for love.

Another

chose white, because that to her was like the baby angels.

Another

gathered purple flowers because her mother had loved that color.

Dearest of all was the little blue flower that stood for hope and happiness, they said. And so we went through the garden, picking flowers and telling what they meant, until we had nearly all the virtues represented, but no faults. When I asked where the faults were, they said, 'Why, flowers have no faults'. Then I called them my flowers, and told them that they, too, must be without faults if they would belong in the beautiful garden of love.

"Ah, dear mothers of little children, I wish you could see these happy ones at play in these wonderful gardens! Can you not think of them so, rather than taken from you and borne to some far-away unknown place?" 84

Spirit Land Charlotte Elizabeth Dresser Spirit World and Spirit Life (1922)

PERHAPS now we can picture the soul with its newly acquired powers of observation, its spiritual vision. What of its environment? What is there to see? It is practically beyond the powers of the material brain to conceive of the reality, the substantiality, of the spirit world, the objects that the inhabitants of spirit land see with the perception that corresponds to our sight. From various descriptions that we have read, and from the information given to us, there is reason to believe that the landscapes, trees, and buildings of the spirit world are more 'real,' are more nearly a material substance, than we might think. The suggestion given elsewhere in the book, that mind in that realm has power to build up these objects from electrons by using laws of which we know nothing, gives us food for thought.

The results of such work are not perceptible to our senses,

of course; but they are seen by the new powers of spirit. How little we would know of air and most forms of gas if our other senses registered them no better than does our sight! Can we not imagine a sight perception so superior to the one we now possess, that sensations would be registered and recognized, not only from gases, but from even more tenuous 'material?' Is there reason for denying 85

that electrons may be controlled by laws we have not known? We certainly do not deny the reality of atoms or molecules; yet what inconceivable numbers of these must be massed together before they can be sensed by any of our five material powers! Is it safe to assert the impossibility of some other combination of these, or of electrons, than those we have known? Scientists of course are loath to take any hypothesis into consideration involving unknown laws. But most of them accept ether, the characteristics of which seem in some ways to defy known laws. This means that if ether exists, it is controlled by laws as yet unrecognized. There may be other unrecognized forces. There may be 'substance' and 'material' in the spirit realm! Of course our inquisitive minds were early seeking information as to what the spirit world was like. Were there trees and flowers and buildings? Were there mountains and rivers and beautiful landscapes? "There are gardens and flowers here of exceeding beauty. They are formed by thought processes according to certain laws, and only those who love beauty and form are entrusted with the work. Architecture is also a thought product. You need not try to understand the operation, for it belongs to spirit and to spirit alone.â&#x20AC;? One who was at that time engaged in architecture and in color formation there told us one evening: "We are building and building, making halls and rooms and houses in the most exquisite way imaginable, and never for a moment have to halt for lack of means or lack of material. Truly the 'many mansions' are here, and 86

beautiful beyond description. When you come you will have a home that will express your most artistic fancy and your greatest desire for beauty.”

'Can you give us a description of the building you use as a

meeting hall?'

"I will try. It is not of marble or wood or stone, but a beautiful building of white material, shining and pure, with dome of golden color, with halls and rooms and various meeting places and appointments for the different studies.”

Welcoming the Children to The Better Land Mary Bruce Wallace The Coming Light (1924)

I WILL tell you a little about my work amongst the thousands of little ones coming to our shores daily from Eastern Europe. We have special companies of women souls organised into bands to receive them, and to take care of them when their own mothers are left on earth. As they arrive, it is interesting to note the transformation that takes place. They appear at first very pale, though their spirit bodies are not emaciated as were their earthly ones, but they wear a kind of haunted look, with most wistful and sad expressions, as though they could not smile even if they wished. We find that the best thing to wake them from this kind of apathy, resulting from their past terrible experiences, is the sight of flowers; and they are at once taken to fields of these. The contrast of a beauty which is within their grasp with their previous experiences of terrible destruction and ugliness, immediately awakens a spark of joy, little or big according to the nature of the child. Some smile faintly for the first time, others rush eagerly forward with shouts of delight to pick the radiant blossoms, which of course they are permitted to do, until their little hands and arms are full of them. By this time the beautiful influences which always breathe from flowers have refreshed the children to such an 88

extent that their faces look quite different. Colour begins to show in their cheeks, new light in their eyes, and the first gleams of happiness appear. We then separate them, and a great deal of consideration is here needed, as we keep families together when we can. Where one child has died before his brothers and sisters, his Guide is on the lookout for them, and knows them by clairvoyance, since all the children of one family have some dominant characteristic perceptible by our eyes. In some cases one of our Mothers takes one family, in other cases a very competent worker takes a group of families beneath her care in one beautiful home.

â&#x20AC;&#x153;My work, as you may already have guessed, has been the creation of these homes in that particular region into which the children are entering. During the last six or eight months I have created several hundreds, and the work has kept me very busy, as I have had to train helpers to keep the houses intact. You will know what I mean from earlier talks. The keynote on which the homes are built must be reechoed from time to time, or they will disappear into space. I have, of course, planned specially lovely gardens, as those seem to appeal to the children more than anything else.

A veil is drawn between them and their memory of earth in its last stages, so that their recollections seem to be only of their earlier experiences and of their family love. They become radiantly happy in 89

their new surroundings, where they are trained by special teachers to be fitted for life here, which will certainly be for them more delightful than had they continued to live on earth. We have, of course, numbers of cases in which the parents and relatives die also. Homes are provided, then, for united families, under the supervision of a visiting guide, who daily instructs them in the laws of the new life, and gives to the adults knowledge of the past, wisely withheld from the little ones. It is such engrossing work, and I have become so intimately bound up with it lately, and find that my practice in building houses is so much in demand that I am thankful and delighted to supply the need, and spend the greater part of my time in this region, leaving my hostels on the Borderland, of which I have told you before, in the hands of competent comrades.â&#x20AC;?

Preparing Houses and Gardens Mary Bruce Wallace The Coming Light (1924)

QUITE a number of my gardens and houses, the little homesteads I have constructed, have been transferred to a higher plane, as those who inhabited them were ready for further advancement. I told you lately that most of my erections were on the second plane; now I have been able to bring them on to the third plane, as so many of the people were so happy there that they did not want to go to new ones, preferring to take their own with them. I have been carrying out the removal for them. This involves a great deal of labour, because the whole fabric has to be done all over again, with finer material. I undo it, and effect the needed transmutation. It is impossible to explain to you the processes, because they are different from anything you have on earth. Even on earth you can make one thing out of another. I use the material again in a fresh and finer form. It is actual texture, created by thought; quite solid to the perception in this world; quite as much matter to us as, the substance of your world is matter to you. So it has to be dematerialised before it can be materialised again in the higher form suited to the higher plane where the owners now find themselves.

This has been quite a new work for me, and is extremely difficult, but I have greatly enjoyed learning how to do it without expending unnecessary energy, and without losing any of my precious creations, which are to me most interesting, just as his own pictures are to an artist on earth. I like either to see my houses and gardens left satisfactorily standing on the second plane, for souls who desire to possess them, or else satisfactorily re-created on the third plane. If I were not able to effect the transformation perfectly, it would result in part of the house and garden being on the second plane and part on the third. Of course they pass through their unfinished stage, but I try to complete the operation as speedily as possible. It can be done in a very short time (as you count time). For instance, in a night I can get a house fairly ready on the next plane. In the interval the people for whom it is being created go to friends. The removal is just as natural as taking up a house in America and moving it on wheels and pulleys, or as may be possible later, on earth, much more easily than now. The joy to me is first of all that the people have become so speedily ready for transition. This is largely owing to the helpful atmosphere which I and others created in these homes, whereby their minds were so attuned to higher things that they evolved more rapidly than folk generally do at their level of evolution. This is a tremendous joy to me, and in a sense quite as surprising, both to myself and to those working with me. We have gained the approval 92

and thanks of the more exalted Master who is superintending our work.

The second thing that gives me happiness is that the people want to take the homes with them, having found them in every way congenial. This is an even greater joy than you can think, because I see the terrible state in which these souls arrive from the earth plane: total wrecks and heart-broken, a piteous sight. One aches and longs to be able to comfort them. To be able to achieve this in even a small degree fills one with such deep joy that I scarcely know how to describe it to you. It is one of the most beautiful experiences that I have had since crossing over. I am at present quite enthralled by this work, and I am to go on with it, since higher ones seem to think I am well fitted for it. It will not interfere with our thinning of the veil campaign.â&#x20AC;?

Beautiful Angels and Beautiful Flowers Caroline Larsen My Travels in the Spirit World (1927)

After leaving the children, I passed through other parts of the Third plane, where I moved among the throngs of exalted beings, the mansions without end, in the midst of stately gardens. My mind was full of amazement at the extent of this wonderful world.

The glories of that wondrous spirit land were incomparable. It seemed the best of all possible heavens with its atmosphere of universal peace, sympathy and happiness. Love hovered over all. How delightful it was to pass abode after abode, watching the spirits enjoy the blessings, a scene of extraordinary tranquillity and charm. I spoke to a spirit who was sitting in his garden resting against a tree, entirely surrounded by flowers and luxuriant vegetation of exquisite hue and fragrance. His eyes shone with a calmness of mind beyond human achievement or comprehension. From his face shone a radiant happiness as he answered my amazement by saying "Yes, what an inexpressible joy it is to be permitted to dwell in these glorious realms after so much mortal agony, so many trials, such great tribulations, such piercing sorrows."

Another desire came to me â&#x20AC;&#x201D; to hear music. I was guided to a high structure of artistic architecture, whose entire top, arranged like a platform, seated a huge orchestra composed of all varieties of instruments, some familiar to me and others strange. Every musician showed himself a master of his art in the frequent concerts given by this as well as by numerous similar organisations. The music began, and immediately I was held entranced by its sweeping majesty, and by its overwhelming emotional appeal. I could not endure it, perhaps because I was still of earth. Completely overcome, I had to be led away.

My guide now wished to conduct me to a distant place, where there awaited something of great interest to me. Rising a little from the ground, the body at a vertical angle, we passed swiftly through space, impelled only by the agency of the will. Below us a marvellous panorama unrolled, as we travelled on. The delicately coloured spirit houses, with their varied architecture and wonderfully artistic ornamentation, seemed bathed in brilliant light of unearthly splendour. Around them spread gardens with flowers and shrubbery and trees, surpassing in colour and design the most perfect creations of human landscape artists. At intervals the great mansions and palaces for large gatherings rose among the trees, impressive in size yet delicate in colour and beauty of line.

Against the vivid brilliance of flowers and olive green of the level lawns on which multitudes of spirits enfolded in their robes of light and many colours continually moved, these perfect creations rose to mould a harmony of form and colour that caught and held the spirit like perfect music. Arriving at a wide flat of open ground, we saw in the distance what appeared to be a great bed of varicoloured flowers, which as we came closer turned out to be a great throng of women spirits, clad in brightly-coloured robes.

They were standing before a huge arched structure, apparently awaiting some event. I learned that they were the helpers waiting to be sent on their errands as angels of mercy, both to the earth and to the lower planes. Since I learned that this was but one place among many where the helpers received their directions, I concluded that there must have been myriads of these ministering angels always ready to serve in the hour of need. Deeply interested, I approached to look more clearly at the spirits nearest me. I felt they were indeed well fitted for the task for which they had volunteered. Their lovely and serene faces were eloquent with warm sympathy. The divine love and kindness that looked from their eyes spoke clearly of the principle that animated all their actions. Words and demeanour told of their impatience to hurry to the work of service that irresistibly called. They made a splendid and delightful picture standing draped

in robes of different colours, wearing a head-dress also coloured by their auras.

This variety of the lighter and brighter colour, and the brilliant white light streaming from their faces produced an effect of marvellous beauty. A hush now fell on the gathering and every eye turned with expectation toward three figures of authoritative presence, spirits from the higher planes who had come to direct the helpers. They were clad in shining garments and bore themselves with high dignity. They passed below the arch standing in front of the gathering and then appeared upon its top where they issued directions to the helpers, who immediately, singly and in groups, went eagerly on their way. I felt deep gratitude to my guide for the happiness of beholding this scene, which was to me a heaven far more real and comforting than any which I had conceived on earth.

My time for leaving the third plane had now come, and I knew that soon I must return to re-inhabit my earthly body. But before that I implored my guide to give me at least a glimpse of the glories of the fourth plane. To my joy, he consented.

Creative Visualization through Guided Imagery Walter DeVoe The Pathway of Light (1938)

Step One

Take a restful position in your chair, close your eyes, and imagine that you are sitting in the midst of a garden of your favorite flowers.

Visualize the kind of garden that will give you the most pleasure. Exercise your creative power to make it as beautiful and attractive as possible. Visualize individual flowers, then great masses of flowers. Let the garden be spacious, surrounded by shrubs and trees.

As you are cultivating your imagination, enjoy the act and art of creating to the utmost. When you have developed a clear mental picture of your garden, imagine that you feel the

warm rays of the

sun shining upon and vitalizing your body. Enjoy the sensation of basking in the sunshine of a bright, balmy day of summer.

