What if you slept and what if in your sleep, you dreamed and what if in your dream, you went to heaven and there plucked a strange and beautiful flower, and what if, when you woke, you had the flower in your hand. Ah, what then.
Samuel T. Coleridge
Julie Soskin, in her book The Wind of Change (Barton House, 1990), talks of the soul “being our unique energy, each with its own light.” Webster’s Dictionary defines the soul as “an entity without material reality, regarded as the spiritual part of a person.” Larry Dossey defines the soul “as some aspect of the psyche that is not subject to the limitations of space and time, which may precede birth and survives death.”
The concept of the soul being immortal is not a new style of thinking. The scriptures talk of eternal life, referring to the immortality of the soul, not the physical body. As early as the 4th century BCE Pythagoras wrote of the soul being separate from the body and in death would be reunited with God. In Eastern culture, death is seen as a brief stopping point on an endless soul journey whereby you could be a pauper in one lifetime or a prince in another. Thus adding to the concept of the soul reincarnating time and time again until it has mastered the life lessons which the soul agreed to achieve.
What is Soul? It is the Essence of who you truly are
The soul is a candle that will burn away the darkness. Only the
glorious duties of love we will have. My soul is a candle that burned
away the veil. Only the glorious duties of light I now have.
St. John of the Cross
Plato the Greek philosopher is considered to be the first to write on the definition of the soul. He defined the soul as “a sensation as a communication between soul and body.” According to Plato, the body was “the medium for the soul.” Aristotle regarded the soul “as the sum of the vital principles as being to the body what vision is to the eye.” The soul was to him the true being in the body. While the definition of the soul has varied down through the ages, the one prevailing commonality throughout is that it is the soul that defines us not the body
I believe the body is the temple of the soul and as my work continues to expand more specifically in the area of light body healing and soul retrieval, I have found that no matter how much you may identify with your body – your body is not you. Remember you are eternal and the soul is that spiritual part of you that never dies. Your physical body has its term of the contract. It only lasts a lifetime; just like a pair of old shoes you have outworn, you step out of them to walk again in a brand-new pair.
The physical body is the vehicle that houses your soul while having its earth experience. The soul holds the consciousness of who you truly are. The soul carries within it the memories and experiences of all your lifetimes. The soul contains the divine essence of Creator/God which is within you and me and every single human on this planet. It is this Divine essence that gives us access to eternal life.
In other words, our bodies are simply empty vessels without the existence of the soul. Everything has a soul. An animal has a soul. A tree, a flower has a soul. A rock has a soul. Everything in the universe has a soul. Your soul holds the experience and the emotions of all of the choices you have made in this lifetime and every other incarnation of your soul evolution. Millions of people believe in the spiritual world. This faith may be expressed through religion or other belief systems.
I believe in the Divine (Creator or Source) and as the creator of the universe, the Divine embraces all religions and belief systems encompassing Saints, Buddhas, Angels, Ascended Masters, which are all part of the divine creation. As human beings, we live in the physical world where we uphold and respect the laws of our country. Whether we consciously know or understand it, our souls are governed by spiritual laws that over-light the universe. Our physical life is inseparable from our spiritual life and vice versa. This is becoming increasingly evident as more and more people are searching consciously for soul illumination to help them fulfill their spiritual quest. Everything and everyone has spiritual life and physical life.
A soul in the universe has a spiritual existence, it has a spiritual life. When a soul reincarnates as a human being, it takes on a physical body. Spiritual life and physical life are distinct from each other yet they are entwined as they serve each other. When life’s mission upon earth is complete the silver cord disengages from the physical body and the soul moves outwards back to the Creator/Source.
When my mother was dying, I found it a most humbling experience to be at her bedside during her final days. Coming from a large family, we were equally blessed that we were able to care for her in her own home surrounded by her loved ones. As a family, we held vigil around her bedside, with each member of the family spending quality time with her. Living in the country in rural Ireland has its blessings especially when someone is about to return home. The sense of belonging and being part of an extended country family was no different for my mother.
Neighbors came to bid their final farewell to a generous, dignified, and well-liked lady. While cups of tea with little shots of whiskey were drunk stories of old and memories of the past filtered through the air as we were comforted in our wait for her time to come. At approximately 8:30 am the morning of her passing, the palliative care nurse called us rather suddenly, saying there was a notable change in my mother. As we gathered around her bed, I could see the most amazing mist of golden light around her. I could visibly see that her soul was rising up from her body and beginning to move above her. I would describe this vision as a photocopy of her body but a lighter version of it.
