Elvis Presley History

It's the worst experience in the world: A loved one dies without the chance to say a final good-bye. Many of those who endure such a loss suffer for decades from unfinished emotional and spiritual business brought about by the unresolved sorrow.

That is what happened to a woman we will call "Clara." For twenty years she suffered a wound that refused to heal. An elementary institute teacher, Clara was brought up in a small Russian Orthodox community in Pennsylvania. Her mother and father were first-generation immigrants in the days when it was not safe to proclaim a Russian heritage. Clara recalls being punished as a child for telling others about her Russian background.

"My mother denied her past and lived a facade," Clara says.

When cancer claimed her mother's life, Clara felt she had never had the chance to say good-bye to her real mother. After five years, she turned to three years of daily psychiatric therapy and later tried psychotherapy again. The same thing happened both times. Traditional therapy could help her to a certain point. Past that point it was of no further use.

"I felt a pressure that no one could help me with," she says. "When your problems touch on the spiritual, traditional doctors can't do much. I had a spiritual injury that I couldn't ignore."

Prodded by her unrelenting need, Clara was open to an alternative approach. Her search for healing eventually led her to a healing circle through her daughter, "Laura," who learned about it attending a class at the Sattva Institute.

When Clara found out about the possibility of contacting the dead, she asked for a healing circle, even though Laura had some doubts. "I knew the offer of a healing circle was right," Clara says. "I felt it."

Despite her confidence, Clara was taken aback by the proceedings. "It was shocking when I realized how real it was."

Misunderstood and Abused

A healing circle--better known as a seance--is one of the most misunderstood and thus inadvertently abused of all spiritual healing practices. The very word "seance" immediately brings to mind what most consider the unreal and laughable notion of "conjuring up spirits." Derided by some, proscribed by others, the healing circle tragically has degenerated into the seance, a casual pastime with no more apparent significance or meaning than a video game.

A seance begins as a lark or a joke, a way to alleviate boredom, to enliven a party gone flat or to satisfy idle curiosity by seeing if something's "out there." Then, to the astonishment, dismay, and occasional real terror of participants, they discover that there actually is someone or something "out there."

A whole lot of someones or somethings.

A young woman we'll call "Tammy" found this out the hard way. Scared and bewildered, Tammy phoned one day, seeking reassurance and an explanation of the chilling and bizarre event she had just experienced. She and a friend had decided to use a ouija board to contact her late grandfather. Things went fine at first. The pointer, moving on its own, spelled out the nickname her grandfather had always called her.

The pointer stopped abruptly. Something changed. The pointer moved again but no longer to any purpose, as though whoever or whatever was propelling it didn't recognize Tammy or her friend. It tried to spell out a word that appeared to be "help" Then it spun round and round in wild circles.

The young women, now terrified, ended the session. At this point, all the tapes on top of the VCR tipped over and spilled onto the floor. No one was even anywhere close to the tapes when they toppled over, Tammy reported.

Just who or what Tammy and friend encountered remains fodder for a debate beyond the scope of this article. Clinical evidence that some sort of consciousness survives physical death does exist, however, and has been documented in exhaustive detail by physicians Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, Raymond A. Moody Jr., and Melvin Morse, among others.

The Soul is Eternal Energy

Such evidence and more strongly suggests that the soul exists independently of the physical body as love-energy-consciousness. The only thing we leave behind at death is the physical body. That's all. At physical death, the rest of self--our mental, emotional, and spiritual awareness--remains intact.

The death of the physical body, however, does not in and of itself endow the remaining awareness with wisdom or ultimate enlightenment. This assertion, of

course, contravenes extremely ancient and well-entrenched beliefs about life after death. As a result of these widespread beliefs, a lot of people who don't consider themselves formally religious are still secretly convinced that a nonphysical being is bound to be enlightened and wise.