Keep your mind interested in feeling the warmth of the sun for awhile; then imagine that you smell the fragrance of the flowers, and hear the birds, bees and insects. Bring all your senses into your 98

imagination. Sense your hands in your lap, and your feet on the earth.

After you have rested in this imaginary garden for a while each day for several days, then imagine children whom you know and love playing about you with their pets. Recall familiar expressions of the children, and let the recollection be vivid and enjoyable.

The immediate value of this mediation will be in the restful pleasure that it gives you. This will be a spiritual tonic. The activity of the imagination enjoyed in this manner withdraws the mind from worries and cares, and permits the soul to regain its peace and poise.

You have thought of the flowers and trees in your mental garden with the sunshine reflected from them. Now think of them as glowing with light from within; the form the same, but composed of luminous spiritual substance.

When, by a little practice, you are able to think of all the objects in your garden as self-luminous, you will have conceived how a spiritual garden appears. You are conceiving the spirits of the flowers and trees which are the cause for their life and form. Imagine the birds, bees and insects also as self-luminous forms, and you will be

thinking of them as they will be when their physical forms are no more.

Continue this meditation by thinking of the children and their pets as luminous spiritual forms, joyously active, healthy and perfect forever, inbreathing the radiant life of the Spirit of the universe.

This will bring the thought of all those whom you have loved and seemingly lost. Think of them walking among your flowers as luminous beings of beauty, radiant with the love and peace which they have learned to express during their spiritual progression, and your garden will have become a heavenly place of soul communion with the Immortals.

Complete this meditation by feeling that you also are a self-luminous and substantial spiritual form which will live forever in your selfcreated garden of life and beauty.

Praise the Creator that you are learning how to use your creative power of mind to develop your spiritual imagination so that it will be a source of endless joy and inspiration.

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Step Two

In the last lesson you learned how to visualize a spiritual garden into which you can retire for communion with your loved ones and with the Spirit of all life.

As the cultivation of your spiritual imagination will deepen your consciousness and attune your mind to the illumination and inspiration of your soul, it would be well for you to continue to devote some time daily to this means of soul expression.

By this time no doubt you have gained the ability to imagine the flowers, the children and their pets, and your loved ones as selfluminous forms.

Each time you sit down for a quiet meditation withdraw your mind from your immediate surroundings, or from the thoughts you want to escape for awhile, by beginning to imagine the flowers and children, first in their physical appearance as directed in the last lesson, and then in their spiritual forms.

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Place your trust with the Ever-Present Great Spirit seeks to express from within.

All energy

Concentrate your energy from the

more spiritual aspects within. By this effort to visualize you will get your attention and imagination wholly centered in your garden.

Make your spiritual garden a most enjoyable place of rest. Develop the feeling of beauty and harmony, of friendship and love, within this sacred retreat, so that you will anticipate with pleasure the moments of meditation, and be drawn easily away from every mortal thought and feeling into the healing spiritual atmosphere which your imagination creates within your garden.

There is a deep soul happiness awaiting your retirement into this garden. But it must be created of the spiritual substance of your faith, or spiritual imagination, and the image of the flowers, children and friends must be cultivated until

they become very vivid, real and

attractive.

You can make your spiritual garden a place of great healing power by bringing your friends one by one into it, and thinking of them enjoying the flowers and children with you.

To begin with, think of a friend who needs your blessings. Picture her there with you in spirit walking among the flowers and enjoying the 102

garden. Imagine her permeated by the light and warmth of the sun, entirely free from all mental discord, and fully aware of the healing life of God flowing through her being.

It will be much easier for you to sustain the healing, harmonizing thought for your friend by holding her image before you in your spiritual garden, than it would to think of her in the mental or physical surroundings which are causing her misery or pain.

After thinking of your friend as she appears in her physical form for a few minutes, spiritualize this mental picture as you did the flowers and children. Think of the soul as a center of radiance in her brain, illuminating her mind and harmonizing and healing her body. Feel the love of your soul going out to her soul.

You love the infant Divinity that is her true Self, and you desire to help it come into expression and give of its perfecting intelligence to her mind and body. You feel the pull of her soul upon your soul, and a beautiful sense of harmony develops through this exchange of love between your souls.

While holding this picture of your friend as a spiritual being, Continue to create beautiful feelings or affirmations of truth for her, and recognize that you are actually transmitting to her spirit the force of 103

good feelings which you are creating. This vibration of love is the healing Spirit of the Ever-Present vibrating through your spirit and producing a marvelous healing effect in your nature, as well as in the nature of your friend.

You will be richly repaid for all your efforts in this direction. The beautiful thoughts which you create will bloom, fill your spiritual life with fragrance, and bear new seeds of wisdom and love, even as the flowers in your physical garden bloom, fill the atmosphere with their fragrance, and bear new seeds.

After you have blessed one friend in this way for a few minutes think of another you wish to bless, but retain the image of the first friend with you in your garden. In this way you can bless a dozen friends, one after another, and still have them remain in the garden with you, each one acting as a soul-magnet to draw out the beautiful expression of love and harmony from your soul.

Step Three

After this exercise, imagine that your spiritual vision is becoming clearer, and that you are seeing deeper into the spiritual atmosphere and beholding beings that were hereto- fore hidden to your vision.

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You have thought of the flowers, children, and your friends as spiritual forms, now think of the sun shining there above you as a spiritual world radiant with soul-light. It is the warmth of that soul-light that makes your soul radiant with healing warmth, and all your friends with you in your spiritual garden are being infused with the healing warmth of this soul-light which is shining from that sphere of splendor.

Contemplate this thought for some time because a vivid thought picture like this that exalts your imagination is a form of living faith more powerful to bless and heal than many words or thoughts less vivid with spiritual imagery.

Then, as it were, look deeper into the spiritual radiance and imagine that you see the faces of strong and noble men, sympathetic and courageous women, the faces of those whose spirits have been exalted above the tribulations of the world, whose minds have been washed clean of all discords and diseases of mortality, and who now shine as suns in the kingdom of the Creator.

Be faithful to this meditation each day and you will note with joy that your spiritual imagination is developing and that you can make spiritual things more vivid and real, and feel the great exaltation of spirit which fills your life with inspiration and divine happiness. 105

Many students have written that they have gained great inspiration from quietly contemplating the description of an angel published in "Healing Currents", which has helped them to conceive of the perfection hidden within their own spiritual nature.

It is a psychological fact that you grow like that which you contemplate. The characteristics which you admire in other personalities are stimulated in your own personality. The beauty that you conceive as having expression through angelic humanity will be quickened within your own nature. The wholesome, healthy spirit of that heaven inhabited by glorified humanity will be aroused, and you will express more of the health and harmony that exists within your angelic nature.

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A Beautiful Walk Arthur Findlay The Way of Life (1953)

The mother of one of the sitters once said:

"It is just myself, and it is fine to speak to you across the border-line. Your flowers are just beautiful, my dear, but they are nothing to what we have on our side. They can beat them altogether. God bless you, May dear."

A very homely remark was once made to a lady present by her greatuncle, David Johnston, about himself and the lady's mother in Etheria

"I am as happy, as happy as you could wish me to be, and that is saying a good deal, and now, my dear, dear Crissie, I do wish you could see me and your Mother-Davie and Mrs. Colquhoun-going off for a stroll. What are you laughing at? We have far lovelier scenery than you ever see on your side of life. It is similar but far more beautiful. The colours are magnificent, and there is no decay. It just seems to fade away. You see the growth from the bottom, just as you do in earth life, and when it comes to full maturity it just vanishes." 107

When a sitter was speaking to a number of relations now in the other world, she asked her great-grandfather if he saw much of her father. He replied, "Certainly," but they were not living on the same plane. Each was in what might be termed a different country. Then he continued

"I may be more advanced now, but I was further back than he was to start with. We are both in beautiful surroundings, but they are different. I have much to thank God for, especially those who helped me when I first came over, because I was not sure, friends, Ladies and Gentlemen, where I was going. It is a lovely land I am living in."

Once a lady present received this personal message from a friend in Etheria. Calling her by her correct pet name she remarked:

"I am with your mother and had such a lovely walk with her before we came here, through a very beautiful part of Paradise. Do you know what we were talking about ? Your mother said to me: 'If Crissie just knew how happy I am, I am sure her heart would be glad and she would not worry about me.' "

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A lady in Etheria, in the course of conversation, spoke about someone known to one of the sitters. She named him correctly, and went on:

"I was with him before I came here. He took me for a beautiful walk in my country, which he told me he had not believed existed before he came here to this side of life. When he came to our side of life he found a world which he had not known was there, and I told him all about it. So he said : 'Well, you will be my guide and take me some days for walks, and now I believe in this side of life.' "

A lady in Etheria first gave her name, and spoke to her sister who was present. After referring to the other world when she was on earth she continued with these words

"Yes, but I do not think I just understood it. I think you had a better grip of it, Janie, than I had, but, when I came into reality, into the beautiful home on this side of life, then I knew it was real."

In the course of conversation, a friend on the other side concluded "You will do that, I know, and you will find a home so very beautiful and wonderful that my tongue cannot describe it. I was singing with you tonight when you sang that beautiful little hymn you have just sung." 109

Taking Care of Flowers in the Heavens Arthur Findlay The Way of Life (1953)

Once, when we were discussing the houses in which they live, someone asked if the beautiful flowers they so often spoke about could be picked, and used to decorate their houses. This is what we were told:

"Oh, certainly, you can decorate your homes, your houses where you live, with anything you like, and, if you are passing some place, and have seen some particular flower, and thought 'I would like to have that flower in my garden,' when you return home you will find it there. The Spirit Overseer of the various plants and flowers will bring the same plant to grow in your garden, without you troubling about it."

"Where do you put the flowers you take into your houses?" asked a practical enquirer.

"We just put them in a vase the same as in your own house, and you don't need to worry about breaking the vases, because you cannot break them."

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"And do the flowers require water?" asked the same person.

"We have a liquid, but it is not exactly water. We have the equivalent of many material things here. It would not be a real home life, if you had not the same things as you had in earth life. You see the flowers growing up here, so very beautiful, and fading away when they come to full maturity. There is no waste or decay."

My sister-in-law once told me this about what we would call water:

"Our world is very much like yours. When I arrived first of all I saw a beautiful little waterfall and went and put my hand under the water. When I pulled my hand away it was quite dry, and I did not feel the water. When we bathe in our sea we get all the pleasure and exhilaration of bathing, but we are never wet, and come out of the water quite dry."

When I asked if they came through their own surface to come back to earth, she replied:

"We come back to earth through our own surface, but it was just a question of tuning in to the vibrations of the different surface levels. Yes, we have towns and villages and everything is very beautiful, and we never have any darkness." 111

That Etheria is very much like our world in appearance was confirmed on another occasion, when a friend of one of the sitters told us this about the world in which he lives

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Our Beautiful Heavenly Home Arthur Findlay The Way of Life (1953)

How natural it all is! We arrive in Etheria in a natural way, without any passport to enable us to enter, and, when we get there, we live the kind of life we lived on earth. We meet again our friends we knew on earth, and we ourselves determine exactly where and how we shall live.

Nevertheless, on this natural fact, has been built up all the world's supernatural religions, with their saviours, their priests, theologians, churches, temples, mosques, synagogues, pagodas and other holy places. A natural event has had woven round it ideas which are termed sacred or holy, and a mystic atmosphere has gathered, to produce holy books, sacred literature, sacred music, holy days, mysticism, theological colleges, convents and monasteries, besides multitudes of monks and nuns who live apart from the rest of mankind in the hope of a life nearer to God hereafter.

On this natural event, namely death, much of history has turned, religion being the cause of half the story of mankind, besides the reason for the misery, the intolerance and slaughter of untold millions 113

of men, women and animals. Who can fathom the number of deaths, the suffering and the waste caused by religious wars, persecution and sacrifice, all of which was brought about by mankind's ignorance of what happens after death?

As we sow, we reap, as our mind is, so we live. This was once explained to us in these words

"Yes, I am trying to explain to you how we build our home by deeds done in the body. Any little good I had done in earth life which had been a bit of a sacrifice to me, made my home, my beautiful home, more beautiful, and any kind thought I had, any kind action I did, all went to the beautification of my Paradise of Peace, my home, my garden, in all its beauty, and the flowers I love tending as I used to do in earth life. They grow from the little plants to the full fruition of all their beauty and fragrance, and then they just vanish and others grow in their place. There is no decay; no toil in gardening. I have such a wonderful home and I just came to tell you about my house and my garden."

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Our Lovely Gardens Arthur Findlay The Way of Life (1953)

Another emphasised this in these words

"We get our light from the source of all light, a great central force. Its brilliance depends on the distance the plane is from this source."

And this gives light which was described in these words

"Our light is soft, radiant, brilliant, beautiful and blending."

I have been told that the luminosity of their sun prevents it being seen, but its light produces colours beyond our imagination. Consequently Etheria is a beautiful world, a fact which was emphasised repeatedly, and, as their words were always correctly recorded at the time, let us read what they told us once of the beauties of the world in which they live

"If I could just take you by the still waters and through the green pastures, through our lovely gardens, and show you our hillsides, our mountain ranges, and all the beauties of this wonderful country. 115

Flowers that bloom in all colours which you will never know in the earth life, and which never fade and decay. The beautiful birds that sing in the trees, without fear. It is a wonderful country, and I worship the thought of the Mighty Chief who made it all; the Happy Hunting Ground. I found, when I came to this side, dear friends, it was not a hunting ground, unless it was hunting for friends known on earth, and who were as anxiously seeking for me."