At that moment I felt humbled to become the silent witness in my own mother’s transitioning process. I gently whispered to my younger sister Angela and asked her, “Can you see what’s happening?” She answered, “See what?” A feeling of infinite peace enveloped each of us as we waited for my mother’s time to come. Hours went by and she didn’t seem to be going anywhere. I asked for private time with her to check in spiritually to see what was holding her back. Through communication with my angels and guides, I was shown other lifetimes where she had died in horrific circumstances. The imprints of these traumas were still held within her light body.
After receiving permission from her soul I began working on releasing the trauma of these deaths. Upon completion I was Part 1: Fear of Death 25 guided to hold her hands and take her on the journey home through visualization. This was a most precious and sacred exchange between our two souls as I was spiritually handing her over through the veil into the next life. I requested a bridge of light to be placed before her as I knew there was no way she would enter any tunnel because of her mortal fears. Not only did I see a golden bridge, but I saw Mother Mary standing midway on the pathway. (My mother had a huge devotion to Mother Mary all her life.)
Spiritually I was allowed to walk with her towards Mother Mary, then I was told it was time to place her hand within Mother Mary’s and say farewell. This was a heartbreaking moment as I held and kissed her and reassured her all was well. She walked with Mother Mary, and as she looked back I told her, “It’s okay to go now.” She smiled and walked towards a magnificent light. Before the light disappeared from my psychic vision I was shown clearly my father waiting on the right side of the bridge with my young brother Joseph waiting to the left. Joseph was waving and beckoning her to move forward towards him. Both were there waiting to meet her and take her home.
Moments before she took her final breath she rose up from her bed, leaned forward with her eyes transfixed in the corner of the room. As she held that gaze she smiled at something, then laid back in her bed and moments later exhaled her final breath. Without doubt, I know it was my father and brother Joseph who came to take her hand and lead her home.
The Silver Cord
Dr. Dianne Morrissey spoke after her near-death experience stating, “I saw a long silver cord coming out of my spirit body, right through the cheese cloth-like fabric I was wearing. The cord extended down and out in front of me, and as I turned around, I saw that the silver cord draped around and behind me, like an umbilical cord. The cord was about an inch wide and sparkled like Christmas tree tinsel.”
In Dr. PMH Atwater’s book Beyond the Light, the near-death account of Alice Morrison Mays is given. Alice described her return to her physical body from a near-death experience. She remembers entering her physical body through the silver cord:
“Almost instantly I felt reentry into my body through the silver cord at the top of my head. As soon as I entered, I heard someone near me say, ‘Oh, we’ve got her back.’”
Those who endorse near-death experiences have felt the pull of the silver cord when it is stretched near its limit. They often describe the experience as being instantly retracted to their physical body – like stretching a rubber band to its limit and then releasing it back on itself.
The silver cord keeps the soul connected to the body throughout its lifetime on earth and is only broken at the moment of physical death. The silver cord has been mentioned in many of the world’s religions including the biblical reference in Ecclesiastes 12:6-7:
“Before the silver cord is snapped and the soul returns to the God who gave it.”
The silver cord is limitless and can stretch beyond the earth’s plane into the realm of spirit during our dream or sleep state. The cord nourishes the soul with the life force of God/Creator and only disengages from the physical body when the earth’s journey is complete. During the dying process as the soul leaves the physical body the silver cord becomes thinner as it is stretched to its limit and eventually snaps. When this happens it is not possible for the soul to reenter the body; this stage is known as the point of no return.
My Vision of Witnessing the Silver Cord: Yvette my Friend
During writing, this book three of my close friends made their transition home. I treasure all of them equally but one, in particular, touched my soul very deeply. Her name was Yvette, she loved life, her passion was dancing and she choreographed many a sequence for both stage and television performances. When she was diagnosed with cancer she accepted her fate with courage and dignity. Not once did she utter, “Why me?”
Instead, she kept her spirits high by listening to meditations, doing affirmations, and reading spiritual books. During this time she still managed to hold down her full-time job as a dance master and never said a word to anyone. She was a private lady and one can only imagine how I felt when she confided her trust in me about her prognosis. Yvette was a soul seeker and a highly evolved one at that. She showed great admiration for my work while taking refuge in the knowledge that this was the biggest soul lesson she needed to master.