These unstated beliefs are why so many people conduct their own impromptu seances, hoping to contact some disincarnate master. They'll contact someone, all right. As Clara and Tammy and friends found out, it's really very easy to communicate with disincarnate beings. That's precisely the problem, and it can be devastating. Curiosity-seekers who conduct seances without knowing how to protect themselves often end up like Tammy and friend: frightened out of their wits.

Why? Because they didn't contact anyone enlightened or wise. Instead, they had a close encounter with a disincarnate jerk, a being only too willing to play mind-games with them. Remember, nothing dies but the physical body. If a person in a mental institution dies in a psychotic state, that condition is unfortunately not going to change merely because the physical body has stopped functioning. Although no longer in a physical body, that soul will still be psychotic.

Keep in mind also that the only valid motive for offering a healing circle is the desire to be of service, not for self-aggrandizement or to demonstrate how truly spiritual you are. A healing circle certainly isn't going to convince a skeptic that life exists after death; do not regard it as some sort of experiment. It is no entertainment substitute when the DVDs run out, either.

Genuine Need for Healing

Instead, conduct a healing circle only when there is a genuine need for healing resolution between a soul dwelling in a physical body and one that is not--the latter termed "dead" due to society's very limited understanding. Clara's case is typical; people usually want to reach someone who has left the physical world.

Always keep in mind that while people like Clara will benefit enormously from a healing circle, there are many who will not. The motives of the person asking for a healing circle are just as important as the motives of those conducting it.

Be careful when screening those who ask for healing circles. Such a person is the inquirer. Hold a healing circle only for inquirers who genuinely desire healing resolution. A request is the first guideline. Let an inquirer like Clara come to you and request a healing circle after you have made it known that you are capable of conducting one and willing to do so.

Next, establish that the inquirer has some sort of emotional tie to the departed that is reciprocated. This two-way link can be through kinship or riendship; it doesn't matter and you don't need to know the precise nature of the relationship. The love connection counts above all else. The emotional bond and recognition are what draw the soul in question to the healing circle participants.

The preceding is obvious, thinking about it. If you were walking down the street and someone in the middle of a group called out your name, would you respond to the summons? You might, if you were to recognize and care about the person calling your name. If you didn't know anyone there, most likely you would ignore the call and continue on your way, probably at a little faster clip than before. This is precisely why adoring fans are more likely to contact a deceased Elvis Presley impersonator rather than the soul that once dwelled in the body of the king of rock and roll. There's no emotional draw to them on the part of Elvis, even if the fans worshipped their idol from afar.

After an inquirer asks for a healing circle, and after you have established a two-way emotional connection between the inquirer and the departed, use your Intuition. This is another way of saying your psychic abilities or four soul senses. Those soul senses can be invaluable in helping your left brain decide whether or not this inquirer is seeking a healing circle out of a genuine desire for healing resolution.

Preparing for the Session

Remember, just because someone has asked for a healing circle does not obligate you to conduct one. Check into the inquirer's motives carefully. You not only have the right to feel comfortable with the inquirer, you actually need to establish some sort of rapport to help ensure the success of the session. Do not force a session down the throat of a person whose fear level is too high. If you do, you probably won't get very far because that inquirer will be in a state of heavy denial.

Next, choose a place to conduct the session. The stereotypical seance is held at night, in a small, closed room that has little or no light and plenty of dark corners to hide the special effects apparatus. You know: the faked floating horns, thumping tables, and disembodied moaning and groaning. It is possible, however, to conduct a healing circle at high noon in the middle of a field--if that is what will make the inquirer most comfortable.

It's probably easiest to locate the session in the living room of a house. During the session, keep the curtains open. If the session is at night, the lights remain on but not glaringly bright.

Arrange enough chairs in a small circle to accommodate all participants. Put a box of tissues on the floor in the middle of the circle. They are always in demand after (and many times during) a session to mop up those healing tears.

The person who issues instructions and keeps the healing circle on track is called the conductor. The conductor invites the remaining participants, who should show up out of love and a desire to be of service to others, not to be paid for their time.