The foregoing was said by a Red Indian, but a Scotsman, who had lived and died in Glasgow, put it thus when speaking to his daughter who was present:

"I wish I could just transport your vision to the great beauties of the Summerland and show them to you all. There are no words of mine, I cannot just put it in the way I would like, that can describe the beauty and the calm majestic grandeur of the beautiful lands which we visit. Ours is a beautiful world, it is just gorgeous. The Glasgow Botanical Gardens are not to be compared with the exquisite gardens we have here."

Another native of Glasgow, now in that beautiful world, told her sister who was present:

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"Oh, Jean, it is beautiful, and I have such a dear little cottage to stay in with a beautiful garden. I had never seen such a lovely garden before with glorious flowers of all colours, flowers that you never see on earth, and they do not fade. They bloom all the time, and, when you pick them, others just seem to come in their place. What beautiful perfumes they have, and, Jean, there is honeysuckle growing up at each side of my door, masses of it. I just wish you could see it, it is so lovely, but you will see it some day, dear. I will show it to you."

The husband in Etheria of a lady present once spoke these words to his wife

"My darling, I wish I could find adequate words to describe to you the beautiful country that, in God's love and goodness, I have been allowed to land in. Across the border-line I am reunited with you and those whom I loved so well while in earth life. Be steadfast and true, keep fighting onwards, never get downhearted. There is a bright day coming."

A lady present was told this by a friend in Etheria.

"I would fain have you see the beautiful home where I dwell, far superior to anything I knew in earth life. I was in a humble position in 117

my earth life, but the Good Father, as I was told, had prepared this place for me, which I attained to in a short time. I listened patiently to all that the big teachers had to say in the Auditorium, and I found the way, the pathway that led to my beautiful home on the spirit side of life. It is just the place I would have desired had I chosen it for myself."

When I once asked about the vegetation, I received the reply

"Our vegetation is something similar to yours, but much more beautiful."

A schoolmaster present once heard this said in front of him during a long conversation with a friend on the other side.

"We cannot all enjoy the same appreciation of the beauties round about us. Some things appear more beautiful to one than to another, and we carry that feeling over here until we advance further in this lovely land towards perfection."

Their mental development in Etheria determines more than it does here their attitude to their surroundings. As they think, so they are, and undeveloped people are on lower planes than those more

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developed. To reach the higher life each mind must unfold, as this Etherian discovered

The medium's wife, a regular member of the circle when on earth, once expressed her great pleasure in returning to earth and rejoining her old friends

"I enjoy it the same as when I was on earth. I can tune in to you so well, and hear the familiar sound of your lovely voices which were so sweet to me in the old days."

Then addressing by name one of the ladies present; she remarked "Your dear Mother does not forget things now, you know, and I have many nice walks with her."

At the same sĂŠance, this once forgetful mother of the lady present remarked to her daughter:

"Don't think that I am faltering and feeble now, but I just take on the vibrations of how I felt before leaving the body. I will show you round my favourite places. I come for you often and take you away in your sleep, and I wish you could bring back some memory of the beauties of the country I am in.

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"We have gardens everywhere, you know. Father is very, very busy. You know he is a man that would never be at rest unless he was doing something for somebody, and he is like that yet. At present he has plenty of opportunities, you know, to work for those on our side. The spirit side is teeming with those who are wandering about. I hardly know how to put it, but they are coming over so quickly through this terrible strife, and need some guidance, and Father is helping there."

The stress they put on their beautiful scenery and vegetation is worthy of notice. Etheria must be a paradise for flower lovers, and ardent gardeners on earth have much to which they can look forward. A much esteemed lady now in Etheria, still looked on as a friend by most of the sitters, once remarked

"There is perpetual growth, and no death, just a fading, and another springs up, just a facsimile of the one before, or more beautiful sometimes, just as in the human frame. When 'you shuffle off this mortal coil' and put on immortality, it is then you will expand, and go forward to the peace, the beauties of the land, the Summerland of God."

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A Beautiful Walk Arthur Findlay The Way of Life (1953)

The mother of one of the sitters once said:

A very homely remark was once made to a lady present by her greatuncle, David Johnston, about himself and the lady's mother in Etheria

Once a lady present received this personal message from a friend in Etheria. Calling her by her correct pet name she remarked:

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A lady in Etheria, in the course of conversation, spoke about someone known to one of the sitters. She named him correctly, and went on:

A lady in Etheria first gave her name, and spoke to her sister who was present. After referring to the other world when she was on earth she continued with these words

Taking Care of Flowers in the Heavens Arthur Findlay The Way of Life (1953)

"Where do you put the flowers you take into your houses?" asked a practical enquirer.

"We just put them in a vase the same as in your own house, and you don't need to worry about breaking the vases, because you cannot break them."

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"And do the flowers require water?" asked the same person.

My sister-in-law once told me this about what we would call water:

When I asked if they came through their own surface to come back to earth, she replied:

That Etheria is very much like our world in appearance was confirmed on another occasion, when a friend of one of the sitters told us this about the world in which he lives

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Our Beautiful Heavenly Home Arthur Findlay The Way of Life (1953)

As we sow, we reap, as our mind is, so we live. This was once explained to us in these words

128

Heavenly Colors Arthur Findlay The Way of Life (1953)

It seems as if the process of light reflection from their sun is much the same with them as is the process with us. The higher the atmosphere, so is the reflection greater. When those parts of the etheric planes are away from the etheric sun the luminosity of their atmosphere gives them light. We on earth experience the rays of the sun of the same frequency as are the vibrations of physical matter, and the etheric sun's rays are reflected on the various planes by vibrations of the same frequency. The sun is emitting vibrations in harmony with the earth, the first plane, the second plane, and so on. Our atmosphere does not extend so high as does their atmosphere and its reflection is not so extensive as is their reflection. Consequently we have night but they have twilight.

A much fuller explanation, with diagrams, of how we appreciate the colours produced by our sun will be found in The Unfolding Universe. Just as our sun sends out rays through the ether which :are reflected by the vibrations of physical substance to our eyes, so they tell us that

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"Our etheric sun sends rays through the ether and these are reflected to our eyes by substance. Consequently, like you, we experience colours but they are more brilliant and varied than are yours."

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The Childrenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Sphere Anthony Borgia Life in The World Unseen (1956)

One of the innumerable questions that I put to Edwin, shortly after my arrival in the spirit world, concerned the destiny of children who, as such, passed into spirit lands.

There is a period of our earthly lives which we are accustomed to call â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;the prime of lifeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;. There is also a prime of life here in spirit, and it is towards that period that all souls either advance or return, according to the age at which their transition takes place. How long it will take rests entirely with themselves, since it is purely a matter of spiritual progression and development, though with the young this period is usually much shorter. Those who pass into spirit after the prime of life period has been reached, whether they be elderly or extremely aged, will, in due time, become younger in appearance, although they will grow older in knowledge and spirituality. It must not be assumed from this that we all eventually reach a dead level of commonplace uniformity. Outwardly, we look young; we lose those signs of the passage of years which cause some of us no little disturbance of mind when we are incarnate. But our minds become older as we gain know ledge and wisdom and greater spirituality, and 131

these qualities of the mind are manifest to all with whom we come into contact.

When we visited the temple in the city, and, from a distance beheld the radiant visitor whom we had come to honour, he presented to the eye the appearance of perfect—and eternal—youth. Yet the degree of knowledge and wisdom and spirituality which he diffused, and which we could feel with our minds, were almost overpoweringly great. It is the same, in varying degrees with all those who visit us from the higher realms, If, therefore there is this rejuvenation of fully grown people, what of the souls who pass over as children; indeed, what of those, even, who pass into the spirit world at birth?

The answer is that they grow as they would have grown upon the earth-plane. But the children here—of all ages—are given such treatment and care as would never be possible in the earth world.

The young child, whose mind is not yet fully formed, is uncontaminated by earthly contacts, and on passing into the spirit world it finds itself in a realm of great beauty, presided over by souls of equal beauty. This children’s realm has been called ‘the nursery of heaven’, and surely anyone who has been fortunate enough to have visited it will say that a more apposite term could not be found. It was, therefore, in response to my original question that Edwin proposed 132

that Ruth and I should accompany him on a visit to the nursery of heaven.

We walked towards the boundary between the higher realm and our own, and we turned in the direction of Edwinâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s house. Already we could feel the atmosphere more rarefied, though it was not sufficiently pronounced to cause us any inconvenience or discomfort. I noticed that this atmosphere had a great deal more colour in it, much more than in the depths of the realm. It was as though a great number of shafts of light were meeting and spreading their broad beams over all the landscape. These shafts of light were for ever on the move, interweaving themselves and producing the most delicate and delightful blending of colour, like a succession of rainbows. They were extremely restful, but they were also filled with vitality and, as it seemed to Ruth and me, light-heartedness and merriment. Sadness and unhappiness, one felt, would be utterly impossible here.

The countryside took upon itself a much brighter green in its verdure, the trees were not so tall, but they were as shapely as every other tree in these realms, and they were growing as perfectly.

After we had proceeded a little distance the atmosphere became clear of the coloured beams, and it more resembled that of our own sphere. But there was a strange and subtle difference which was 133

puzzling to the visitor upon his first visit, and it arose, so Edwin told us, from the essential spirituality of the children who live there. Something akin to this is to be encountered when one is privileged to journey to a higher realm than that in which one normally resides. It is almost as though there were a greater degree of buoyancy in the air, apart altogether from a noticeable effect of elevation of the mind. We saw many fine buildings before us as we walked along the soft grass. They were not of any great height, but they were broad in extent, and they were all most pleasantly situated among trees and gardens. Flowers, needless to say, were growing prolifically everywhere, in artistically-arranged beds, as well as in large masses upon the grassy slopes and beneath the trees. I noticed that in some instances flowers that have their counterpart upon the earth-plane, were growing by themselves, those that were proper to the spirit world being separated from them. We were told that there was no special significance in this segregation, but that it was done solely to show the distinction between the two classes of flowers, the spirit and the earthly. Beautiful as the earthly flowers are that grow here, there can be no comparison with those that belong alone to spirit lands. Here again one is limited by earthly experience in any attempt to describe them. Not only are the colourings richer, but the conformations of the flowers and foliage present such an abundance of unparalleled beauty of design that we have no earthly example to adduce by way of comparison. But it must not be supposed that 134

these magnificent flowers remotely suggested the rare hot-house bloom. Far from it. The superabundance of them, together with the great strength and variety of their perfumes, would instantly dispel any thought of rarity. It was no case of cultivating the beauty of the bloom at the expense of its perfume. They all possessed the quality common to all growing things here, that of pouring out energizing force, not only through the medium of their aromas, but through personal contact. I had already tried the experiment of holding a flower within the cupped handsâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;it was Ruth who had instructed meâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;and I had felt the stream of life-force flowing up my arms.

We could see delightful ponds and small lakes, upon the surface of which were flourishing the most beautiful water flowers in the gayest colours. In another direction we could see larger expanses of water like a series of lakes, with many small boats gliding serenely along. The buildings were constructed of a substance that had all the appearance of alabaster, and they were all tinged with the most delicate colours, such as one is accustomed to seeing in the subtle blendings of an earthly rainbow. The style of architect resembled, for the most part, that of our own sphere; that is to say, some of the buildings bore upon their surface the most exquisite carvings of such natural objects as abound in the trees and flowers, while others drew for their relief upon the none features particular to the spirit world.

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But what gave us the most enjoyable surprise, was to see interspersed throughout the woods, the quaintest little cottages such as one was always inclined to believe only belonged to the pages of children’s story-books. Here were diminutive houses with crooked timbers—beautifully crooked—with bright red roofs at latticewindows, and each with a charming little garden, all there own, surrounding it.

It will at once be concluded that the spirit world has borrowed from the earth world in these fanciful creations for the children delight, but such is not the case. In truth, this whole concept of miniature houses emanated, in the first instance, from the spit world. Whoever was the artist who received our original impression, she has been lost to the earth world through the course the years. That artist is known to us here, though, where she continues her work in the children’s sphere. These little houses were large enough to allow a grown person plenty of room in which to move without appearing to knock his head! To the children they seemed to be of just the right size without their feeling lost within them. I learnt that it was for this same reason that all the large buildings in this realm were without any appreciable height. By thus not making them too high, nor the rooms too large, they conformed with the child’s mind, as yet not fully formed, where spaces seem greater than they really are and where buildings too

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spacious would have the effect upon the little mind of seeming to dwarf it.

Great numbers of children live in these tiny dwellings, each being presided over by an older child, who is perfectly capable of attending to any situation that might arise with the other residences.