After one of our healing sessions, Yvette asked if I could be with her when her time to transition came. I told her it was a promise I could not make as the soul decides its time for going and it also decides who (if anyone) is to be present as they take their last breath. However, I did say, “If it was divinely orchestrated, I would be humbled to share in your final journey and pass you through the veil into the world of spirit.” This made her very happy and with a cheeky grin on her face said, “Oh you’ll be there.” When the time came for Yvette to enter the hospice there was no fuss, no dramas, no procrastination, just a gentle surrender to the inevitable. When I knew her time to exit was drawing close, I worked on her energy body and began recoiling her chakra systems. This shamanic practice makes it easier for the soul to rise from the body without being held back by the limitations of the physical body. I could see her soul hovering above her physical body for hours before the most incredible phenomenon occurred.
Minutes before Yvette passed into the world of the spirit – I was blessed with the most miraculous and profound experience I could ever imagine. I will cherish it till the day I physically die. While I held vigil around her body my eyes were drawn to the upper part of her body. Time stood still as I absorbed the vision before me. For the first and only time in my life, I could visibly see the silver cord. It was a delicate luminescent silvery thread that was pulling away from beneath her breastbone.
During this time tiny particles of golden mist continued spiraling around her head. This radiance had its own life force. I could see the silver cord in all its majesty and mystery moving upwards to the top left side of her head. Suddenly, the cord was consumed within the golden mist. For one brief moment in time – I witnessed the point of no return – the silver cord vanished into nothingness as Yvette passed through the veil into the world of spirit. All that was left was a golden mist that formed a halo effect around her beautiful head.
Then the reality of what happened began to sink in. Yvette’s parting can only be described as a true Epiphany; as a surge of the most hallowed awe caressed the very core of my soul. There are no words on earth to describe the heavenly experience that I was privileged to witness. Nothing will ever compare to that rarest moment where life ends and the journey begins.
How could the soul not take flight, when from the glorious Presence a soft call flows sweetly as honey, comes right up to her and whispers, “Rise up now, come away.”
Rumi
Where is the Soul Located?
Throughout the ages, the soul has been the subject of much discussion and argument not only by its definition but also as to where it resides in the human body. Research shows that there is no true consensus on where the soul is in location. Philosophers, psychologists, and scientists, such as Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Swedenborg, and Descartes, all believed the soul’s existence was the most divine part of the human psyche. However, its precise location varied in that some believed it resided in the heart while others believed it was in the head. Personally, I believe the soul is the ultimate life force that animates the body. It is everywhere while it spreads its consciousness over the entire body. The most comprehensive explanation of where the soul resides has come directly from my spiritual guide Gallianna.
The soul resides nowhere in the body, for it is immaterial, yet it resides everywhere. The soul drives the mind, the will, and the emotions. Thus it lives within the mind, urging the thoughts to the Highest Will for its wisest good. It lives in the heart, driving man towards Good deeds and true love, unconditional, leading the emotions. And it resides still yet in the brain, guiding the actions and thoughts, embracing the memories, and calming the fears, yet it is a whisper and a consoling gentleness. Thus it is oftentimes drowned by the loud voice of man’s own reasoning, it is a persuading mother, thus it is oftentimes ignored by the petulance of the child acting out. Yet even more so, it is a warmth and a knowing in the heart, which can be so readily chilled by man’s own stubborn readiness to disallow compassion to spoil its plan. Thus all of the answers are right. But none of them are enough to know all that the soul really is, or where she lies. She is in all of you.
Gallianna, Heaven’s Ambassador
Meditation is a natural way that helps open up the spiritual channels within the body. With practice, a bridge of light is activated to your higher consciousness/God which brings you into alignment with your soul’s purpose on earth. In time, you will see images of the spiritual world and other dimensions beyond the comprehension of your physical sight. For those whose spiritual channels are dormant or asleep, the soul remains invisible. Your soul possesses incredible wisdom accumulated from many experiences and memories of other lifetimes. Your soul holds the key to unlocking the library of infinite lives lived. Your soul may travel when you are asleep to learn from your spiritual guides and teachers in the inner realms. (The concept of out-of-body experience will be discussed in a later chapter.) When you are spiritually awake and your spiritual channels are open, you can communicate with your soul. You will be fascinated at how much knowledge and wisdom your soul knows.
