Living Between Two Worlds – Part 2
The topic of the spiritual world grabs our attention because all of us, even the skeptical, are hoping for validation that there is more to life than meets the eye. While a student at the University of Maryland, I volunteered with the CARP club. We had a video library, and the most frequently borrowed videos were about life after death or spiritual phenomena.
After reading “Between Two Worlds” by the famous medium, Tyler Henry, I must admit I was curious about what it would be like to have a conversation with people who have passed on. (You can read more about Tyler’s book in last week’s post.) I asked myself, “What would I ask or say?” I also wondered who I would most want to meet. It seems obvious to say that I would want to meet my parents or grandparents, but I began to wonder who else would I want to speak with.
A Curious Invitation
After reading the book, I was invited by a close friend to an evening with a local medium. I thought it sounded interesting and decided to go. Before you attend such an event, you are meant to prepare yourself by thinking about the person you want to speak with, and invite them along.
I was travelling in Scotland prior to the event, so I didn’t think too much about the preparation that was needed. Nevertheless, it’s funny how life has a curious way of preparing you for things to come.
Pouring Over Old Pictures
While visiting my family in Scotland, I spent time with my brother. Our mother had died about six months prior and we were sorting through old photos, deciding which ones to keep. It was an interesting experience. The photos reminded me of things I had forgotten, and also helped me see my childhood with fresh eyes. In one sense it gave me a new perspective on a time in my life I rarely reflect on.
Some of the pictures were hilarious and allowed me to see how things have changed. Everyone’s dress was so formal. There was one picture of myself, my father and grandfather in a boat. I was around eight or ten. I was sitting between them proudly steering the boat. My father and grandfather were both wearing a suit and tie!! Nowadays, nobody would dress like that for a ride in a boat.
Picture after picture, I was smiling into the camera – holding kittens, digging sandcastles on a beach, enjoying a picnic on Table Mountain in South Africa, and dressed in fancy costumes made by my mother. I felt afresh, what a privileged and happy childhood I had experienced. My brother and I shared memories together and talked about our parents – all the great things they had done for us as well as the things we struggled with. I felt so much gratitude to my parents, I think everyone goes through some teenage angst – no one’s childhood is perfect, and mine wasn’t, but at the end of the day I realized all is love. I feel very fortunate.
Who Do You Want to Talk To?
Travelling home, I remembered I was meant to be thinking about who I wanted to connect with through the medium, but I didn’t feel called to communicate with my parents. I felt resolved. I am grateful to them. I didn’t have anything to say to them specifically. I wasn’t sure I even needed to talk with anyone on the “other side.”
On the night of the session with the medium, twenty or so people were packed in a room with two mediums. The walls were covered in white material and shawls. The interior decorator in me wanted to offer to help them with their décor! The session began, and I worked hard to be open to the experience. The medium explained that it was important to think of who you want to talk to prior to attending the session as people in the spiritual world are busy going about their lives and need to be drawn down to be able to communicate with people on earth. She explained that it’s not that easy to connect. I thought to myself, “I’ve already blown that one!”
Hearing from the other side
The medium went on to say that sometimes people on the other side are urgent to talk with us, and so they try to come in without an invitation. In transitioning into the spiritual world and through their life review they have gained perspective on their life on earth and want desperately to communicate their insights and misgivings with the people they love. This message was eerily familiar and reminded me of what I had read in Tyler’s book “Between Two Worlds.”
The medium went on to say that people in the spiritual world are not so different from people on earth. The heart and personality you developed in life is the only thing you take with you. This resonated with what I have studied in the Divine Principle. She explained that if someone was pushy on earth they are probably still like that in the spirit world. For example, sometimes when people are communicating from the spirit world, other spirits try to butt in, instead of waiting their turn, but she tries to manage that!
An Urgent Personal Message
Almost immediately after the session began, the medium said that she sensed a strong spirit from the back of the room. That’s where I was hiding out! She called me out specifically. The medium announced that she had someone that wanted to speak to me.
Over the next few minutes she began to describe my father. It was perfectly clear to me from what she said that my father was present. The medium explained that he wanted to speak to me. He expressed that he had regrets. He was sorry he didn’t spend enough time with us when we were children. She described someone consumed by his career. That was my dad! She then said that my mother was also present. She too had regrets but the medium wasn’t sure why or what they were specifically. I told her, “Please tell my parents that I had a happy childhood and that I’m grateful to them.”
The Heart of Parents
The medium then went on to speak to others present. After the session, I went up to her to express my thanks. She told me that my parents were urgent to speak to me even though I didn’t feel the need to speak to them. They had to say they were sorry – they had regret. I told her that I understood, but I also know that all parents have regret of some sort! It comes with the territory. I just want them to know I love and appreciate them.
The medium then went on to say that it was so unusual that they came as a couple. She told me that she hardly ever communicates on behalf of couples. Usually a father or a mother, or some other relative or significant person appears, but not a couple. This struck her as significant.
Love is Eternal
I found this interesting too. In Christian marriage, people pledge themselves to each other “until death do us part.” There is no “ever after.” Maybe then it makes sense that people don’t generally present themselves as couples. However, as a Unificationist, I feel differently. We believe that love is eternal.
Nobody wants to pledge themselves in love for a limited time. The nature of love is that we want our love to last forever. This is why in the Unificationist Marriage Blessing, couples pledge themselves to each other for eternity. We believe our marriages continue in the spiritual world. Why would a God of love who created the family not want them to live together, forever in the spirit world? I know I want to be with my husband and children, and their families forever. It made so much sense to me that my parents came to me as a couple. You can read more about the Marriage Blessing in “More Than Marriage” at www.loveasgodintended.org.
Reconciled with Love
I’m really glad that I did something out of the ordinary, in visiting a medium with my friend. In fact, the whole thing was a set-up of sorts, from my experience in reviewing our family photos with my brother, and gaining perspective on my childhood, to my parent’s longing to share their hearts and misgivings with me. God is a God of love and wants us to reconcile with each other and live happily on earth, and in the spirit world. Thank you, God, for stepping in and showing me something. This experience was a precious gift, not just for me, but I hope for others too.
