Exploring Cassy

by Margaret Guthrie

I had gone off away from the group after this discussion, needing to consider what the next steps should be. Maybe I could get to Louise, not in a dream, but when she was in the Cone of Connection, if she got to that point. Then I could tell her, sister, you’re not through with me. I’ve not forgotten you. Then I could look for that girl whose womb may be available. Not that I would encourage her to give a boy that chance, if I were on Earth and had any influence in the situation.

  Ray and I had never talked about marriage when we were together down There. It hardly seemed necessary. Recreational sex was enough to calm some of the hormones that kept popping up for attention and living together wasn’t all that attractive either. So when I thought of Ray and Louise in a relationship, it kind of blew my mind. Mind? My consciousness, anyway. Louise, the last I knew, had found work in a greenhouse and made flower arrangements for weddings and other occasions. I remember only one time when she met Ray. It was when we were all at Mom and Dad’s for some reason. I don’t think they even had a chance to do more than just meet. So what were they together for now? And Mom and Dad visiting that co-op yoga place? If I were to go back soon I could see them all together. But they wouldn’t know it was me, would they! If that’s the way it worked. So what would be the purpose? I’d come in as a different personality. Would I still like to hike? Would I still like to be outdoors more than indoors? Would I still be as restless and feel disappointed in people as much as I did? Or would a different set of parents change all that?

  Counselor came over, floating like a waft of breeze, and joined me. The others were off communing with some group that I’d not seen before. “David was trying once more to get the attention of the girls he shot,” Counselor explained. “Salvador, Gail and Ruth are with him to be a buffer and try to help them look at each other in a different way. They might even wander over to the Jesus group for a bit, and plug into the vibrations there. Perhaps Jesus will reiterate some of the stories he told on Earth. Or make up new ones just for them.”

  “So will the girls and David hear the stories differently?” I remembered how David expressed his feeling of rejection by them. I wondered which story would help them accept each other. Maybe one of the “Blesseds,” like “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall...” What was the rest of that?

  “They shall be called the children of  The One,” Counselor finished for me. “But you, my dear, are having some serious thoughts here. Different parents, different attitudes of those around you, all will have an effect. Your purpose? What’s the feeling you get?”

  I had to think on that. I suppose I could have come back as a child to Louise. But that didn’t appeal.  Especially if Salvador wanted to do that. That is, if Ray and Louise did get together. No guarantee of that yet, as far as I could see. So if I came in via another womb, my baby body wouldn’t have any filial relationship to Louise. “How would I then be around her?” I asked.

  “From what I see, the young girl will probably let her baby be adopted. So she’d be your biological mother is all,” Counselor said.

  “You can see all that before it happens?” I ask.

   “I see the possibilities,” she reminded me. “I can’t guarantee anything. Human beings do have free will, and they can be very unpredictable and irrational.” Counselor’s aura vibrated as if a shudder ran through it.

  I laughed. “Oh, my. I suppose.” I still hadn’t thought of an answer to her question about the purpose of going back into a place where I would know Ray. And Louise. “One purpose would be to see how he turned out. How they became different. Maybe that’s just curiosity.”

  “You can do more than that in your life, you know. What kind of work do you want to do next time? What kind of skills do you want to learn? Lots of choices.” Counselor started naming off a list—teacher of young children, or older children, botanist, forest ranger, historian, physician, lawyer, manager of money, farmer, explorer, inventor, writer, artist.  I heard her list many more things and began to feel dizzy with all that Earth beings could do.

  “Do I have to choose now? Can’t I wait until I’m born?”

  “Certain of your familiar desires and attitudes will still be with you, of course. I imagine you’ll still like to be in Nature. And you did enjoy being with people who explored and used their bodies in heavy activity. But if you have a few left-over longings to see the whole world, for example, you will find a means of doing that, and a family that will encourage it.”

  “Will the co-op people do that?”

  “They’ve shown an interest in conserving the earth and its resources. Looks like even Ray has found some skill in installing solar equipment,” Counselor said. It felt like she was nudging me to start making up my mind.

   “You trying to get rid of me?” I asked.

   “There is a certain window of Earth time that has to be considered,” she answered.

  “Right, the womb. People getting older. Earth keeps moving, night and day, season to season. Time marches on.” I stated these things in a stodgy, heavy manner, my aura slumping disconcertedly.

  The others had turned around and started back to where Counselor and I were conversing.

  We turned our attention to them. 

  “There’s a lot of activity in the Intake area,” Salvador exclaimed with such excitement that his vibrating aura threw off all kinds of colors. They blended, then separated, moved in spikes and sharp angles, then came together again in soft new ways.

   “Something big must have happened on Earth for all these new ones coming in,” Gail stated. Her aura was calm and contained, like a worried mother might be.

