I Love Poppi’s Open Call because she invites us to talk about what we so often don’t talk about. Of course, she and others Know that this subject of “ghosts” is real--but how often do we deal with this subject matter-of-factly? Not nearly enough, I would say!

I wouldn't call others who appear to speak to us, or to do otherwise, ghosts. We are all simply beings, all of us existing eternally as energy beyond our space-time Universe. And some part of our energy pours forth into physical vessels to go through this experience we call Life on Earth!

Even here on Earth, within this physical dimension, different planes of what we call “reality” exist—though, really, these planes are planes of perception. We call these planes different dimensions, for the sake of separating and categorizing them, in Light of our focused, or narrowed, perception.

As we broaden the expansiveness of our perception, we can surely communicate with, or hear, see, feel, and be emotionally affected by, the presence of other beings not Living with us in our physical, third dimension. As we intend to perceive more than what may be physically in front of us, with practice, we can open to this communication, of course!

Some of us have wider perception than others naturally, and some of us have done less to suppress that ability, or have worked to re-open our perception! In any case, more of all of Life is here for us to understand—just for the asking!

Many kinds of Divine beings also exist, such as angels and other figures from cultures across the world. They exist as energy within Consciousness, just as we do, and they will interact with us as we ask them to. We also can communicate with Loved ones who have passed on from this reality—quite easily—though the point of understanding here is that once crossed over, our family and friends return to pure Joy, the Divine Love we all come from!

Because our Loved ones who have passed are once again thriving in pure Joy and Love, we can only connect with them ourselves on those same frequencies of Joy and Love to interact seamlessly with them! (And we also would have to, say, give them credit for being in that state—and acknowledge that we recognize them!)

With this thought in mind, that this Knowing is here for all of us, I’ll tell you a few, true stories of people I Know and Love!

And I thank you, Poppi, for being you!

~~~

John was a friend whom I knew through close friends, and he was in a band that we always used to go see! (They were an awesome band, by the way!) In 1998 at age 36, John died of cancer that was found too late—because the doctors didn’t check someone so young for such a serious disease even when he knew he felt sick.

A group of us went out to dinner when John came back to Boston from his parents’ home in Ohio a month or so before he died. After we all ate and before we left, I sat with him for a few extra minutes and talked with him. Always thin, he was now super-thin, his body ravaged by the disease. He had talked earlier of how he had wanted to run to the car, excited about dinner, and he fell, his body not able to respond to his mind as he’d expect. Now, happy, smiling, chatting as if he had time ahead of him, he pulled his shirt up over his swollen belly and said to me, “See? That’s the cancer.”

His belly was huge, the cancer flourishing, and John was still so sweet and friendly. I smiled and felt pain for him; I felt water in my eyes and hugged him. But looking at his belly, and the obvious location of the disease, I felt the strongest urge to put my hands there and to heal him—to tell him he would be well.

Just weeks later, John died after doing his best to enjoy his Life and his family back home. I never forgot the image of his belly and that urge to lay my hands on him, to heal him, even though the disease was at a late stage at that point. I thought of nothing else as we drove home from that dinner that night, and the thought continued to return to me afterwards that I had wanted to help.

Two years later, I had to stay at home for several days or so after a doctor’s visit, and I spent my time away from work meditating and praying, happy to be resting.  One night, I was up late reading a book by Sylvia Brown that I had just picked up at the pharmacy, and I began reading an exercise for communicating with someone on the other side.

Since John was on my mind, I tried it as I read it. I immediately felt his presence, at first not knowing if it was him or someone else, and I saw/felt him sit beside me on my bed, where I was reading. I told him I had felt that I should try to heal him, that I should have placed my hands on his stomach. And as I went to place my hand where his stomach was now, without form right beside me, I heard a loud, “No!”

I immediately sensed him gesturing my hand away, and as I put my hand square in the middle of his energetic belly, I felt a cold, jarring, metallic current run through my fingers and ping at my joints. And then I heard him say, “I’m happy. I want to be here!” I did understand him, even with some vestige of how I had been feeling.

Then I looked with surprise at my hand as I returned it to holding my book. I looked closer, and I saw that all the joints on all of my fingers had deep bruises on them. I stared in disbelief, but I was still feeling that sensation of cold metal in each joint. I actually made myself see what was so clearly there, right in front of me, because I knew my mind would want to discount it, or simply forget about it when I woke up the next day. I stayed awake reading and watched to see if the bruises would dissipate, but they only slightly lightened over the next few hours.

I knew I was supposed to carry that image of my knuckles with me, as well as the Knowing that came along with it. The greatest gift that John gave me was telling me he was happy, and I understood him.