Let's face it: among the general public, the seance has a terrible reputation. Some people erroneously regard a healing circle as a form of devil worship, which it most emphatically is not. A lot of people have faked phenomena during seances to prey upon others' emotional vulnerability and bilk them out of lots of money. Avoid this issue simply by never charging for healing circles, instead offering them for free as a community service.

The conductor allows the inquirer to bring a trusted friend or relative if the inquirer so desires. The best size group for a healing circle is between four

and eight people total. As stated earlier, participants need have no formal training in using the soul or psychic senses. Make every effort to include people who've never had any instruction in using their intuition (psychic/soul senses) because they bring fewer expectations to the session and thus often are more open to what does come through.

Ask for Protection

The best candidates are loving and open-minded. Don't make the session more difficult by using it to try to prove something to that friend who thinks your interest in this stuff means you've gone off your rocker at last. Skepticism is fine. Denial, however, will hamstring the session by blocking the information flow.

One important point: the less information about the soul in question and the inquirer that the conductor and other participants possess the better. This helps assure the inquirer that participants received their information only from the soul in question and not from some other source.

The inquirer always sits exactly opposite the conductor, who decides where everyone else will sit. Again, use your soul senses to get an overall impression of the different soul energies of the participants. Then try to alternate a more masculine energy with a more feminine. This doesn't mean always alternate men and women. Some males have a very gentle energy, while some women's energy is strong, more push than pull. The mix of the two helps balance the energy flow around the circle.

Seat the inquirer's companion immediately to the inquirer's left, so that this person may send loving support to the inquirer. Put the participant with the

strongest energy to the conductor's left, so that this person may strengthen the conductor during the session. Instead of placing participants around a table, leave the circle open and put the chairs close to each other.

After seating participants, ask them to join hands, their right palms covering the left palms of the person to their right. Make sure they are comfortable, as they may spend almost an hour in this position. The conductor then directs all present to close their eyes and focus on their breathing. Basic biofeedback techniques for slowing down the breath rate are helpful and an excellent way to calm everyone down and clear the mind for what's next.

Once participants have relaxed, the conductor asks them to send out love from their hearts, down their right arms toward the person on their right until the love flows all the way around the circle. Ask them to use their soul senses to visualize that love or feel its vibration, to be aware that it is there or simply to understand that it is present.

It is this love, which is magnified considerably by group energy and which includes the special love of the inquirer, that will draw the soul to the circle and help keep it there.

Now, conductor, you can skip almost everything else written so far. But heed this at least, even if you think it sounds silly and won't make any difference anyway.

ALWAYS ASK ALOUD FOR PROTECTION.

You may call this protection spirit guides, or guardian angels, or a different preferred label. Whatever you call them is just dandy so long as you call on them. They respect free will and cannot act on your behalf without a request. So please please please, conductor, always be sure to ask aloud for each healing circle participant's protectors to stand just outside the circle and allow in only the soul sought by the inquirer. They'll be delighted to comply.

What's the point of this exercise? For starters, it eliminates completely the kind of spook bully that scared the bejeezus out of Tammy and friend. Ask for protection and you and your companions can be about your healing mission in peace and complete safety.

Thought-Energy Communication

After requesting protection, the conductor then tells the inquirer to speak the name of the soul in question. The inquirer verbalizes the soul's full name two times and a pet or nickname the third time.

Sometimes, the soul hesitates to enter the circle precisely because there are strangers present. If that's so, the conductor should ask the inquirer to repeat the same name sequence aloud once more. Other times, the soul is so eager to enter it doesn't wait until the inquirer has finished speaking for the first time. Usually, the soul will pass into the circle over the inquirer's right shoulder, but occasionally the entry point is different. It doesn't really matter.

Once the soul is in the circle, the conductor's job is to keep it there by sending additional love straight from the heart. The task of participants other than the conductor or inquirer is to verbalize what is called evidential material or trivia. Most souls realize they need to assure the inquirer of their true identity. They almost immediately begin sending highly personal and sometimes very specific information about themselves. If the soul in question doesn't know what to do at this point, participants may ask it for evidential material and explain why the inquirer needs this information.

