I just finishd reading" Greaves, Helen (1977). Testimony of Light. Saffron Walden, England: C. W. Daniel." (that was mentioned in The Afterlife Unvieled) which goes deep into Gaby's observation why the process of dying can be so healing.
Breo gives a few quotes, and I will mention a few others. Testimony of Light is a short lively presentation with small stories and reflections about the afterlife. The communication was written by Helen Greaves, and the source is her friend Frances Banks, with whom Helen Greaves had done spiritual practices and had formed a meditation group.
As this post got quite long, here is a short summary:
Those who are dying can be helped.
Those who have died can also be helped through prayer, as this can have effects on the other side that support the work of the soul and its helpers..
Now to the book, how it came about, the communication, its method and goals, followed by the points about prayer, group soul, density and the journey of humanity's progress.
At the end of her life, Helen, the medium, helped Frances, the future source, move on.
This gives an example of how attention and loving care proved helpful for the a person.
Frances had been in and out of coma for nearly two days when I received, by the morning mail, a tiny bottle of water. With it came a letter relating that this phial of water had been brought, by the writer, from Lourdes. It was, she wrote, holy water from the Spring at Lourdes. Could I anoint Frances with it? There might be a miracle! In any case, it would be helpful.
I asked permission to carry out this wish and was granted it. I took the bottle, and having been warned that our patient was in a coma, or asleep, I tiptoed in. Frances was propped up by pillows, ill and shrunken. Her eyes were closed. She was very still except for the laboured indrawing of her breath. I stood for a moment at the end of
the bed, watching her. Slowly her eyes opened. Recognition dawned. She smiled without speaking. Then the eyelids dropped again.
Leaning over her I whispered: “This is holy water from Lourdes, Frances.”
With it I made the Sign of the Cross on her forehead and the palms and backs of her hands. She only moaned. I stood beside her and prayed silently that she might go peacefully to that new life to which she looked forward so eagerly.
After a minute, without opening her eyes, she murmured in a dreamy voice:
“It’s all right, my dear. The Change has started.”
Then she lapsed immediately into unconsciousness. The next day, at lunch time, she simply stopped breathing. Her soul had gone on its new pilgrimage.
At the Cremation Service, at which the Reverend Richard Hall officiated, many of the mourners were ‘aware’ of her presence.
At the Memorial Service in London, which was conducted by The Reverend Canon J. D. Pearce-Higgins, M.A., HON.C.F., Vice-Chairman of The Churches’ Fellowship for Psychical & Spiritual Studies, I ‘saw’ her in her nun’s habit in company with her beloved Mother Florence, a past Mother Superior of the Order. This was afterwards
verified by others present who had also ‘seen’ her and who spoke of the habit of the Order in which she appeared to be clothed.
After her death I felt cut off from all spiritual contact. My mind was dry and arid. For some weeks I found it most difficult to meditate, or even to withdraw into the quietness of the soul at all.
Then one evening, a Sunday, about three weeks after Frances’ death, as I was sitting alone beside my fire listening to radio music, I gradually became aware of a Presence.
I included the last part to show that what many have known to happen, that the one who passed away showed up for the funeral, also happened in this case. Some weeks after funeral, the communications begins. Next are some reflections found in the introduction:
Comments on the content of the communication from the other side
Yet when I read aloud some of the scripts to a friend living near I was as astonished as was she that the stories were so fresh and intriguing; as if I had never been employed to write them!
During this time though, I was perfectly aware that I was ‘ under compulsion’ to carry on with the work until all that she wished had been communicated. Frances’ persistent dedication was still in evidence - I was the one most able to do what she wanted and what I realised she felt was the crowning of her earthly mission.
Therefore she concentrated on me. I must admit I cringed as I envisaged the publicity to come, for I knew that she intended publication. Often I wondered how I would lace the criticism and possible ridicule such a book would arouse . . .
But Frances’ strong will persisted; it was, as ever, the Will-to-Good. ‘These revelations must go out in the spirit of Service in which they were sent into manifestation. Her dedicated Self swept aside all obstacles I might put in their way. “Many may ridicule”, she insisted, “but if only a few are strengthened in consciousness, and helped to live closer to Reality, then our partnership has not been in vain.”
With this I must be content.
At the moment the book has 312 reviews on Amazon with a rating of 4.7 out of 5.
More on the purpose, the method of communication and small errors
In the communications, which are divided chronologically according to date of reception. Frances explains:
But now I am at liberty to tell you that this is not a solo performance on my part. Not by any means! There is a Band who help and guide me in the selection of incidents to be telepathed to you. In this, Father Joseph is most helpful, as he had contacted your mind previously; your husband also helped in opening the way and was instrumental in your listening to my mind in the first instance.
And later:
This then is the message which we want to put across before I finish the scripts:
( 1) There should be no fear of death, for the death of the body is but a gentle passing to a much freer life.
(2) That all Life is lived as a serial, that we go from one experience of living to another experience of living at a different rate, i.e. on a higher level of awareness.