Soul Lessons: Important challenges to help you Evolve
Before you reincarnate there are certain lessons the soul agrees to undertake in order to redress any imbalances that may have been created in previous lifetimes. For example, your soul may choose to be born into a dysfunctional family. This dysfunction could range from alcohol/drug abuse and violent behaviors where total disrespect for humankind is ignored. Each member of such a family has lessons yet to learn. If these lessons are not mastered through time, the family will find themselves in a vicious cycle of repeated patterns lifetime after lifetime.
However, if a member of the same dysfunctional family in their next incarnation chooses to be born into a peaceful and harmonious environment this would break the vicious cycle of abuse. The soul now chooses to learn to grow soulfully within a loving family unit, resulting in tremendous advancement for that particular soul. When you have mastered the life lessons that your soul agreed, be it loss, compassion, love, illness, fear, poverty, or trauma, you will finally reach a stage of spiritual enlightenment.
What this expression means is that a person who has lived many lifetimes finally has advanced to a state of divine perfection. Achieving this state means the soul no longer needs to reincarnate in a human body as it is fully conscious, and its divine essence is reabsorbed back into the light of the creator.
What are Spiritual Blockages?
I believe that spiritual blockages are the result of mistakes made in previous lifetimes or your present life. There is a golden rule which states, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you” (Matthew 7:12): be mindful of what you give out to the world.
For example, parents who respect and love their own parents will generally have children who will love and respect them. On the other hand, people who do not treat their parents with love and respect will receive similar treatment from their own children. Generally speaking, if you show love to others, you will receive love in return. For a moment reflect on your own life and the lives of your loved ones and friends. Do any of them repeat the same mistakes over and over again in their personal lives, their careers, their family, or personal relationships? Why do they suffer from chronic health problems? Why are they stuck in the same patterns of behavior? Why do some have such bad luck? The answer is Karma.
The Bible says, “Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap” (Galatians 6:7), which describes Karma simply but perfectly. Life is a precious gift and what you do with that life is about the choices you make and how you honor and respect all life forms. Your life is like a balance sheet with the sum total of good deeds versus bad deeds. With good deeds, you earn grace and virtue, with bad deeds you earn Karma.
Begin today by reflecting on your mistakes and what is not working for you. When you are willing to acknowledge the divinity in others you are allowing them to continue with their Karma without you being a participant in their karmic journey. If you are unwilling or unable to forgive someone with whom you are in crisis, know you are stunting your own soul growth. Always remember when you apply unconditional love and forgiveness to a situation, Karma is healed.
Give yourself time to reflect on the following statements:
- Is there someone you need to forgive today?
- Is there someone you need to say I am sorry – please forgive me?
- Is there someone who needs your love and attention today?
- Is there someone you continue to hold judgments against?
- Is there someone who needs your hand of friendship today?
- Is there someone you hurt badly years ago?
If you answer “yes” to any or all of the above begin now by clearing your karmic debt and right the wrong of your actions. In doing so you will receive many blessings in every aspect of your life with good virtue being recorded in your book of life.
Exercise to awaken your Soul
To evolve soulfully one must master the energies of love, compassion, forgiveness, trust, gratitude, faith, grace, and humbleness. A healthy attitude rejoices the soul and the art of forgiveness empowers it. Develop a sacred communication with your soul as a doorway to your God/Self by doing the following exercise.
As you begin to answer take a few deep breaths and listen with that part of you that is awake enough now to hear the answers.
Make a list of belief systems that limit your growth, for example:
I’m not good enough, I’m too old, I always fail, good things only happen to other people, all people are bad, etc.
- Make another list of what you know, in the depths of your heart, to be true about yourself.
- Make a list of judgments you still hold about yourself.
- Make a list of judgments you hold about others.
- Make a list of patterns/mistakes you keep repeating.
Always remember the hardest lessons being presented to you are not always the easiest ones to master. Often those presenting you with the greatest challenges are usually your greatest teachers upon mother earth.
My First Experience of Seeing a Soul
In my personal work, I perceive the soul as having its own individual blueprint, just like the snowflake where no two flakes are the same. The first time I saw a soul was during a healing session with Frankie, a 48-year-old man. As he stepped into my healing room, I could clearly see his soul was looming outside his body in the form of a mirror image of himself only transparent. During the healing session, I was shown the exact time his soul exited his body. He was a seven-year-old boy in the care of his grandfather when he was brutally raped by him. At that point, his soul vacated his body in order to feel no pain from the traumatic experience. His soul remained disengaged from his body from that time until he came to me for light body healing.