How does the soul send information? How do participants ask it questions? Simple: via thought-energy. The thought-energy of the soul is received as inner visions, vibrations, words, or an awareness by participants' own four soul or psychic senses. The way to communicate with the so-called dead is through what we label intuition without understanding its full implications or its spiritual potential.

Trusting what they receive through their soul senses is a real issue for most healing circle participants. There is widespread ignorance about the soul senses in this society, which leads to pervasive and deep-rooted lack of trust in the information that the soul senses convey. This is why there is a need to teach people how to function as healing circle conductors in the first place. Provided the conductor is comfortable and confident with the process, other participants can be less assured and still be very helpful.

It is vitally important that the conductor emphasize to other participants except the inquirer that they are to verbalize every single piece of information they receive. Do not edit. Again, this is where the inability to trust your soul senses can really hamper your efforts. Time after time, healing circle participants have pulled information seemingly "out of thin air" about people or events that only the inquirer or the soul in question could have known. Yet they just as often hesitate to say anything, which can be counterproductive.

During her session, for example, Clara was finally convinced of her mother's presence when one of the participants talked about seeing a field of red poppies, waving in the wind. Then another person mentioned a cross; Laura immediately said that she saw a skull.

"I knew it was my mother then," Clara explains. "Red poppies were my mother's flower. She had them all over the house when I was growing up. The Skull of Adam forms the base of the Russian Orthodox cross. My daughter wouldn't know that. She was brought up Presbyterian."

The point? The information the soul is sending is for the inquirer, not the other participants. That is why it often seems strange to participants and they tend to shift into their left brains to analyze it. Don't do that. Instead, speak up. The conductor will have informed the inquirer before the session begins to respond to each piece of information verbalized in one of three ways: "Yes," "No," or "I don't know."

Sometimes the soul in question provides information that the inquirer isn't sure of or simply doesn't know but can check out later with family or friends.

The second part of a healing circle consists simply of giving the inquirer and the soul the chance to talk to each other, assisted by the other session articipants. This phase is always very emotional, if for no other reason than the inquirer finally has some evidence that a loved one thought dead and lost forever is, in fact, still living and very much found. The evidence is provided partly through the trivia, which is necessary to satisfy the left brain.

The heart, however, is much more open to messages from the soul. As the second half progresses, inquirers on their own often begin to pick up thoughts and especially feelings from the loved one in the circle.

The joy of such a reunion is impossible to comprehend except through direct experience. Resolution replaces anguish. Tears flow freely from relief, not grief. The healing spreads from the inquirer and the soul to every member of the circle.

Lives Transformed

Through a healing circle, Clara finally made peace with her mother--20 years after her mother's physical body died. Following her session, Clara found that other areas of her life also were healed. She felt more at ease with herself and less compelled to be with other people just to avoid being by herself.

Equally important to her was that she now had some terms for the psychic abilities that were always so natural to her and her parents.

"It was a tremendous eye-opener to realize the reality of life after death and that other people felt this way," Clara says.

Ironically, it was an unorthodox healing circle that reconciled Clara to the Russian Orthodox Church, which she rejoined. "The church is not open to this subject, but I'm in a whole different space."

Now, when Clara makes the sign of the cross and follows other rituals, she's aware of a much deeper, spiritual dimension to them. The ceremonies now hold a rich and very personal meaning for her. The rites are no longer just empty motions, done by rote and handed down as someone else's truth.

It's possible to rig up a floating horn or an "ethereal" voice in the dark. Indeed, the left brain can be manipulated into believing a lot of things, but the heart and soul cannot. No one can fake the feelings--the profound and powerful sense of relief and release that surrounds and embraces the inquirer, the soul, and the other participants during a properly conducted healing circle.

It's the kind of healing that transforms lives forever.