As we walked along we could see groups of happy children, some playing games with their fellows, others seated upon the grass while a teacher was reading to them. Others, again, were to be observed listening attentively and with marked interest to a teacher who was explaining the flowers to them, and giving them something of a lesson in botany. But it was botany of a very different order from that of the earth-plane, in so far as the purely spirit flowers were concerned. The distinctions between the earthly flowers and the spirit flowers were amply demonstrated by the two orders of flowers being separated.

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The Soil Anthony Borgia Life in The World Unseen (1956)

TO OBTAIN an adequate idea of the ground upon which we walk and on which our houses and buildings are erected, you must clear your mind of alt mundane conceptions. First of all, we have no roads as they are known on earth. We have broad extensive thoroughfares in our cities and elsewhere, but they are not paved with a composite substance to give them hardness and durability for the passage of a constant stream of traffic. We have no traffic, and our roads are covered with the thickest and greenest of grass, as soft to the feet as a bed of fresh moss. It is on these that we walk. The grass never grows beyond the condition of being well-trimmed, and yet it is living grass. It is always retained at the same serviceable level, perfect to walk upon and perfect in appearance.

In such places where smaller paths are desirable, and where grass would seem unsuitable, we have such pavements as are customary in the earth world. But they are constructed of very different materials. The paving is, for the most part, a description of stone, but it is without the usual dull drabness of colour. It closely resembles the alabaster-like material of which so many of the buildings are 138

constructed. The colours vary, but they are all of delicate pastel shades.

This stone, like the grass, is very pleasant to walk upon, though, naturally, it is not as soft. But there is a certain quality about it, a certain springiness, if one may so term it, something like the resilience of certain earthly timber that is utilized in that making of floors. That is the only way in which I can convey any idea of the difference between earthly stone and spirit stone.

There is never, of course, any unsightly discolouration to be observed upon the surface of these stone walks. They always preserve their initial freshness. Often the pavements reveal network of delightful designs formed by the use of different coloured materials,

and

blending

harmoniously

with

their

immediate

surroundings.

As one approaches the boundaries to the higher realms, the pavements become noticeably more translucent in character, and they seem to lose some of their appearance of solidity, though, indeed, they are solid enough!

When one draws near the boundaries of the lower realms, the pavements become heavy in appearance, they begin to lose their 139

colour until they look leaden and opaque, and they have the semblance of extreme solidityâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;almost like the granite of the earthplane.

Round about our own individual homes we have lawns and trees and flower-beds, with trim garden paths of stone similar to that which I have just described to you. But of bare â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;earthâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; you would see little or none. Indeed, I cannot call to mind ever having seen any such hare plots, for here there is no neglect through indifference or indolence, or from other causes that are all too familiar to specify. Where we have earned the right to possess our spirit home we have also within us the constant desire to maintain and improve upon its beauty. And that is not very difficult to accomplish, since beauty responds to, and thrives upon, the appreciation of it. The greater attention and recognition we give to it, so much the greater will be its response, and it assumes to itself still greater beauty. Spirit beauty is no abstract thing, but a real living force.

The view from my own home here is one of green fields, of houses of charm pleasantly situated amid woods and gardens. and with a distant view of the city. But nowhere are there to be seen any ugly tracts of bare or barren ground. Every inch that presents itself to the eye is cared for, so that the whole landscape is a riot of colour, from

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the brilliant emerald green of the grass to the multi-coloured flowers in the gardens, coroneted by the blue of the heavenly sky above.

It may be wondered of what is the actual ground composed in which the flowers and trees are growingâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;is it earth of some sort?

There is soil, certainly, but it has not the same mineral constituents as that of the earth-plane, for it must be understood that life here is derived directly from the Great Source. The soil varies in colour and density in different localities in just the same way as upon the earthplane. I have not investigated it closely. any more than I took particular heed of earthly soil. I can, however, give you some small idea of its appearance and characteristics. Firstly, then, it is perfectly dryâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;I could detect no trace of moisture. I found that it ran off the hand in much the same way that dry sand will do. Its colours vary in a wide range of tones, but never does it approach the dark heavy look of earthly soil to some places it is of fine granular formation, while in others it is composed of much coarser particlesâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;that is, relatively coarser.

One of the unexpected properties of this soil is the fact that, while it can be taken into the hand and allowed to run from it smoothly and freely, yet when it is undisturbed it remains fully cohesive, supporting as firmly as the earthly soil all that is growing within it. 141

The colour of the ‘earth’ is governed by the colour of whatever botanic life it supports. And here again there is no special significance, no deep symbolical reason for this particular order of things. It is simply that the colour of the soil is complementary to the colour of the flowers and trees, and the result, which could not be otherwise, is that of inspiring harmony—harmony to the eye, harmony to the mind, and the most soothing musical harmony to the ear. What better reason could there be? And what simpler?

Assuredly, this world of spirit is not made up of a bewildering series of profound and complex mysteries, explicable only to the few. There are mysteries, certainly, just as there are upon the earth-plane. And just as there are great brains upon the earth-plane who can solve those mysteries, so here there are greater brains still—immeasurably greater—who can provide an explanation when our intellects are ready to receive it and understand it.

But there are many people in the earth world who earnestly believe that we in spirit live in a continual state of perfervid religious emotion, that every concomitant of spirit life, every form and degree of personal activity, every atom of which the great world of spirit is composed, must have some pious, devotional signification. Such a stupid notion is wide, very wide of the mark. Search through the earth 142

world, and do you find any such unnatural ideas attached to the multiplicity of life that lies within it? There is no religious import in a beautiful earthly sunset. Why should our spirit flowers—to take one instance among many—have any other reason for their existence than that which I have already given you, namely, a magnificent gift to us all from the Father of us all for our greater happiness and enjoyment?

There are still many, many souls on earth who solemnly uphold it as an article of ‘faith’ that paradise, as they call it, will be one long interminable round of singing psalms and hymns and spiritual canticles. Nothing could be more fantastic. The spirit ‘world’ is a world of activity, not indolence; a world of usefulness, not uselessness. Nothing in the spirit world is useless; there is a sound reason and purpose for everything. Neither the reason nor the purpose may be plain to everyone at first, but that does not alter the truth of the matter. Boredom can find no place here as a general state of affairs.

People have been known to become bored, but that very boredom begets their first step—or their next step—in spiritual progression through their engaging in some useful work. There are myriads of tasks to be performed—and myriads of souls to perform them, but

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there is always room for one more, and it will ever be so. Am I not living in a world that is both unlimited and illimitable?

We do not inhabit a land that bears all the outward marks of an Eternal Sunday! Indeed, Sunday has no place, no existence even, in the great scheme of the spirit world. We have no need to be forcibly reminded of the Great Father of the Universe, by setting aside one day to Him, and forgetting Him for the rest of the week. We have no week. With us it is eternal day, and our minds are fully and perpetually conscious of Him, so that we can see His hand and His mind in everything that surrounds us.

I have deviated a little from what I set out to tell you, but it is expedient to emphasize certain features of my narrative, because so many souls of the earth world are almost shocked to be told that the spirit world is a solid world, a substantial world, with real, live people in it! They think that that is far too material, far too like the earth world; hardly, in fact, one step removed from it, with its spirit landscape and sunshine, its houses and buildings, its rivers and lakes, inhabited by sentient, intelligent beings!

This is no land of â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;eternal restâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;. There is rest in abundance for those who need it. But when the rest has restored them to full vigour and

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health the urge to perform some sensible, useful task rises up within them, and opportunities abound.

To return to the particular characteristics of spirit soil.

As we approach the dark regions the soil, such as I have described to you, loses its granular quality and its colour. It becomes thick, heavy, and moist, until it finally gives place entirely to stones, and then rock. Whatever grass there is looks yellow and seared.

As we draw closer to the higher realms the particles of the soil become finer, the colours more delicate, with a hint of translucency. A greater degree of resilience is at once observable underfoot when walking upon the thresholds of these higher realms, but the resilience comes as well from the nature of the realm as from the distinct change in the ground.

On close examination, the fine soil reveals almost jewel-like qualities both of colour and form. The particles are never misshapen, but conform to a definite geometric plan.

Ruth and I plunged our hands into some of the soil and allowed it to trickle through our fingers in a gentle stream. As it descended there issued from it the sweetest musical tones, though it were falling upon 145

some tiny musical instrument and causing the keys to produce a ripple of sound.

A keen ear will hear many musical sounds upon the earthly seashore as the water sweeps back and forth over the beach, but no keen ear is necessary to hear the rich harmonics when the ground of the spirit world is made to speak and sing.

The sounds emitted in this way vary as much as the colour and elements themselves vary. They are there for all to hear, and they can be produced at will by the very simple action I have described.

How is this brought about, you will ask?

Colour and soundâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;that is, musical soundâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;are interchangeable terms in the spirit world. To perform some act that will produce colour is also to produce a musical mound. To play upon a musical instrument, or to sing, is to create colour, and each creation is governed and limited by the skill and proficiency the instrumentalist or singer. A master musician, as he plays upon his instrument, will build above himself a most beautiful musical thought-form, varying in its colours and blends of shade in strict accordance with the music he plays. A singer can create a similar effect in relation to the purity of the voice and the quality of the music. The thought-form thus erected 146

will not be very large. It is a form in miniature. But a large orchestra or body of singers will construct an immense form, governed, of course, by the same law.

The musical thought-form produces no sound itself. It is this result of sound, and is, as it were, a self-contained unit. Although music will bring forth colour, and colour will yield music, each is restricted to the one resultant form. They will not go car reproducing each other in a constant, unending, or gradually diminishing, alternation of colour and sound.

It must not be thought that with all the vast galaxy of colours from the hundreds of sources in the spirit world, our ears are being constantly assailed with the sounds of music; that we are living, in fact, in an eternity of music that is sounding and resounding without remission. There are few mindsâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;if anyâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;that could possibly endure such a continuous plethora of sound, however beautiful it may be. We should sigh for peace and quietness; our heaven would cease to be heaven. No, the music is there, but we please ourselves entirely whether we wish to hear it or listen to it. We can completely isolate ourselves from all sound, or we can throw ourselves s open to all sound, or just hear that which pleases us most.

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There are times upon the earth-plane when you can hear the strains of distant music without being in any way disturbed by it; on the contrary, you may find it very pleasant and soothing. So it is with us here in spirit. But there is this great difference between our two worldsâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;our potentialities for music of the highest order are immeasurably greater than are yours upon the earth-plane. The mind of a spirit person who has a deep love of music will naturally hear more, because he so wishes, than one who cares little for it.

To revert to the experiment that Ruth and I carried out when we let the soil run through our fingers. We both of us derive great enjoyment from listening to music, Ruth much more so than myself, since she has been trained in the musical art and therefore has a higher appreciation and grasp of musical technicalities. I have told you how, the instant the soil left our hands, we could hear the delightful sounds issuing from it. Another person performing the same

action,

but

who

possessed

particular

musical

susceptibilities, would scarcely be conscious of any sound at all.

The flowers and all growing things respond immediately to those who love them and appreciate them. The music that they send out operates under precisely the same law. An attunement upon the part of the percipient, with that with which he comes into contact or relationship, is a prerequisite condition. Without that attunement it 148

would be impossible to be conscious of the musical strains that issue forth from the whole of spirit nature. By spirit nature I mean, of course, all the growing things, the sea and lakesâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;indeed, all waterâ&#x20AC;&#x201D; the soil, and the rest.

The greater the power of the individual of appreciating and understanding beauty in all its multifarious forms, the greater will be the out flowing of magnetic force. In the spirit world nothing is wasted nor expended uselessly. We never have forced upon us something that we do not want, whether it be music or art, entertainment or learning. We are free agents, in every sense of the term, within the confines of our own realm.

It would be a most terrifying thought to imagine that the spirit world is one immense pandemonium of music, continuing ceaselessly, totally unavoidable, presenting itself on every conceivable occasion and in every possible place and situation! No! â&#x20AC;&#x201D;the spirit world is conducted on much better lines than that! The musical sounds are most certainly there, but it rests solely with ourselves whether we shall hear them or not. And the secret is personal attunement.

There are people upon the earth-plane who possess the ability of mentally isolating themselves from their surroundings to such a degree that they can become oblivious to all sounds, however 149

intense, that might be going on around them. This state of complete mental detachment will serve as an analogy—though rather elementary one—of the effect that we can produce upon ourselves in spirit, to the exclusion of such sounds as we have no wish to hear. Unlike the earth world, we do not need to bring to bear any great force of concentration. It is but another process of thought, just as we use our minds to effect personal locomotion and after a brief sojourn in spirit we are soon able perform these various mental functions without any conscious effort. They are part of our very nature, and we are merely applying, in an extended form, without earthly limitations restrictions, mental methods that are perfectly simple to apply. On the earth-plane our physical bodies, in a heavy physical world, prevented similar mental processes from producing the physical result. In the spirit world we are free and unfetter and those actions of the mind show an instant and direct results whether it be to move us with the quickness of our thought, whether it be to shut out any sight or sound that we do not w to experience.