~~~

I worked with Martha at a temp job I took when I first moved to Boston. She decided my nickname was “Awesome,” and she Loved calling me that! Martha was kind and generous and playful with the rest of us, but she had had a hard Life, and alcohol was one way she tried to cope with the hardship and the heartbreak.

Just this past year, when I heard from a friend that she had died, I understood her leaving and asked her if she’d like to talk. When she answered, I asked her how she was doing there on the other side. She said quite clearly, in her own voice and her own inflections, “I don’t know. It’s kinda good, and it’s kinda weird.”

I replied, happy, cheerful, and Knowing she deserved it, of course: “It’s all Love there!”

And Martha, in her own inimitable way, returned with a low, growly, drawn-out, “I Knooow. That’s the kinda weeeeeird part!”

Of course, she had me laughing! And I could never have come up with that myself! When I told the friend of both of ours who had let me know of her death, we laughed together. And she said, “Yup. That’s definitely Martha!”

Martha may have been a little disoriented after her Life experience here, and, of course, she was still playing with us!

~~~

On the morning of November 8, 2003, I woke up to the warmest, brightest, most golden Light shining right through me. That flowing energy felt like the sun, but it was shining internally. As that brightness opened my eyes and lifted my Spirit so delightfully, I just wondered with pleasant surprise, “Who is that?” It was clearly a “who” and not a “what”—and I Loved it!

A couple of hours later, I talked to my dad and found out my Grandpa Leo had died from his cancer during the night. Of course, I had made the mistake of listening to my dad during the week—he was in denial about my grandfather dying and told me he was doing well. When my grandfather was saying that week or so that he wanted to go Home, my dad took it literally and told me he was going to go home from the nursing home to his condo.  (I’ve heard of other people I Know saying that, too, and it is so clear what it means as they say it—so I should’ve gotten the message on my own.)

I cried, of course, when I got off the phone, especially since I hadn’t gotten back to California to see him in time--though I knew he was seeing us all now and would be fine himself. After only a few minutes of crying and thanking him for being there with me that morning, I heard his great, hearty, belly laugh ringing through my apartment!

Grandpa Leo’s one of those guys that so many people Love, and his Joy and his laughter are infectious! Every year since he had had his first bout with cancer nine years earlier, his best friend and business partner and all of his employees celebrated his “second birthday” on the date of his surgery for his then-terminal cancer with a big party at work!

He’s one of those people we all always Loved to have around! So when he started laughing that morning, he brought me the enjoyment of his presence, and we just talked and laughed some more!

A good friend of mine who is a gifted psychic told me shortly afterwards that she saw him zooming around looking after everyone—which was just like him! (Our family was split between the West coast, the East coast, and the South.) No one in my family would have to be told that, of course, because he was always there for us in Life!

I continued talking and laughing with Grandpa Leo, and I Loved having his laugh around, as always! And I still always celebrate his “new birthday” every November 8th with Mexican food—his favorite, of course!

~~~

I share these true, personal stories here because I Love and respect these Loved ones of mine! And I also Love what a gift it is to open our minds to what we truly Know about ourselves and this Life!

I hope from my heart that we’re all connecting with those we Love—both here and beyond!


Seeing Love and Divine Light in all of us everywhere!

Julie


© Julie Shanti. All rights reserved.