Throughout the healing, his soul continued to come in and out of his body. Eventually, his soul agreed to be reunited with his body through a soul retrieval process. As an incredible light force encapsulated his body he walked out the door feeling powerful, in charge of his life, and happier than he had felt for years. Frankie returned for a few more sessions; with each time his appearance was changing, he was fresher, younger and most of all he had found a zest for life. He finally met someone with whom he intended to share his life without the traumas of the past coming back to haunt him.
Witness to real-life Karma presenting itself from a Previous Life
Many years ago I travelled to Mount Shasta, California to attend a spiritual retreat. Mount Shasta is a very special place. It represents much more than a mere mountain as it is one of the most sacred places on earth. Mount Shasta is a mystical power source for this earth and is considered the embodiment of the great central sun. I attended a series of workshops by Dr. Zhi Gang Sha on Soul Mind-Body Medicine. Dr. Sha was an empowering teacher and wonderful healer with a valuable message for us as participants. His teachings taught us the power of the soul to influence and transform all life. His most influential teaching was to heal the soul first, then healing of the mind and body will follow.
I was transfixed by the power of his words and the resonance they held for me. I had a sense of knowing and being familiar with his spoken words. During one of his talks, Dr. Sha put forward the theory that the Law of Karma is exact. It is a natural law just like gravity is a natural law. If in a previous lifetime your actions harmed others, you may decide to incarnate in your next lifetime to undo the wrongs you perpetrated upon others.
A wonderful example of this was magnified when a young American girl in her late twenties stepped onto the stage. She related her life story of having chronic neck and back pain since she was a child. Her symptoms were so severe that no medication could relieve her constant pain. As a last resort, she underwent serious spinal surgery. A mesh cage was placed inside her body running from the top of her neck down her spine. This was to help her walk without falling over. She was suicidal and her pain was unbearable. Dr. Sha had the ability to look within her Akashic records or book of life.
Her story unraveled: in a previous life, she was a cruel executioner and took pleasure in seeing others hang by the neck. She showed no mercy and delighted in the pain she inflicted upon them (it’s important to point out she occupied a male body in that incarnation). The imprints of past behavior were presenting themselves in this lifetime for healing. Her soul called forth the experiences and provided her with the opportunity to rebalance her karmic debt. It all made sense to her; she always knew she was stuck in some prison of self but could not escape, no matter how hard she tried.
With her permission, Dr. Sha cleared her light body and removed the cords that held her imprisoned within her own body. She had work to do but she was ready to bring harmony and balance back into her life by doing selfless acts of kindness and forgiving herself for the injustices she previously caused. When she stepped off the stage she looked utterly transformed, she was smiling, the pain had left her face. She looked younger as she descended the steps effortlessly and easily in comparison to her struggle to mount the steps earlier to go onstage. Her karmic cycle of persecution was finally healed through forgiveness and unconditional love.
When I returned to Ireland I was most mindful of how I interacted and treated others. I tried to uphold a non-judgmental presence in all situations where I was neither judge nor jury. I became more silent about my assumptions of others and only contributed to conversations that were positive and coming from a loving space within my heart. This practice of non-judgment has become my holy grail and one that continues to serve me gracefully on my soul journey.
The Sweetness of the Soul
Archangel Raziel explains the meaning of the Soul in our Lives.
The soul believes the common truth, that we are conscious beings capable of having deep understanding in a moment in time of the reality of the soul. This is because the capacity of the soul is an all-encompassing version of self, borne out of the four states of body form. It is an ever-evolving, translucent, look at the human’s interaction with its environment and the air it breathes. It is lodged in a place of higher power and is linked to galaxies and to the underlying truth that the mighty has done great things for me and always will. It is the part of us that allows the capacity of the human entity to float free from any restrictions on this earth. It is the part of us that does not conform to that which is not the truth as we perceive it. A soul will use its consciousness to evolve continuously.
It does not have a yardstick that it expects us to perform to. It weaves many varied paths to give us each and every experience that the soul needs to reach an understanding of its multifaceted self. It knows when it is happy. It knows when the vibration it is receiving from the universe matches the energy that it emits in response to the stimuli it has been exposed to. It will hold honor and order in the court of your life to move you to the best experiential experience possible for you in your human form as a high vibrational being. It will strive to align your soul to be a reflection of your creator in your highest glory. It is your best barometer of idealism for you and when aligned the human connection to the soul will be felt through oneness with all beings and entities which mingle with you. You will express these great moments of Euphoria and Joy.
Natalie Glasson
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