On the other hand, we can—and do—open our minds a attune ourselves to absorb the many glorious sounds that co rising up all round us. We can open our minds—or close then to the many delectable perfumes that spirit nature casts abroad for our happiness, and contentment. They act like a tonic upon the mind, but they are not forced upon us—we merely help ourselves to them as 150

we wish. It must ever be borne in mind that the spirit lands are founded upon law and order. But the law never oppressive nor the order irksome, because the same I and order have helped to provide all the countless beauties and wonders of this heavenly realm. The Flowers Anthony Borgia Life in The World Unseen (1956)

AFTER I had passed into the spirit world, one of my earliest experiences was the consciousness of a feeling of sadness, not of my own sadness, for I was supremely happy, but of the sadness of others, and I was greatly puzzled to know whence it came.

Edwin told me that this sadness was rising from the earth world, and was caused by the sorrow felt at my passing. It soon ceased, however, and Edwin informed me that forgetfulness of me by the earth people had already set in. That experience alone my good friend, is one that can be relied upon to induce feelings of humility, if no humility before existed!

I had, I assure you, set small store by popularity. The discovery, therefore, that my memory was fast fading from the minds of earth people occasioned me no distress whatever. I had written and 151

preached for the good they might do, and that, now learnt, was microscopically small. I was told that many people, whose public favor was considerable when they were incarnate, discovered, when they had shed their earthly bodies that their fame and high favor had not preceded them into the world of spirit. Gone was the admiration which had been common everyday experience. It naturally saddened such souls to leave behind them their earthly prominence, and it gave them something of a sense of loneliness, the more so when, in addition, the earth world quickly forgot all about them.

My own earthly reputation had been of no very great magnitude, but I had managed to carve a niche for myself among my co-religionists. My transition had been calm and peaceful, and unattended by any unpleasant circumstances. It was no wrench for me to leave the earth world. I had no ties but my work. I was, therefore, greatly blessed. Edwin told me of others whose passing was extremely unhappy, and whose spiritual state upon their arrival here was still more unhappy. Many, who were great upon earth found themselves very small in spirit. And many, who were unknown upon earth, found themselves here so spiritually well-known as to be almost overcome by it. It is not all, by any means, who are destined for the beautiful realms of eternal sunshine and summer.

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I have already given you a glimpse of those realms of darkness and semi-darkness, where all is cold and bleak and barren, and wherein souls have their abode, souls who can rise up out of the darkness if they so wish it and will work for that end. There are many who spend their heaven visiting these dim regions to try to draw out of their misery some of these unfortunates, and to set them upon the path of light and spiritual progression.

It has been my privilege to go with Edwin and Ruth to visit the dark places beyond the belt of mist that separates them from the light. It is not my purpose to take you into those realms of misery and unhappiness just yet. Later on I shall hope to give you some account of our experiences. For the moment there are otherâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;and pleasanterâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;matters upon which I should like to speak.

There are many souls upon the earth-plane who seek to probe the manifold mysteries of life. They propound theories of divers kinds purporting to explain this or that, theories which, in the course of time, come to be looked upon as great truths. Some of these hypotheses are as remote from the truth as it is possible to imagine; others are merely nonsensical. But there are also people who refuse even to think for themselves, and who stolidly uphold the belief that while they are incarnate they are not meant to know anything of the life of spirit that lies before them all. They affirm that it is not Godâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 153

purpose that they should be told of such matters, and that when they come to spirit they will know all things.

These are two extremes of thought—the theorists and the partisans of the ‘closed door’. Both schools receive some severe shocks when they enter spirit lands to live for all time. Individuals with strange theories find those theories demolished by the simple fact of finding themselves faced with the absolute truth. They discover that life in the spirit world is not nearly so complex as they would have it to be. In so many instances it is vastly simpler than life upon earth, because we do not have the problems that constantly harass and worry earth people, problems, for example, of religion and politics, which throughout the ages have caused social upheavals that are still having their repercussions in the earth world at the present time. The student of occult matters is apt to fall into the same error as the student of religious matters. He makes assertions every bit as dogmatic as those that emanate from orthodox religion, assertions that are mostly as far from the truth.

The period of time in which I have lived in the spirit world is as nothing—nothing!—by comparison with some of the great souls with whom it has been my privilege to speak. But they have shown me something of their vast store of knowledge, things that is, that my mind was capable of understanding. For the rest, I—in company with 154

millions of othersâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;am perfectly contented to wait for the day when my intelligence is sufficiently advanced to grasp the greater truths.

A matter that gives rise to some perplexity concerns the flowers that we have in the spirit world. Some would ask: why flowers? What is their purpose or significance? Have they symbolical meaning?

Let us put the same questions to earth people concerning the flowers that grow upon the earth-plane. Have the earthly flowers any special significance? Have they some symbolical meaning? The answer to both questions is No! Flowers are given to the earth world to help to beautify it, and for the delight and enjoyment of those who behold them. The fact that they serve other useful purposes is an added reason for their existence. Flowers are essentially beautiful, evolved from the Supreme Creative Mind, given to us as a precious gift, showing us in their colourings, in their formations, and in their perfumes an infinitesimally small expression of that Great Mind. You have this glory of the earth-plane. Are we to be deprived of it in the spirit world because it is considered that flowers are rather earthy, because no deep, abstruse meaning can be assigned to I existence? We have the most glorious flowers here, some of them like old familiar cherished blooms of the earth-plane, others known only to the spirit world, but all alike are superb, the perpetual joy of all of us who are surrounded with them. They are divine creations, each 155

single flower breathing the pure air of spirit, upheld by their Creator and by all of us here in the love that we shower upon them. Had we no wish for themâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;an impossible supposition!â&#x20AC;&#x201D;they would be swept away. And what should we have in their stead? Where, otherwise, would the great wealth of colour come from which the flowers provide?

And it is not only the smaller growing flowers that we have here. There is no single flowering tree or shrub that the mind recall that we do not possess, flourishing in superabundance and perfection, as well as those trees and shrubs that are to be nowhere else but in the spirit world. They are always in bloom they never fade or die, their perfumes are diffused into the air where they act like a spiritual tonic upon us all. They are at one with us, as we are with them.

When we are first introduced to the flowers and trees and all the luxuriance of spirit nature, we instantly perceive something that earthly nature never seemed to possess, and that is an inherent intelligence within all growing things. Earthly flowers, although living, make no immediate personal response when one comes into close touch with them. But here it is vastly different. Spirit flowers are imperishable, and that should at once suggest more than mere life within them, and spirit flowers, as well as all other forms of nature, are created by the Great Father of the Universe through his agents in 156

the realms of spirit. They are part of the immense stream of life that flows directly from Him, and that flows through every species of botanic growth. That stream never ceases, never falters, and it is, moreover, continuously fed by the admiration and love which we, in this world of spirit, gratefully shed upon such choice gifts of the Father. Is it, then, to be wondered at, when we take the tiniest blossom within our hands, that we should feel such an influx of magnetic power, such a revivifying force, such an upliftment of oneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s very being, when we know, in truth, that those forces for our betterment are coming directly from the Source of all good. No, there is no other meaning behind our spirit flowers than the expressed beauty of the Father of the Universe, and, surely, that is enough. He has attached no strange symbolism to His faultless creations. Why should we?

A large majority of the flowers are not meant to be picked. To pick them is not to destroy themâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;it is to cut off that which is in direct contact with the Father. It is possible to gather them, of course; no disastrous calamity would follow if one did. But whosoever picked them would certainly regret it very deeply. Think of some small article that you possess and treasure above all your other earthly possessions, and then consider deliberately destroying it. It would cause you extreme sadness to do so, although the loss incurred might be intrinsically trifling. Such would be your emotions when you 157

heedlessly culled those spirit flowers that are not intended for gathering.

But there are blooms, and plenty of them, that are expressly there to be picked, and many of us do so, taking them into our houses just as we used to do on earth, and for the same reason.

These severed flowers will survive their removal for just so long as we wish to retain them. When our interest in them begins to wane they will quickly disintegrate. There will be no unsightly withered remnants, for there can be no death in a land of eternal life. We simply perceive that our flowers have gone, and we can then replace them if we so wish.

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Our Gardens of Our Heavens Anthony Borgia Life in The World Unseen (1956)

As we departed, the room gradually became more misty until it faded farther from my vision, and finally disappeared. So far, I had had the use, as usual, of my legs as in ordinary walking, but in view of my last illness and the fact that, consequent, upon it, I should need some period of rest before I exerted myself too much, my friend said that it would be better if we did not use the customary means of locomotionâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;our legs. He then told me to take hold of his arm firmly, and to have no fear whatever. I could, if I wished, close my eyes. It would, he said, perhaps be better it I did so. I took his arm, and left the rest to him as he told me to do. I at once experienced a sensation of floating such as one has in physical dreams, though this was very real and quite unattended by any doubts of personal security. The motion seemed to become more rapid as time went on, and I still kept my eyes firmly closed. It is strange with what determination one can do such things here. On the earth-plane, if similar circumstances were possible, how many of us would have closed our eyes in complete confidence? Here there was no shadow of doubt that all was well, that there was nothing to fear, that nothing untoward could

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possibly take place, and that, moreover, my friend had complete control of the situation.

After a short while our progress seemed to slacken somewhat, and I could feel that there was something very solid under my feet. I was told to open my eyes. I did so. What I saw was my old home that I had lived in on the earth-plane; my old homeâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;but with a difference. It was improved in a way that I had not been able to do to its earthly counterpart. The house itself was rejuvenated, as it seemed to me from a first glance, rather than restored, but it was the gardens round it that attracted my attention more fully. They appeared to be quite extensive, and they were in a state of the most perfect order and arrangement. By this I do not mean the regular orderliness that one is accustomed to see in public gardens on the earth-plane, but that they were beautifully kept and tended. There were no wild growths or masses of tangled foliage and weeds, but the most glorious profusion of beautiful flowers so arranged as to show themselves to absolute perfection. Of the flowers themselves, when I was able to examine them more closely, I must say that I never saw either their like or their counterpart, upon the earth, of many that were there in full bloom. Numbers were to be found, of course, of the old familiar blossoms, but by far the greater number seemed to be something entirely new to my rather small knowledge of flowers. It was not merely the flowers themselves and their unbelievable range of 160

superb colourings that caught my attention, but the vital atmosphere of eternal life that they threw out, as it were, in every direction. And as one approached any particular group of flowers, or even a single bloom, there seemed to pour out great streams of energizing power which uplifted the soul spiritually and gave it strength, while the heavenly perfumes they exhaled were such as no soul clothed in its mantle of flesh has ever experienced. All these flowers were living and breathing, and they were, so my friend informed me, incorruptible.

There was another astonishing feature I noticed when I drew near to them, and that was the sound of music that enveloped them, making such soft harmonies as corresponded exactly and perfectly with the gorgeous colours of the flowers themselves. I am not, I am afraid, sufficiently learned, musically, to be able to give you a sound technical explanation of this beautiful phenomenon, but I shall hope to bring to you one with knowledge of the subject, who will be able to go into this more fully. Suffice it for the moment, then, to say that these musical sounds were in precise consonance with all that I had so far seenâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;which was very littleâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;and that everywhere there was perfect harmony.

Already I was conscious of the revitalizing effect of this heavenly garden to such an extent that I was anxious to see more of it. And so, 161

in company with my old friend, upon whom I was here relying for information and guidance, I walked the garden paths, trod upon the exquisite grass, whose resilience and softness were almost comparable to â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;walking on airâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;; and tried to make myself realize that all this superlative beauty was part of my own home.

There were many splendid trees to be seen, none of which was malformed, such as one is accustomed to see on earth, yet there was no suggestion of strict uniformity of pattern. It was simply that each tree was growing under perfect conditions, free from the storms of wind that bend and twist the young branches, and free from the inroads of insect life and many other causes of the misshapenness of earthly trees. As with the flowers, so with the trees. They live for ever incorruptible, clothed always in their full array of leaves of every shade of green, and for ever pouring out life to all those who approach near them.

I had observed that there did not appear to be what we should commonly call shade beneath the trees, and yet there did not appear to be any glaring sun. It seemed to be that there was a radiance of light that penetrated into every corner, and yet there was no hint of flatness. My friend told me that all light proceeded directly from the Giver of all light, and that this light was Divine life itself, and that it

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bathed and illumined the whole of the spirit world where lived those who had eyes spiritually to see. I noticed, too, that a comfortable warmth pervaded every inch of space, a warmth perfectly even and as perfectly sustained. They had a stillness, yet there were gentle perfume-laden breezes— truest zephyrs—that in no way altered the delightful balminess the temperature.

And here let me say to those who do not care much for ‘perfumes’ of any sort: Do not be disappointed when you read these words, and feel that it could never be heaven to you if there were something there you do not like. Wait, I say, until you witness these things, and I know that then you will feel very differently about them.

I have gone into all these things in a rather detailed fashion because I am sure there are so many people who have wondered about them. I was struck by the fact that there were no signs of walls or hedges or fences; indeed, nothing, so far as I could see, to mark where my garden began or ended. I was told that such things boundaries were not needed, because each person knew instinctively, but beyond doubt, just where his own garden ended. There was therefore no encroaching upon another’s grounds, although were open to any who wished to traverse them or linger within them. I was wholeheartedly welcome to go wherever I wished without fear of 163

intruding upon another’s privacy. I was told I should find that that was the rule here, and that I would have no different feelings with respect to others walking in my own garden. I exactly described my sentiments at that moment, for I wished, then and there, that all who cared would come into the garden and its beauties. I had no notions whatever of ownership personally, although I knew that it was my own ‘to have and to hold’. And that is precisely the attitude of all here—ownership and partnership at one and the same time.

