chapter 3
Martha chose to have a SESR session after the sudden death of her daughter, who died a violent death at the hands of a deeply troubled individual she knew. After her daughter was shot, she lingered for a few days before the life left her body. Her friends and family were terribly saddened by these events.
It has been a couple of years, but Martha’s heart is still filled with great grief from the loss of her daughter. Martha wants to know her daughter’s spirit is now at peace and is curious if she has tried to communicate with her. She is also left with questions surrounding the events. Understanding there is a deeper connection to the others in her life and in the spirit world, Martha wants to discover more about her connection to her daughter and with her guides. I tell her I will do the best that I can to help her find answers to her questions, but that I can’t promise anything other than to assure her that she’ll get what she needs from the session.
Martha’s initial session is a particularly challenging one because she gets images and information but then her analytical mind tries to explain it all away, creating interference. This can happen sometimes with clients when they are doing this work for the first time and, in Martha’s case, because she is working through the additional layer of grief.
As she crossed into the past life, Martha became aware of blue skies over snowcapped mountaintops on a sunny but cool day. She was a man in that life, herding goats along a rocky mountain peak that had patches of green growth where the snow had melted. He was holding a staff which helped him keep his balance as he moved along this mountainous terrain and through gnarled trees that grew out of it.
Life was simple here. A plain, wooden lean-to provided shelter to shield him from the weather at night. It was quiet and there were no others around. He wore a brown cape with fur to keep warm. His modest boots were not leather but were made from animal skins and tied up his leg.
Each day was similar to the next, herding goats along the grassy areas and allowing them to graze there. He occasionally went to the trading post down in the valley below. Here he traded skins and goats’ milk for provisions that he couldn’t make himself.
Our session ends here. Although the information that came through is somewhat cryptic, it will prove to be very important. Martha agrees to rest that evening and come back the next day for the SESR session.
The second day, the session flows more easily. Martha is more relaxed. She now knows what to expect and is more comfortable with the entire process and has let go of trying so hard. She decides to just let the details come through however they come without the pressure she put on herself the day before to immediately understand it.
She went into a past life in the early 1920s and Martha again was a male. In this life, he oversaw the building of the railroad along a coastal area near a major shipping port. The landscape revealed shrubbery, palm trees, and tall, white, contemporary buildings along the waterfront. There were boxy black automobiles parked about. The exact location of this place was not revealed but he was an American working for an American corporation that had a joint venture overseas to expand marketing efforts.
We learned more about the life, but most days were like the last. At the end of it there was an overall sense of pride in having accomplished something important. Upon leaving the body, the soul immediately crosses into the spirit world and is greeted by a loved one from Martha’s current life who had died a few years back. Her loved one now leads her over a sloped, wooden bridge and onto a shiny, wide walkway, which Martha laughingly describes as looking like celestial wet cement. The walkway then opens into a vastness of white light.
After a long journey through a Gothic stone archway up a hill, a male guide dressed in a robe stands waiting by a gate. He takes Martha through a series of little rooms that she describes as being equipped with “celestial medical equipment.” They stop in one particular room where her guide picks up a large white protective sheet and wraps her in it. She feels it sending energy to her. She becomes aware of a soothing, energizing white-yellow light moving through her, lifting the heavy load she carries in her heart, and her spirit, from having lost her daughter. She begins crying, surprised by her own tears.
The session ends after a long period of energy work with her guide. Her list of questions is not addressed, at least not in words. They are perhaps something to look at for another time. Leaving my office, Martha looks content and there was a peacefulness in her eyes.
A few days later, I receive an email from Martha about something interesting that had happened after her session. She writes that when she was setting the GPS system in her car to return home, she was puzzled at first by the fact that it had mapped out a route along a two-lane road through the countryside and small towns, instead of the interstate highway it had used to direct her to my office.
She chose to dismiss the urge to go back the same way she had come, and decided instead to see where this new route would take her. She set out for home, relaxed and unhurried, driving through stretches of rolling hills and green countryside. After a while something caught her attention. To the right of her was a herd of goats and a goat herder!
Smiling, she circled back around just so she could pass him again. They waved at each other and she continued on her way home. She felt that this was affirmation that her guide was still with her hours after the session, and a validation of her experience. It was no accident that the GPS had purposely led her along this route to reveal the goat herder to her!
Martha also mentions that since her daughter’s death, she has become accustomed to driving without music playing, preferring the quiet and her own thoughts. On the way home, as she was packing the car, she noticed a music CD in the trunk; she had not listened to it in years and had even forgotten what was on it. She decided to play it on the ride home.
She felt uplifted by the music. What stood out were two very meaningful messages that came through in the lyrics of the songs. The first song, “Don’t Stand by My Grave and Weep,” carried a message about her daughter, letting her know it was time to let go—a timely reminder to Martha that her daughter’s spirit had not died but had transitioned into the spirit world.
The other song, “Hold Me Angel,” served as a message for Martha to trust that her guides are with her always, even during the difficult times she has faced. It reminded her of the white protective sheet her guides had wrapped around her in the session to bring comfort to her. Martha knew she was not alone and could turn to her guides to guide her through this period and that things would be okay.
_ Soul-Minded Exercise _
Grieving and Forgiveness Visualization
Are you grieving the loss of someone due to a change in the relationship, or their actual passing? How are you experiencing that loss? Do you have feelings of intense sadness, blame, or anger toward someone as a result of their leaving? Do you have lingering unanswered questions that keep you locked in thought and keep you from moving forward in your life?
Imagine yourself sitting on a bench. Across from you is another bench where the person you miss has come to join you. They may be living, or they may be deceased. Connect to them wherever they are and have a conversation in your mind, to share with them the feelings that are in your heart.
• If this is a loved one who you miss having in your life: share with them the things you enjoyed about them or doing with them. Keep their memory alive by remembering the good times. Feel the good feelings as you remember them. Let this fill the space in your heart with love.
• If this is someone who hurt you: let them know how the things that they said and did affected you. Let them know that you’re not going to let this stop you anymore but that you are just letting them know. Release them and let them go.
Reclaim your power from these situations so that you can be more present as you move forward in your life at this time, knowing that although they are not in your life anymore or have completed their earthly journey, you will see them again at the appropriate time.
Learn to recognize in the stillness that you are not alone. Feel your spiritual connection being strengthened.
_ Soul-Minded Exercise _
Music and sound are healing. Certain beats are uplifting.
Do you listen to music regularly? When’s the last time you stopped everything for a while and just sat and listened to your favorite music or artist? When you’re doing chores around the house, do you turn the music on in the background? While you’re driving on a road trip, do you turn on music?
Do you play an instrument? If so, when’s the last time you played? Chimes and drumming can shift your mood too.
There are different kinds of music for different things. Let the music take you to another place. Let it shift your mood. If you’re sad, play sad music to get it out. Play joyful music to lift your vibration. Play music that reminds you of loved ones or close friends. Let the music shift you to a higher place.