Vol. 34 No. 12 - I AM the Witness

Vol. 34 No. 12 - I AM the Witness - March 24, 1991

I AM the Witness

One night when I was a young child of approximately seven or eight years of age, I was sound asleep in the bed of my midwestern home when I was suddenly awakened. As I lay in bed, a beautiful scene opened up as on the “screen” of my mind. This scene was of a beautiful green mountain valley with evergreen trees on its sides. I thought, “I would like to be there,” and suddenly I was there!

To my joy and surprise, I discovered that my body was light as a feather and I could fly! I started to investigate this beautiful valley by flying to the opposite side. As I approached a large stand of evergreen trees, I saw a young man and woman beckoning me to come with them. I followed these two into the trees and had a meeting with them of which I do not remember the contents.

When the meeting was finished, the young man and woman (both of whom had dark hair and looked enough alike to be brother and sister) bade me farewell and waved goodbye as I rose into the air and flew away. I noticed that the woman chuckled at seeing my rather clumsy method of flight. The next moment I was back in my body lying in my bed and contemplating my unusual experience.

I never forgot my experience that night and often longed to revisit that green valley, which I believed was located somewhere in the western United States.

Not long after I became a member of the Keepers of the Flame Fraternity, the Goddess of Liberty announced the idea of having an Inner Retreat. Shortly thereafter I started having dreams about visiting a mountainous area with many valleys and some streams and the beginnings of some sort of community. I wondered if this was the area where the Inner Retreat would be.

Within a year the announcement was made of the purchase of some land in Montana that was to be named “The Inner Retreat.” I became very joyous when I started to see photos of it because it looked like the area I had visited in my dreams.

To make a long story short, I attended the 1984 summer conference and when I walked into the Heart of the Inner Retreat I knew that it was the green valley that I had visited as a child. I decided to stay and reside here in Montana.

Dear Friends,

I also have a beautiful memory I would like to share with you. It was the year 1988 when Guru Ma came stumping to Portugal and I came to Fátima to be with her. During a beautiful meditation dedicated to our beloved Mother Mary, I suddenly felt two hands on my head. I was so surprised–I opened my eyes to see who was blessing me but there was nobody. While I still felt these hands physically on my head, I recognized them to be the hands of Mother Mary. Her forgiving, comforting and healing love brought tears to my eyes and I will always remember this. May we be aware of her blessed presence with us always.

God bless you.

The following events can only be explained, I believe, by divine intercession: the call compelled the answer.

My father made his transition in December of 1982 following a heart attack. I returned home for the funeral. The grief of all family members and friends was very great, as my father was a very fine man and he was only 64 years old at the time of his passing.

When my family arrived at the funeral home, I felt very strongly that while the burden and grief of my mother and others was understandable, nevertheless it would be wrong for everyone to be so blinded by their grief that they could not see the comfort of God’s laws–that the person does not disappear after death but goes on to the retreats of the Masters or wherever he is intended to go. I made fervent–and I mean fervent–calls to Lanello to please show everyone there that my father was not gone but that he was still there in other planes of being. Then the following occurred.

First, my family was called into the rabbi’s office. He began talking about the specifics of the funeral. At one point in the ritual, the rabbi would come over to each member of the immediate family and make a rip in his shirt. He explained that first of all this shows the expression of grief, and secondly it shows that the body is just like clothing–at death the clothes come off but the soul continues on. He also told my family about recent studies that had been done with people who returned to life after having experienced death and described what they experienced!

Next, the rabbi gave a moving sermon. He began by reading Psalm 62, and all of a sudden I heard the words, “He only is my rock and my salvation: he is my defense; I shall not be moved.” (Lanello was there, all right, with these words from the song we sing to him.)

Finally, the rabbi was about to close the ceremony when my mother stood up and said, “Wait! We’re not finished yet. I want my friend Esther to say something.” This was very strange since my mother was not even sitting near Esther and I don’t know how she knew that Esther had something to say; nevertheless, Esther did have something to say.

When Esther stood before everyone she said, “I just wanted to witness to you that when I came in here today I was so grieved, as you all are, by the passing of such a wonderful man. But I must tell you that now I do not feel so grieved but rather comforted because I know Jack is still with us. Even though he has passed on, I know his soul still lives on!”

I know of no other explanation for these events except that the call compelled the answer–the events were probably not very commonplace and were so specific to the request I had made of heaven. And I doubt that anyone could come up with another explanation!

Thank you, beloved Lanello.

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