Seeing the beautiful state of preservation and care in which all garden was kept, I inquired of my friend as to the genius who looked after it so assiduously and with such splendid results. Before answering my question he suggested that as I had but so very recently arrived in the spirit land, he considered it advisable I should rest, or that at least I should not overdo my sighting. He proposed, therefore, that we should find a pleasant spot he used the words in a comparative sense, because all was more pleasant everywhere— that we should seat ourselves, and then would expound one or two of the many problems that had presented themselves to me in the brief time since I had passed to spirit.

Accordingly, we walked along until we found such a ‘pleasant’ place beneath the branches of a magnificent tree, whence we overlooked a great tract of the countryside, whose rich verdure undulated before 164

us and stretched far away into the distance. The whole prospect was bathed in glorious celestial sunshine, and I could perceive many houses of varying descriptions picturesquely situated, like my own, among trees and gardens. We threw ourselves down upon the soft turf, and I stretched myself out luxuriously, feeling as though I were lying upon a bed of the finest lawn. My friend asked me if I was tired. I had no ordinary sensation of earthly fatigue, but yet I felt somewhat the necessity for a bodily relaxation. He told me that my last illness was the cause of such a desire, and that if I wished I could pass into a state of complete sleep. At the moment, however, I did not feel the absolute need for that, and I told him that for the present I would much prefer to hear him talk. And so he began.

‘“Whatsoever a man soweth,” he said, “that shall he reap.” Those few words describe exactly the great eternal process by which all that you see, actually here before you, is brought about. All the trees, the flowers, the woods, the houses that are also the happy homes of happy people—everything is the visible result of “whatsoever a man soweth.” This land, wherein you and I are now living, is the land of the great harvest, the seeds of which were planted upon the earthplane. All who live here have won for themselves the precise abode they have passed to by their deeds upon the earth.’

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I was already beginning to perceive many things, the principal one of which, and that which touched me most closely, being the totally wrong attitude adopted by religion in relation to the world of spirit. The very fact that I was lying there where I was, constituted a complete refutation of so much that I taught and upheld during my priestly life upon earth. I could see volumes of orthodox teachings, creeds, and doctrines melting away because they are of no account, because they are not true, and because they have no application whatever to the eternal world of spirit and to the great Creator and Upholder of it. I could see clearly now what I had seen but hazily before, that orthodoxy is manmade, but that the universe is Godgiven.

My friend went on to tell me that I should find living within the homes, that we could see from where we were lying, all sorts and conditions of people; people whose religious views when they were on the earth were equally varied. But one of the great facts of spirit life is that souls are exactly the same the instant after passing into spirit life as they were the instant before. Death-bed repentances are of no avail, since the majority of them are but cowardice born of fear of what is about to happenâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;a fear of the theologically-built eternal hell that is such a useful weapon in the ecclesiastical armoury, and one that perhaps has caused more suffering in its time than many other erroneous doctrines. Creeds, therefore, do not form any part of the 166

world of spirit, but because people take with them all their characteristics into the spirit world, the fervid adherents to any particular religious body will continue to practice their religion in the spirit world until such time as their minds become spiritually enlightened. We have here, so my friend informed meâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;I have since seen them for myselfâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;whole communities still exercising their old earthly religion. The bigotry and prejudices are all there, religiously speaking. They do no harm, except to themselves, since such matters are confined to themselves. There is no such thing as making converts here!

Such being the case, then, I supposed that our own religion was fully represented here. Indeed, it was! The same ceremonies, the same ritual, the same old beliefs, all are being carried on with the same misplaced zealâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;in churches erected for the purpose. The members of these communities know that they have passed on, and they think that part of their heavenly reward is to continue with their man-made forms of worship. So they will continue until such time as a spiritual awakening takes place. Pressure is never brought to bear upon these souls; their mental resurrection must come from within themselves. When it does come they will taste for the first time the real meaning of freedom.

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My friend promised that if I wished we could visit some of these religious bodies later, but, he suggested, that as there was plenty of time it would be better if first of all I became quite accustomed to the new life. He had, so far, left unanswered my question as to who was the kindly soul who tended my garden so well, but he read my unspoken thought, and reverted to the matter himself.

Both the house and the garden, he told me, were the harvest I had reaped for myself during my earth life. Having earned the right to possess them, I had built them with the aid of generous souls who spend their life in the spirit world performing such deeds of kindness and service to others. Not only was it their work, but it was their pleasure at the same time. Frequently this work is undertaken and carried out by those who, on earth, were expert in such things, and who also had a love for it. Here they can continue with their occupation under conditions that only the world of spirit can supply. Such tasks bring their own spiritual rewards, although the thought of reward is never in the minds of those who perform them. The desire of being of service to others is always uppermost.

The man who had helped to bring this beautiful garden into being was a lover of gardens upon the earth-plane, and, as I could see for myself, he was also an expert. But once the garden was created there was not the incessant toil that is necessary for its upkeep, as 168

with large gardens upon earth. It is the constant decay, the stresses of storm and wind, and the several other causes that demand the labour on earth. Here there is no decay and all that grows does so under the same conditions as we exist. I was told that the garden would need practically no attention, as we usually understand the term, and that our friend the gardener would still keep it under his care if I so wished it. Far from merely wishing it, I expressed the hope that he certainly would do so. I voiced my deep gratitude for his wonderful work, and I hoped that I might be able to meet him and convey to him my sincere appreciation and thanks. My friend explained that that was quite a simple matter, and that the reason why I had not already met him was the fact of my very recent arrival, and that he would not intrude until I had made myself quite at home.

My mind again turned to my occupation while on earth, the conducting of daily service and all the other duties of a minister of the Church. Since such an occupation, as far as I was concerned, was now needless, I was puzzled to know what the immediate future had in store for me. I was again reminded that there was plenty of time in which to ponder the subject, and my friend suggested that I should rest myself and then accompany him upon some tours of inspectionâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;-there was so much to see and so much that I should find more than astonishing. There were also numbers of friends who were waiting to meet me again after our long separation. He curbed 169

my eagerness to begin by saying that I must rest first, and for which purpose, what better place than my own home?

I followed his advice, therefore, and we made our way towards the house.

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Garden Fruit Anthony Borgia Here and Hereafter (1959)

Let us now wander out and inspect the gardens or grounds round about our homes. But before doing so I would like to revert to a subject which is not unconnected with the gardens themselves.

I have already remarked that we are never hungry, from which it might be inferred that our social gatherings are entirely without refreshment. Such is not the case. We have the most delicious fruit in abundance. Our host or hostess, whoever it may be, will always see to that. But it is fruit that is very unlike yours on earth, we eat it for a very different reason, and it produces a totally different effect upon us. To take the fruit itself first. We have a much greater variety than do you, even taking into account the diversity to be found in the different parts of the world. All the fruits that you have we also have here, but with the quality there is no comparison. And the size, too, is remarkable. That you must see to believe!

The fruit contains a great quantity of nectar-like juice, at the same time leaving the flesh of the fruit firm to the hold. It is perfectly formed, without blemish, a picture to behold, and its appearance 171

does not belie it, for it tastes even more lovely than it looks. In eating the fruit we are not conscious of an internal satisfaction such as are you on earth with your fruit. We feel at once a powerful force running through our whole system, a feeling of exhilaration both mental and physical. We have no physical hunger that calls for satisfaction; whatever fruit we eat acts as a life force, and, as it were, stirs us up mentally and charges us with vigour.

It is difficult for you on earth to imagine yourself without hunger and the need for food. To be hungry and thirsty is instinct with human nature on earth. When you come to reside permanently in these realms of the spirit world, you leave your hunger and thirst for ever behind you. You will never, therefore, miss the food and drink for which you no longer have any need. And that state in turn becomes instinct with human nature in the spirit world. You would even find that you could manage very nicely if you were never to partake of any fruit here, but once you have tried it and sampled its rich benefits, you have discovered a pleasure that you will never want to deny yourself. And there is no need to deny yourself upon any grounds whatsoever. There is plenty of it to be had simply for the gathering of it, and you may tuck in' without fear of being dubbed a glutton!

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Where does the fruit grow? Most people have a garden attached to their houses, and they are bound to have a favourite fruit tree tucked away in some corner that will amply supply them both for the requirements of hospitality and for their own personal needs. But there are large tracts of land here that are entirely applied to the growing of fruit of various sorts and for various purposes.

One of my earliest experiences after I had arrived in the spirit world was the discovery of a splendid orchard of fruit trees. The owner of it was quick to perceive that the illness that had caused my transition to these realms had been a short one, and he presented me with some fruit of a particular kind which, he said, would supply me with just that reinvigoration that I needed. Edwin was with me at the time (indeed, it was he who disclosed this orchard to me in the first instance), and although he had been many years here, he also partook of some fruit, greatly to his benefit likewise.

The whole of this orchard is a plantation of special fruit trees for the use of people who are newcomers to the spirit world. The owner of these trees, though I think he would prefer the appellation of 'custodian', is highly skilled in selecting just the right kind of fruit for newcomers. Once you have called upon him, he expects you to call again as often as you please. If he should be away from home at the moment of your visit, he explains, you are to walk in and help 173

yourself, and the fruit trees will themselves act the part of host, and a much better one, he would say, than himself, and do what is necessary. The fruit is always there because it is always in season, and it is always in capital condition for consumption.

The genial soul who conducts this fruit farm, if one can so term it, is performing a very great service to all of us here, and you can readily imagine that he possesses a great knowledge of the technicalities of his work. He is, in fact, an institution in these realms, and is known far and wide not only for the services he performs but for himself, for one could not find a more amiable companion. He is the owner of the orchard and the dwelling house that is close by. He, himself, will tell you that he holds the orchard in trust for the whole of this realm, and by virtue of his services thereto, he enjoys the privilege and pleasure of 'owning' it until such time as he will pass on to a higher state. And there is no one in these realms who would dispute not only his fitness for the services he renders, but his right to call the land, the orchard, and his dwelling house strictly his own for just so long as he wishes to extend his tenure of them. We shall be very sorry for ourselves when he transfers his noble activities to a higher realm, while we shall be happy on his account that he has reaped a rich and well earned reward.

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I have spoken to you of food in the limited extent of fruit, but what of drink? Do we never feel the need for liquid of some sort? Never. But you must know that there is an enormous quantity of juice to be found in the fruit which would be sufficient to quench any thirst of reasonable dimensions!

However, the spirit world is not an arid waste, as you will by this time have gathered. There is water in abundance in the rivers and streams and brooks, and every drop of it not only fit to drink, but, indeed, like no water to be found upon earth. It glistens and sparkles; it is crystal clear; it is buoyant; one can slip beneath its surface and enjoy its warm embrace as it folds its living arms about you. It soothes, it invigorates, it inspires. It will produce the most beautiful sounds when it is disturbed on its surface. The ripples of the wavelets will reflect back a multitude of rainbow tints and will emit the purest of musical tones. Have you any water like that upon earth? I cannot remember ever seeing any such when I was there.

There is no such thing as stagnant water here; every drop of it is everlastingly living water of jewel-like purity. We can bathe within it, we can ride upon its surface in many a splendid vessel, or we can descend beneath it without harm to ourselves, because it is our nature that no harm can come to us.

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And now, after this slight digression, let us return to our consideration of the gardens.

Our gardens are as much like the earth gardens as our spirit world houses are like yours. The first difference that you will notice is the absence of fences, or hedges, or walls, or

any other means of

indicating the boundaries of our 'property'. So that, when you look out of the windows of your home in these realms, the whole wonderful prospect will seem like a gigantic park, beautifully wooded, with streams and rivers to be seen sparkling in the light of the central sun, and flashing back countless rays like veritable diamonds. Apart altogether from their beauty, our gardens have an eternal freshness and orderliness about them that would be impossible of attainment in any earthly garden. My use of the word orderliness must not be misconstrued into anything approaching the somewhat rigid regularity to be observed in the public gardens of the earth. Beautiful as the latter may be, there is something of a cold orderliness about them; a lack of the sense of friendliness; a severe ordering of the flowers in their precise arrangement. They seem to be so very much on view, and one may have the feeling of being warned off. Even the simplest of our spirit gardens is immensely superior to the most assiduously preserved garden to be found upon earth.

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The differences between our gardens and yours are numerous, so numerous and wide, in fact, that the only real point of resemblance is in the name. I am inclined to think, though this is only my personal opinion, that the absence of fences and hedges to which I have just alluded; indeed, the absence of all marks of our own 'territorial frontiers', is one of the chief contributing factors to the great divergence between our gardens and yours.

In spirit world gardens one feels at once the sense and the reality of spaciousness which abounds everywhere. It is another instance of the freedom which we all know, feel, and enjoy. Freedom, you see, manifests itself in so many ways here, even in what might be deemed the comparatively unimportant matter of our gardens. It may seem unimportant to you who are still on earth, but to us here it is vital.