(3) That much of what we thought praiseworthy on earth is mediocre to us in the Light of wider knowledge, and conversely much for which we blamed ourselves and were blamed by others, is viewed here from a wider angle and even becomes merit!
And:
But I am content and happy in the work to which my talents, such as they are, and the mental training I underwent on earth, can be applied. The Group is satisfied with the way in which the scripts have been transmitted and received. Such small errors as there have been will be adjusted, or will be of little matter, and I trust the book resulting will be of help to many souls on earth. It is only a preparatory pamphlet for I am still only in the preparatory stage of my journey. But it will serve, and by so doing, will thrice bless us all, to open minds of many to this new life towards which every human being is travelling, and if it makes plainer the answers to a few of the questions which have plagued those still in incarnation on earth, our task will have
been well and truly done.
The health of the medium and how it affected the transmission
We don't know if the "small errors" mentioned above were really small, but one influence on the quality could be the health of the medium. One communications explains why this may impact the communication.
25th February - Later
The Band and I have not been able to touch your mind in these last sessions easily due to the unevenness of your whole vibratory pattern. This factor is caused by the temporary ill-health of your body. You recall that I told you, and how surprised and critical you were, that I was not able to meditate whilst I was in those last difficult weeks of my body illness? Well, it was true, and now you see for yourself how the Light seemed to have been withdrawn from you during your own feelings of weakness and sickness. It is as if there has been a power cut in the electricity supply. Because the body entities are so real to us in our earth life, and because, as yet, most of us are not sufficiently advanced to supersede this body-call, we are cut off from the High Supply. The vibrations slow down - become grounded in matter - become denser and harder to penetrate.
About communication between Frances and other people she had known
This may also show what prevents the communication between those who have left this life and those who are still here.
I can travel in the mind and this I often do. I have visited countries of the world which I did not know. I have seen much and learned much. I return often to familiar scenes. I attend some Meetings and Meditation Groups and sometimes contact the friends and companions I had loved on earth. I do not find it an easy matter to ‘speak through’ a medium. As you appreciate, I have the conviction that there is no necessity for this. On this level of thought, telepathy is developed to a greater potential than was practised on earth. By means of thought transference, I endeavour to reach the minds of old and dear friends still in physical existence. Sometimes I am happy to think that my efforts meet with a certain response. At others the veil of illusion (even in those who should know better) interferes with reception and the contact is faulty, or is even rejected. But this will be so whilst those on earth still cling to the theory of separativeness.
How prayer from the living may benefit those who have passed on
I looked up prayer, and one passage explains how it can be helpful for those who have passed on not only recently. The following example is an extreme case, someone has been dead for 20 years and has still not become conscious enough to do a review or face his past life. The case illustrates how prayers for the dead might work.
I talked to our wise Director about this. Father Joseph said that although we are doing all we can, it is a pity that there are no prayers which could be said for the man’s soul from the inhabitants of the earth plane. Interested in this point of view I asked for explanations.
“Prayers and good thoughts” he told me “for those who have left the earth life, by their fellows still in incarnation, are a great aid to our work here. The prayer forms, and the potency of good thoughts, cause a quickened vibration to reach the one prayed for. As he is generally closely connected with his former life by interests and affections and memories, he is able to respond to such vibrations; thus he is much helped. Such petitions and meditations could be likened to a draught of healing water for the newly transmitted soul.” Our Adviser shook his head with what I felt was infinite sadness. “But alas, there is no one on earth to pray ever for the repose of this poor soul. . . .”
The person in this case had become infamous and had killed himself. One question is who might have prayed for him. His enemies, or his former friends, or the family he left behind. I don't know, but after the book came out, someone probably got the message, even if this was in English.
The process of transition and review can be difficult for some souls
In an entity which had become deeply sunk into the illusion of material existence, or which has never developed the mental body of thought, nor made any contact with the soul, this new state of existence can be one of extreme difficulty and confusion. This explains why there are differing states or Planes of expansion here, as I tried to show in my former communications from the Home. The Shadow Lands do exist for those who cannot accept release from the imprisoned self, and in these shadows, the poor entities remain until they themselves wish to find other and lighter abodes.
There is an example elsewhere, where four souls from including her go to the Shadow Lands, somehow she gets away from the others and meets a failed artist, who is somewhat stuck in his afterlife, but eventually his curiosity allows progress to come. The review can also offer difficulties:
Here we live so much more in the realm of mind. As we ponder over an experience or a Purpose, the mind stretches out to see all sides of the problem. This is a new and not always exciting or pleasant experience. It is rather like a chain reaction; much more potent and real than the old association of ideas of earth psychology. Here, as one thinks . . . one is. I’ll try to make this clearer.
There is no compulsion, of course, to review one’s past life on earth as soon as one arrives and the new life here begins. Some take a long while to tackle the problem. They dread to see the effects of mistakes and failures. . . .