  “Another large earthquake,” Ruth said, “that set off a tremendously devastating tsunami in the Pacific Ocean. “Thousands of people have been washed away with their homes. So Intake is very busy rounding up counselors to receive the frightened and shocked new entrants. I might be called to help them for a little while. You see all those lights over there? Relatives who’ve been notified of their loved ones coming in. There’ll be lots and lots of smaller groups gathering that will welcome the newcomers.”

  “Anyone I know?” David asked, almost hopefully. “My father was sometimes stationed in Hawaii.” He studied the many orbs of light in their various forms.

   “Not this time,” Counselor said. “But we can all put ourselves into the spirit of love and welcome them from where we are.”

  Then a remarkable thing began to happen. I saw Counselor begin to pluralize herself, her aura slicing itself into repetitive patterns that spread all the way from us to the groups of beings in the distance. How did she do that? It was the most amazing thing. Would she then divide herself into many? or just continue like paper dolls linked together when cut from folded paper? But then, things didn’t really stay the same for long Here, and we all watched in silence and awe as more and more globes of light gathered.

   “Sometimes they have to bring in Beings from other planets,” Ruth said. She was still with us, not yet having received a call for her help. “That way, every entrant can be assigned a committee of at least three that will be there to help them with their life review. Then they will designate where they are to go.”

  “When do they see their family?” David asked.

  “What if they don’t have any?” Salvador worried.

   “You already know the answers,” Counselor told them. “Neither of you were greeted by family, right?” They both nodded. “And you probably had never thought that far ahead. But if you had had a long-standing belief that you would have grandparents waiting for you, or siblings, or parents, they would have done so. And if you had had a long-standing belief that you would be greeted by a Divinity you would have been.” She gave us a warm smile. “In no case will anyone pass over alone. Whether they know it or not.”

  “Well, I’m glad I came in unaware of what was happening to me,” I said. “I’m glad I wasn’t facing a big wave of  water coming at me and know I was going to drown.” My thoughts went back to that last morning, fe
eling dizzy and weak and not caring. A pretty easy death.

  “I didn’t feel dead right away,” David volunteered. “But I wasn’t afraid, either.”

  “The fear comes before death,” Gail said. “I had lots of time to think about Here, but didn’t have any expectations. I was ready to accept what ever there was.” Her aura gave off a look of puzzlement, and then she asked whether coming in large groups like this was different than the one by one route that we all took.

  “One by one,” Salvador contemplated. His gaze carried beyond us, over to the area where many orbs of light were interacting and lit up the space like a new sun. Then his attention returned to us and he said, “Either way, you’re still dead.”

  I almost laughed, but I could tell he was thinking something new, that he hadn’t shared before. He blurted it out. “When you’re young you tend to think you’re immortal. That’s why they get into so many accidents. They take risks. Those bikers maybe didn’t realize they could kill me with what they did. Maybe they thought I could pick up my bike and jump it over that stick they threw in front of me. Maybe they thought I was so strong and fearless nothing they did would hurt me.”

   Well, that was sure wishful thinking. Those bikers weren’t juveniles, teenagers. They may have wanted to never grow up, just be carefree and careless. But I believed they knew exactly what they had done. They’d had no conscience. So why was Salvador making excuses for them? His aura swirled in dull dark colors around his center, like flags waving in a breeze, then settled down to a smoothly moving outline in shades of  reds, greens, blues.

   “We need to explore that sometime, Salvador,” Counselor said, indicating she meant the two of them alone. “But to the question about these large groups. They just take more attention Here. But you see how we adjust to the situation. You’re amazed at how it looked like I became many? It’s just a matter of perception. We can make ourselves omnipresent when necessary, when we are called upon by many voices at once.”

  “So those coming in,” David began. “If they wanted to see Jesus, they would?”

  “Or Buddha, Confucius, Laozi, St. Francis, Mother Mary, or another of the many Divine Beings available,” Counselor said. “But it helps to have practiced calling upon the Divinity with intense devotion over a period of many years.” She gave us all a loving, motherly smile.

   All this activity and questions coming up made me wonder how many new entrants came Here over an Earth year of time. And, how did that compare with how many left this place and went back to Earth. Or on to other planets.

  Counselor had an answer. “The statistics you would find on Earth technology would show that about one percent of the population would die each year. With six billion people that would be 60 million, including about 10 million children under five. That compares with 136 million births, including 3.3 million stillbirths and 4 million dying within 28 days of birth. One-half million women die in pregnancy, childbirth or soon after,” she concluded.

  “Well, that was precise,” I said, awed again at the immense knowledge Counselor had. Not only omnipresent but omniscient as well. The very description of Divinity. And I was in its presence? But surely I wasn’t special. This Presence was here for everyone coming in from Earth. It gave me a shivery thrill up and down my aura spine. My aura was vibrating furiously at the immensity of what Here was all about. If only human beings could know! And I guess that’s what these Divinities were trying to get across when they told about sending Avatars and Saviors to Earth every few years to support the most enlightened ones.