All our gardens, then, merge the one into the other, forming an unrestricted whole which constitutes the great countryside of these realms, The land is not entirely flat, of course. There are gentle hills and slopes, delightful valleys with streams and rivers running through them. There are pathways winding their pleasant course beneath verdant trees of every kind. And every inch of ground is under cultivation of one sort or another. There is no barren land here, no neglected land. We each of us keep our gardens alive, in every 177

sense of the term, by the affection which we shower upon them. There is no constant battle with weeds and wild growths; nor are we at the mercy of the elements, whether of wind or rain, or lack of rain; of cold or frost; or of too great heat.

In the perfectly tempered warmth of these realms every form of spirit nature has its full chance to grow, to flourish to its fullest extent, unhampered by such conditions as your earthly nature has to endure. If that is the case, it may be remarked, then there is no wonder that spirit world gardens are a perfect picture of heavenly delight. That is so, but it is a point that is so frequently overlooked, because people are apt to think too much in terms of the earth when considering life in the spirit world.

There is another feature marking the difference between our gardens and yours, and which will be of some interest to those of my friends on earth who are fond of gardening. With you in the earth world, once given the requisite ground, it will not be long before you will produce some sort of result by virtue of your possessing some general, though perhaps limited, knowledge of horticultural practice, and for the rest trusting to the plants to look after themselves, with occasional assistance from a more knowing friend. But a garden of the spirit world demands expert knowledge in its creation, not to prevent us from going wrong, but to produce any results at all. 178

Without our knowing exactly how to produce flowers or other growing things, we should fail to create any garden whatever.

Most of us here have consulted the expert gardeners at one time and another, either in the first formation of our gardens or afterwards to make alterations and improvements. If we should lack ideas in the matter, these important functionaries will soon provide us with something of their own fashioning that will be sure to please us far more than we ever anticipated.

From time to time I have consulted with these good folk upon my own gardening arrangements, and it is astonishing how they have the faculty of knowing just what we most desire without our having expressed it openly. In any case, a hint is all that they require to evolve a dream of a garden, from the tiniest rustic nook to the great swelling banks of flowers with their innumerable colour schemes which are to be found in the neighbourhood of all the 'public' buildings in these realms. But more recently a sprightly young lad, named Roger, has taken up his residence with us, who is himself an expert horticulturist.

Shortly after his arrival here, and at whose transition Ruth and I assisted, he became greatly attracted to horticultural work, and he has since become highly proficient in the art. So that now the 179

gardens of our small domain are under his constant supervision and we have no need to venture farther than our own home in all matters appertaining to their arrangement or re-arrangement with such an expert living on the premises. Roger here carries out all manner of experiments in floral disposition and display which is as great an interest to the rest of us as to himself. We are never quite sure what new form our 'grounds' are likely to take at any given moment, and our numerous friends are oftentimes treated, as we are ourselves, to many and varied horticultural surprises! A great many of these expert horticulturists were either gardeners or lovers of gardens when they were upon earth. Being at liberty, as we all are here, to choose their occupation when they came here to live, it is but natural that they should put their previously gained knowledge to some further use, or that they should become fully occupied in what was on earth a diversion to be indulged in when time and opportunity permitted. It is true that a great deal of their earthly knowledge would be of little use to them as gardeners in the spirit world in any practical application, but it does not take them long to discard their old knowledge for the new, to exchange the earthly methods for the spirit world methods.

Not all of our gardening experts are practical gardeners. Some of them are designers of gardens only, leaving the actual creation of the garden to others. And others are creators of gardens only, leaving

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the designing to others. And again, some combine the two, designing and creating.

The horticultural architects are never at a loss for an idea, and you must know that designing a garden does not only mean arranging for the disposition of some small plot of ground such as one finds adjoining so many of the dwellings on earth. In the spirit world a whole countryside can be altered and rearranged down to the smallest detail, and the plans have to be made from which the actual creators are to work.

In the spirit world, planning and building a garden involves certain considerations which would not be heeded on earth. For example, the types of flowers and trees, with especial attention to their colouring, will largely be ordered or influenced by the kind of dwelling or other edifice which stands or is to stand in the particular ground. You will recall how the stones and so on in these realms are all glowing with beautiful shades of colour. The flowers in the gardens, therefore, will all accord with the colours of the masonry of the nearest building, broadly speaking, so that the two shall form together a blend of perfect harmony. Colour, you see, produces sound, and sound produces colour, so that it is essential that consonance and not dissonance should be the resulting effect of all horticultural efforts in these realms. Discord of an unpleasant nature 181

would not be permitted. So here is one point, at least, where our gardening methods differ from yours.

Again, we are not restricted, as you are, to seasons of a year. Our flowers and shrubs and trees are always in bloom and in leaf. We have combinations of flowers in our gardens that would normally be impossible upon earth through the passage of time, or because of the order of nature upon earth that causes flowers to come to maturity, flourish for a brief period, and then fade and die.

You, who love the flowers and the gardens that grow them, can you not imagine our joy, here in these realms, where we have our favourite flowers always with us in our gardens, never at the mercy of the elements or the seasons, never withering with age, but ever presenting themselves to the world in all their beauty, in all their simplicity or their grandeur, in all their wide range of colourings, from the most delicate tint to the most vigorous and compelling of bright colours, and, lastly, always shedding their delicate perfumes upon the sweet pure air to delight us not only in the exquisiteness of their aroma, but to charge us with spiritual force, can you not imagine our joy at all this?

This is all very well, I can hear you say; but do you never become tired of all this perfection? With all this absolute perfection about you, 182

how can you have any contrast, any light and shade? You surely need something that is not so perfect, if one may so express it, to show off, to emphasize, what is perfect. House and Garden Neville Randall Life After Death (1975)

Eventually, in any examination of the next world, you come to the inevitable question: 'Can you describe in simple terms a day in the life of a housewife in Heaven.'

After going through hundreds of recorded accounts, the honest answer is that I can't.

There is no day and no night; no typical housewife; no typical life. Everyone, we are told, goes to a state of consciousness they have created for themselves by the life they led on earth. George Harris couldn't imagine a life without laying bricks. He went on laying them in Heaven. Lionel Barrymore couldn't imagine a life without acting. He went on acting. Rose couldn't imagine a life without frequent cups of tea. She went on drinking tea.

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No one, they tell us, stays still. Everyone develops and progresses. Life for everyone changes in Heaven as it does on Earth.

What questions can we answer? Describe a house in Heaven? What grows in heavenly gardens? Do they eat, sleep, work or entertain? How do they relax. What exactly do they do with themselves?

The operative word is exactly.

Woods and Betty Greene asked all the necessary questions. They got a lot of answers. But whether the voices are intentionally vague, or find it impossible to describe a timeless existence in a world of different dimensions in language we can understand on Earth, the answers are rarely exact.

All we can do is to piece together what they do say and see what we can make of it.

If you rely on conventional religious teaching for your, expectations of Heaven, you're in for a surprise.

'I thought it would be quite different,' said Mary Ann Ross. 'That it would be more like one sees in pictures and religious books. The angels and wings ...' 184

It was very different. No angels. No wings. No harps. First impressions are usually how closely Heaven resembles Earth.

'We've got the sort of replica,' said Mr Biggs' mother, 'of everything.' 'I'm talking,' said Alfred Higgins, the Brighton painter and decorator, 'about the conditions of a life which in some ways is very like Earth. The world in which we live is very, very, similar in some respects and very natural.'

Mary Ivan tells us they even breathe air. 'I don't know of oxygen,' she says, 'but I call it the air because one's conscious of breathing.'

A Mr George Ohlson, who had been a personal friend of Woods, told him: 'I think the reality of it was the thing that surprised me ... It's not a wishy washy affair. It's not some sort of vague something. It's a real existence.'

The first permanent reality to anyone who dies is usually their new home. Many of them describe it in terms of homes on Earth.

Alf Pritchett, you remember, was taken by his sister to 'a small cottage. The nearest thing I'd seen to cottages at home in England . .

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. Off a little passage was a little room. All very cosy and comfortable. Nice chairs. No fireplace.'

Remember Mr Biggs going to visit his Aunt May in her cottage. 'There was that same little house. One of four it was, on the end ... A little garden ... They took me inside ... and everything was spick and span.' Ted Butler woke up, 'in a very nice little parlour .. . chintz curtains at the window ... a nice hearth-rug on the floor.'

Terry Smith found his way to something very similar: 'I suppose you'd call it the parlour - nice little room it was, very chintzy curtains and chairs and it all looked very homely.'

Oscar Wilde was even less exact. 'A very beautiful house,' he said. 'A house after my own heart.' But no details.

In 1962 a voice claiming to be Elizabeth Fry, Quaker, philanthropist and prison reformer, came through to add a little more to our knowledge of heavenly housing.

'The house,' she said, 'could best be described as a low, timbered, thatch-roofed house . . . Home to me is as important as it is to you. Human beings love a place which they can make into a home, which 186

will to some extent be a product of their own way of thinking. That is why there are so many types of houses. I am drawn to the type of house in which I live because it gives me a feeling of solidness, security, and it is something which to my way of thinking is beautiful in itself. It is sufficient for me. It is not great. It is not large. It is just as I desire it. And the furnishings are simple.'

It sounds beautiful to us too. But to a house agent trying to produce the particulars of a desirable residence for sale, her description is bafflingly vague.

It was Rose, ever practical, who gave us the first essential details about her house: 'It's got four rooms, quite enough for me to look after.'

What are the four rooms? She doesn't say. The only room that is ever described is the sitting-room. Do they have bedrooms, diningrooms, kitchen, bathroom and lavatory? Or, if usual offices are unnecessary, library, billiards room or study?

No one ever says.

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Almost every home the voices describe has a garden, and is set in a suburban countryside invariably like, but more beautiful than the countryside on Earth.

'The flowers are natural,' said Rose. 'They have life. You can cut the flowers, and you can use them in your house; but very few people do that after a time. If you're sitting in your house and you want to see the flowers outside, you don't necessarily have to go outside to see them. You can just sort of think about them and see them.'

They have grass too, she says. 'It's springy underfoot, and it's a very nice beautiful green ... I have been to places where the flowers are so high that - oh, I should think they're a good seven or eight feet high. It's like walking through a forest of them.'

Corn apparently grows in the fields. 'But I've never seen it cut,' says Rose, 'and yet it always seems to be there ...

The trees are beautiful and the blossom on some of the trees is beautiful. And the perfume!'

George Hopkins, the Sussex farmer, was equally ecstatic. 'We have the countryside. We have the lakes and rivers ... We have flowers, birds and all sorts of things that you associate with nature excepting 188

perhaps what one might call the lesser forms. I've never seen things like ants, although again there is great intelligence on your side with ants, but I've never seen them here. I've never seen insects and suchlike ... There are certain aspects of nature as you understand it that don't seem to exist here.'

This happy omission is echoed by Oscar Wilde who tells us 'the more irritating aspects of nature are non-existent to us. For instance we don't have the pests, such as flies, earwigs, and all the irritating things that nature concocts to annoy man. These things seem to have disappeared.'

The next thing they notice, in the words of Ted Butler, is a wonderful feeling of lightness and warmth, what I thought was the sun shining through the windows'; or as Mary Ivan put it: the sun, or I thought it was the sun then, was shining through the windows.'

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Heavenly Flowers Life After Death Neville Randall (1975)

'The next thing I must have dozed off. At least I thought that's what I did, but it wasn't really quite dozing off. The next thing I knew was that I was walking down what appeared to be a lane, with trees either side, and beautiful fields, and I could see cattle. I remember walking and walking on this road, and somehow no feeling of tiredness. I came to the end and there was a beautiful white house, and yet it wasn't painted white. It had sort of lustre about it like mother-of-pearl.

'As I came to this house, a man came out of the door, and my heart gave a jump â&#x20AC;&#x201D; that's if I had a heart. But I felt just as if â&#x20AC;&#x201D; oh I couldn't believe this. It was a young man that I was very fond of who I'd turned down.

'It wasn't because I didn't love him. It was because I realized that I could not marry him because it meant that I had to give up my parents who were getting old and in need of care and attention, and I didn't feel it was right to put a burden on a man of someone else's parents, no matter how fond he was of me. I turned him down and he

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never got married. He moved away from the district soon afterwards and I lost touch with him for many years.

'He came out of the house, and he looked just as he'd looked oh, many years before in his thirties, tall and dark. Though in those days he had a moustache â&#x20AC;&#x201D; it's silly how things strike one â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

but he had

not got a moustache any more. He came rushing down the garden path and met me. And he put his arms round me. And I felt as if for the first time that I was wanted.

'I suppose in a way I should not say that, because I was very much wanted by my parents, and I was very fond of my parents, but it was a different feeling.

''At last you have come back to me,' he said. 'This time you'll not turn me down.'

'And I did not know what to say to him.