Some of our patients here have got ‘stuck’. And that is where I, who myself am undergoing this kind of mental and spiritual ‘psychiatry’ am able to help them. That is partly why I have elected to stay on here for a space. I shall stay until my own course has become clear (both past and possible future) and until I have been able to rectify the places in the chain where I have failed.
Prayers and remembrance of those who have passed on can probably a be helpful not only for the transition process, but also for the continued work and healing of the soul.
This book is in line with the earlier books by Elsa Barker
(post), who was a medium for her lawyer friend. While these books show a person who is like a philosopher, spiritual practitioner, individualist, and very interested in the behind the scenes working of WWI, we meet in the book by Helen Greaves, the perspective of the social worker, teacher, student and religious person. The works complement each other, as do so many of the best of these books. There is is nothing about STS/STO, OPs, reanimated bodies where the soul has left etc. is not mentioned. But interestingly, she does use the term density, like in this passage about the Group Soul at the very end of the book:
The use of the word density
We spoke of the Group Soul.
Thus, as I begin to comprehend now, the purer and stronger the Light from each unit soul of the Group, the greater the advancement of the Group Soul Itself towards ultimate bliss of Union, towards that ineffable Light which will ever be the mystery and wonder of Divinity.
Yet each ‘unit’ must be proved, i.e. its Light must be subjected to the test of veils of density in other spheres of action.
So many units return again and again to the nothingness of dense matter, bravely asserting the lasting reality of their illumination. So often such units, clothed in their passing personalities, fall into ignorance, becoming subject to materialistic concepts. Some are blessed on their journeys by flashes into the Light, and in rare cases, the Light gained in these spiritual Worlds holds steady, shining through the fleshly masks to bless and encourage their fellow travellers in the darkness of supposed separativeness. Light shines from the eyes of these advanced egos, and is reflected in the magnetic fields which surround their dense bodies.
Perhaps my greatest regret now is the realisation that, whilst I was seeking and searching mentally, psychically and occultly to discover that ‘breakthrough’ to spirit for which I longed, the Light of the Unity with all things, all creatures, all Beings, all Hosts, all Powers dwelt within me in ineffable glory.
`I am the Light of the World’ means just that.
Jesus, the Master, reflected that Light pure and untrammelled during His dwelling in the density of crude matter. The Light dwells in all of us as a shining effulgence, the Light of Oneness with all Spirit, the blessed awareness and acknowledgement of unity with all creation from the lesser to the Higher Orders, even to the Throne of Grace Itself.
‘Let your Light so shine before men . . .’ is essentially a fact here where each is revealed by his light.
May it be true then, of those who read these words on earth. May the Light of Awareness of Divine Unity shine through the illusive and temporal veils of assumed personalities, so that, in preparation for this further experience, they may indeed be known by their Light.
God Bless You all.
December 1967 (Sussex)
About the challenges offered by technology and the future of mankind
The example below concerns knowledge of the atom, but today we could think of GMO, surveillance technology, computers etc
I was able to have a word or two with Pierre Curie, even though on earth he was a Frenchman and my French was never fluent. Language affords no difficulty over here; and I yet do not know if I spoke in French or he in English. Or even if, in the earthly sense we ‘spoke’ at all!
He referred to the sad prostitution of the usefulness of the atom and its power. Mankind is poisoning not only the earth on which these particles of atomic dust settle, but the atmosphere itself; the envelope of the earth sphere, as well as herbage and animal, bird and human life.
I asked him if he now regretted his life work. He shook his head.
“Not at all. Progress must always present a dark and a light side to those who live almost entirely in the gloom of a slow inert vibration. Our work is to try to enlighten the vibrations of the earth plane so that these oppositions are not allowed to continue to act in negative ways. There can be no comparison, of course, between the ignorant mind, which was ready to fight for his belief that his world was square, and the partially-freed mind which knows, not only that the earth is a ball of matter that is forever circling, but also that it is merely a conglomeration of atoms held together by a fixed vibratory rate.”
Doctor X intervened. “And what about the diseases man is bringing upon his kind through his abuses? And the possibility of complete annihilation by the very method of atomic power for destruction which he has discovered?”
Pierre Curie spread his hands in a gesture of resignation.
“Mankind must progress. It learns slowly and such slow progress with many mistakes brings pain. But if you regard life from the angle of an eternal process you get a different feeling about it. The Life Force is not expanded on only one terrestrial globe. Neither is it ended by being precipitated from that globe by what humanity calls death. Here we see a little further along the Eternal Road, but only a limited distance. As we learn to purify our vibrations, to enlighten our ‘bodies’ and thus refine them into the actuality of receiving more Light from the Divine Mind, so we progress onwards. Doors open to us which were closed before; perception grows clearer and keener and we are able to comprehend more fully the true meaning and purpose for which the Life Force has descended into the slowest and most inert
vibration.”
“And the people of earth?” the Doctor persisted.
“Will return and return after they have made their souls more capable of transmitting this Life Force in order to transmute the density of earth vibration into a higher frequency.