Then all of a sudden it seemed as if in the garden all the flowers began to blossom. I don't know how to explain this without sounding silly, but all the flowers suddenly seemed to grow and it was as if the garden came alive. There were all kinds of flowers there, flowers that I remember from the earth, and flowers that I'd never seen before. 191

And there was one clump of huge, tall orange flowers, like poppies, but they seemed to go on and on. And I thought if they don't stop growing they're going to be taller than the house. I thought how stupid this is, I'm so happy here with Rossi â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Rossiter you know â&#x20AC;&#x201D; and yet all the time in spite of my happiness and meeting him, and feeling at ease and feeling happy, I could see this group of poppies as I called them, growing taller and taller until they became like huge trees.

Then all of a sudden the petals began to open and they began to like droop. When I say that I don't mean to say that they were dying, but it's as if they opened up and the petals folded down and made a kind of umbrella. And there were all these beautiful orange flowers like umbrellas. And we went and stood underneath, and it was as if through the petals of these enormous orange flowers there was a beautiful light, and it seemed to have warmth and seemed to have a glow. And he was smiling about this because I said: 'I've never seen such big flowers.'

''Ah,' he said, 'until you came, although I had planted many seeds in my thoughts, it wasn't until you came that I knew that I'd have a garden which I can be proud of. These poppies as you call them are my love that has been growing all these years I've been watching over you. And now we can be free. Come into the house.' 192

'I can't say if I walked, or if I floated, but it was as if my feet never touched the ground. And I remember going into the house and it was just as I'd always wished and dreamed. It was not a big house, but it was bigger than anything I'd been used to and everything seemed to be perfect, just as I would always wanted to have had myself. And the furniture and everything was solid and real.

''Now,' he said, 'we're together, and now we can make up for lost time.'

'I have never felt so happy. Then I thought about my mamma and father.

''That's all right,' he said. 'You've finished. Now you have your own life to be shared with me. But we can keep in touch, and we can go and see them whenever we wish, and they can come and see us. You have so much to learn.''

Mary's last words were: 'whatever it is that makes it possible for me to talk to you is not so strong. The power or whatever they call it. But I am happy to have been here, and may I say I hope to come soon again.'

She never did. Is it because she is too busy living happily

ever after? 193

Your Spiritual Garden The Eloists Radiance (1996)

You must make every effort to remove dissonance from your living space and to generate thought forms that will harmonize with us, your angelic overshadowing. You all realize that it is not what you do for the moment that defines your spiritual environment, but rather the cumulative effect of all the combined thought forms generated within your own minds, as well as what is brought in from your contacts with the outside world, that sets the tone and determines your spiritual â&#x20AC;&#x153;atmosphere.â&#x20AC;?

Nurture the unseen spiritual garden that fills your homes, using the same care and devotion that you show for your vegetable garden outside. Your thoughts, your passions and the things your minds dwell upon sprout flower blossoms of light or darkness; aromatic petals or noxious weeds. They grow, blossom and spread through the cracks and spaces in your homes like so many clinging vines. Once they are established they are not so easily removed. They probe deep into the cracks and their branches cling to the walls, and only arduous labor over a long period of time can neutralize their

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influence so that the unwanted thought forms can be removed once again.

See to it then, that the unseen growth within your own secret gardens is of the highest nature and plant it with the varieties that you would be proud of if they were plainly visible for all to see. You, as mere mortals, may not see them, but we, your angelic overshadowing, certainly do. But you already realize that you do feel the influence of thought forms after having grown in sensitivity over the years.

We know you understand and appreciate what we say here, so resolve to turn to your tasks of nurturing a positive spiritual environment with determination, and discipline yourselves to be consistent in the labor that you know within your hearts is important to our work together.

Enter The Magical Realm

There is no more attractive form of meditation than the exercise of spiritual imagination as taught in the last two lessons. A student writes:

"The lesson in the Educational Course on developing a spiritual garden is of inestimable value to me, and I miss no opportunity to let 195

my imagination fill mine to the limit of its capacity. It really does not depend upon one's limited vocabulary, because you can visualize so much that need not be names, and therein lies the potentiality of your lesson. It is voyaging into undiscovered territory. I am thrilled with its possibilities! I cannot begin to tell you how much I appreciate being given the chance to understand how to live so keenly upon such a plane.â&#x20AC;?

Take a comfortable position with this lesson open before you, and let these words lead you into the magical realm of imagination.

Read a little, and then close your eyes and enter the garden of your mind and make the thought real. Read the thoughts as though they were your own meditation, and in this way make them your own.

I close my eyes and think of the daffodils, pansies and mignonettes growing in my garden. Again I picture the vital warmth of the sun, and the children playing in the pathways among the flowers, or peeking out from behind the flowering shrubs. Even the pets exert their influence and draw out the good feelings of my soul in blessings.

And then I imagine all these forms spiritualized and glowing with light, and my garden becomes wholly spiritual.

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As I look beyond the trees of my garden toward the east, I can imagine a vast edifice of Light, extending from the north to the south as far as I can see. It is more extensive than the world's largest city. It is the beginning of the heavenly City within the spiritual atmosphere of earth.

My mind expands, and I am thrilled with delight as I think of its magnificence.

A vast Edifice of pure light, filling the atmosphere with healing, joygiving radiance. And the light of this vast building extends up, up into the sky.

As I look upward I see the broad Pathway of Light. It reaches up to that Sun of Splendor shining in the sky, and into the very depths of that celestial world where the Angels dwell.

And down this Pathway of Light throng a great host of bright and beautiful Beings.

I let the feelings which this picture arouses express in these thoughts of prayer:

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CREATOR OF IMMORTALS! I praise Thee That I begin to conceive Of the glory that Thou hast provided For Thy immortal sons and daughters. I desire, O Creator,

With all the intense longing of my soul To help Thy angels minister To the souls of mortals. I desire to serve Thee By serving Thy children, Mortal and immortal, That Thy love may radiate through me And develop the angel in me.

This prayerful attitude intensifies the feelings of my soul, until there is an exalted sense of the angel in me blending in sympathy with the shining hosts of angels.

The sincerity of my desire draws the Angels of Wisdom close, until I can imagine them standing within the luminous atmosphere of my garden, blessing me, and all I would bless, with their love and protective light.

I let my imagination picture the most glorious Beings of which I can conceive. The light shining from their souls is so great that the beauty of their kindly and smiling faces is almost hidden.

Their eyes are as liquid light.

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Their garments show the ever-changing figures and designs created by their thoughts.

Their forms are radiant with their feelings of sympathy and compassion, which produce the effect of exalting music on my soul.

I desire to grow more like these Immortals every day.

I desire to think, pray, and work for the welfare of souls as they do.

I desire to be about the Creator's business now as they are.

I have the joy of feeling that they need my faith, my love, my help, every day, every hour, to enable them to reach and bless the hundreds of souls with whom I am in sympathy.

And in doing the Creator's Will with them I shall enable them to build a foundation of the Temple of Angels within my sphere of influence.

Great and Mighty Creator! I will create with Thee And Thy angels Every hour, And help them extend their influence Around the earth.

Then I imagine the Angels of Wisdom speaking these words to me:

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"Child of Light: Abide with us in imagination, and we will walk with you in Reality.

"Your soul is vibrating with the harmony and health of our sphere of everlasting life.

"We are shining our love-light into these children who walk with you in your garden.

"Our blessings are purifying the spirits of these older people, and cleansing their minds of the conventional and crystallized thought by which they have been bound.

"Their souls will be resurrected into the youthfulness of the life that is eternal. Their joy in living will increase.

"Because you are living the serviceable life of blessing you are becoming attuned to the Realm of Benevolence. "Abide with us in the eternal life and realize the wisdom, love and power of our Creator."

As I ponder upon these words I can imagine that I see fine rays of light shining from the forehead of each Angel, and all these rays are centered within the head of each child. This causes the soul of each child to glow with increased light and life. 200

I watch the Angels bless each child in my garden, and I realize that these mental pictures are creating the spiritual conditions which the Angels need.

Then I imagine the rays shining into the souls of each of the older persons. I see their heavy thoughts being dissolved and, like clouds, passing from their spirits. Then they appear more youthful, and more vital and radiant with joy.

I feel the love of my soul flowing into each one of the souls that the Angels are blessing, and the thought of blessing with the Angels increased my pleasure and faith.

My garden has become more radiant with the love- life which is the life of heaven, and the children, the pets and all the flowers, shrubs and trees are expressing a greater light of soul-intelligence.

Then again words to me:

I imagine the Angels speaking these:

"Child of Light: Pray most fervently for the success of our inspiring efforts with mortals. 201

"Your fervent prayers create a spiritual force with which our thought can unite, and thus become active and powerful within the slower vibrations of mortal minds.

"Desire most earnestly that many souls shall be drawn to our Ministry to devote their lives to our service.

"Desire is prayer.

"Fervent desire arouses the deeper feelings of your soul, and these feelings have power to transform your life and to create a new destiny.

"Affirm your sincere aspirations.

"Your positive affirmations charge your spirit with purposefulness and power. "Aspiration is prayer.

"The time you devote each day to fervent and sincere prayer does more to deepen your consciousness and to exalt your soul than all the hours you devote to intellectual activity, because the cultivation of prayerful feelings attunes your mind to the Heart of Divine Love."

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Again these thoughts of the Angels inspire me to pray. I first use these words of prayer, and then create original thoughts which more perfectly represent my sincere desires.

"O Creator, I pray that Thy Angels may succeed in their selfsacrificing endeavor to purify, heal and exalt humanity.

"I desire most earnestly that there shall be a great drawing together of souls and of wealth for the upbuilding of your kingdom on earth.

"I desire to devote all my talents and powers to spreading the wisdom of the Angels to all the world.

"O Creator, I desire to be more ardent and sincere in doing Thy Will, that my every feeling may be exalted, and my every thought brightened with Thy light."

Daily study and meditation will develop your capacity to receive greater wisdom contained in future lessons, and also that Wisdom which the All-Wise

And all these thoughts of the wisdom and beauty of the Angels will open your mind to the greater wonder and might of the One who is the 203

Creator of ALL.

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Garden in Eternity Walter and Betty Shepherd Conversations with Walter: (2010)

“It’s a wonderful thought! But now I’m going to go back and ask you - exactly what is eternity? It’s all very well having abstract ideas and drawing diagrams, but where is the truth? I don’t think I know at all what eternity really is! I know it’s said to be not unlimited time, but timelessness, but I can’t imagine it.”

Walter thought for a while, then he said: “Very well, let us be entirely practical. If you are sitting on a chair in your garden, is the chair in eternity?”

I laughed, and said it sounded most unlikely. “Chairs don’t last for ever!”

“Are the plants in the garden in eternity?”

“Is that a catch question? Not in their present form, anyway. They will die off in the winter.”

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“Can you think, now, of anything that is certainly eternal and will not die?”

“Only the final reality which I think of as God.”

“What is God?”

“Well — Love?”

“Yes. Good. And do you love your garden? Do you love it, not just because it is yours - part of your idea of yourself - but because it is beautiful, and good, and exists as such?”

“Yes, I certainly do.” A garden is important in my life.

“Perhaps while you sit in that temporary chair, your love for your garden is in eternity? Your body is on earth, while your soul is feeling the reality of love, in Heaven, in eternity? All in the present moment?”

“But I don’t only love my garden in the moment now, I remember that I loved it yesterday, and I have faith that I will love it tomorrow.”

“The mind can travel in time; the body cannot. The mind is not bound by time; it is a spirit and knows eternity. The material body does not. 206

When your mind experiences love, and is in eternity, that is in the moment NOW. You remember yesterday’s love, but you are not living it; nor are you actually feeling tomorrow’s love.

There are two things here. First, the whole pattern of existence is shifting all the time from one condition to another. If you are in eternity now, the next moment you may be time-bound. Second, when the psyche is living in its own spiritual body — which is not by any means all the time — it is in one of the heavens. But the material body belongs to the earth, and that is where it lives its life. When the body’s vitality and bliss reach a heavenly quality, it is in fact the psyche which knows this.

Do not, do not, try to build walls between earth and Heaven, the body and the psyche, or even time and eternity. It cannot be done. Truth is not like that. Remember the painter Turner, who said that he specialised in indistinctness. Remember his marvellous pictures, and try to think as he did, and you will understand the truths better.”

I don’t know whether I can follow this advice, although I will try. Walter probably always found it easier. When he lived on earth, he was a great admirer of Turner’s work, and had several books with good reproductions of the pictures. Perhaps I should study them;

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though I do remember the wonderful quality of light, and of fused colour.

“I didn’t realise that the material body never experiences heaven,” I said.

“That’s because you have been building walls in your mind between the material body and the psyche, and had forgotten that both work together, all the time. During life on earth, they can seldom be separated, as they both go to make the person. Were you not once interested in the correlation between physical and psychological types?”

“Yes, I thought of making it into a book, there are enough theories. That’s what I was about to work on when we first wrote; and why I had a pad of A4 paper all ready for you on my knee!”

I went on, “I am interested in how the body and psyche work together. And I’m wondering about mental thought which is not purely of the psyche, but is mechanical. Thought itself is never material, surely? I mean, one can’t hold a thought in the hand, or measure it with an instrument.”

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“Well — thought can be mechanical, a matter of the brain’s electrochemical circuits, or based on illusion, in which case it is not all spiritual. But it is never all material, either. Emotional love — love of the heart - is spirit, even if it is given in error.”

THE END

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