  “There are always a few of humans who see the Light,” Counselor acknowledged. “Even in its darkest stage, there are a few who know us, who have that Cone of Connection operating full time.” A radiance of bright white light grew around her. “They know what it means to be one with the One.” I watched the light slowly expand. “Earth is not a totally lost cause,” Counselor assured us. The light around her was entrancing. It embraced all of us until we were like one ball of light being held in the hollow of her loving hands. For this moment we became the most  important endeavor she had.

  We looked at each other. Ruth reached out her aura hand to Gail beside her, then automatically we all followed suit. In this ring of light we rested as if we were bathing in the sun or relaxing in the best hot tub we had ever experienced on Earth. It was indeed heavenly.

  Salvador was the first to break this spell. He cleared his throat, or some such thing. Earth words are so inadequate to describe what happens Here. You could tell he was bursting with another thought that had come to him.

  “Research,” he said. Immediately the light around us began to diminish and we quickly became separate auras again. Salvador looked apologetic, but I think we all understood there was nothing he could do about it. “That’s a profession all by itself.” He wrinkled his aura face. “But how boring would that be?”

  “You’re considering this for when you go back?” I asked. It was interesting to note how we were all beginning to make our plans for the next life trial. And I do mean trial. One we couldn’t escape.

  “It’s entering my mind,” he said. “Which is still open to suggestions.” He looked at each one of us as if inviting our comments.

  “You could research what to do about Earth becoming overpopulated,” I offered. “Maybe Earth is deliberately shaking itself with earthquakes in order to get rid of some of  those mouths  it has to feed.”

  “Could it do that?” David asked with a bewildered expression to his aura. “Like it’s an organism? A live thing?”

   “You’re catching on,” Ruth said, her aura brightening. “If you go back to Earth with deep respect for all it is ready to give human beings, and be ready to work with its Nature, then you will have a purpose. That could be a really great thing, David, “ she said with genuine admiration.

  “Do you think that some of those coming in now planned their lives so they would be in that tsunami together and make it serve as a message to humans?” Gail asked.

  “You mean like group sacrifice?” I asked. “That when they were Here they thought up a scheme like that to go back and give Earth a big message?”

  “That does happen,” Counselor said with a soft nodding of her head. “It may be hard for you to understand how much we care about Earth. And it needs so much help,” she said with a sad little shake.

  “Or a big massage,” Salvador grinned, his aura shimmering with spectacular colors. “Another great profession. Massage therapy, or message therapy.”

   “Your cleverness is getting a bit strange,” Ruth advised, but her aura held a crooked grin. She was like an indulgent grandmother.

   “What if we go back and try to understand what all the different religions have done to Earth,” David said. “I mean, some of them have been pretty stupid, don’t you think? Sacrificing animals on an altar, for example. Killing each other because they didn’t agree on the rules of how to worship their idol. Capturing and putting in prison those who spoke out against the killing. Or that practice of shunning. Now that’s a brilliant way to stifle that love you talk about.”  His aura had changed completely as he spoke. From the bright white light that had surrounded him, and us all, he let it turn to pastels, then grey, then brighten to a brilliant, fiery red.

  “You started out with a good idea, David,” Ruth said calmly. “But how quickly you let human emotions get you riled up. What are you going to do about that when you go back?” she asked. Her aura was turned toward him and he stepped back a bit startled.

  “Oh, yes,“ he replied. “I do get passionate.” His aura was easing into a gentler pink. His whole speech had surprised me. He had changed. He no longer had the hangdog look I first saw. He now appeared more like a professor, or someone who knew what he was looking for.

  “Were you a minister in one of your lives?” I asked, for that was exactly what his appearance was reminding me of.

  “Probably,” he admitted. “Isn’t that what I was working toward last time?” H
e shrugged. “I really messed that up.” I think that was the first time he really recognized that bit of truth.

  “Maybe you ought to look for parents who want a girl, and who believe girls can do most anything,” Salvador suggested. “That way, they’d encourage you to do all that studying about religions and you could find the best one.” Salvador’s aura had a satisfied look about it. “It’d be like killing two birds with one stone,” he added. “You wouldn’t have to fight for the gender you think you want to be, and in this day and age, girls can be just as aggressive and pushy as men.” His aura became even more self-satisfied with maybe a bit of tease to it.

  Counselor looked on with a pleased aura about her. “You’re all beginning to realize some of the things you need to work on in your next life. When you become human again, you will be given all the emotions to express your divine self as well as the choice to express the ego self. If you forget the divine side, which you will be tempted to do, you will get caught up in making Ego king of your soul. With ego confidence, ego satisfaction, and ego accomplishment, you may find power over others and oh how it will pull you in more and more to thinking you don’t need any Cone of Connection. In fact, you may totally reject any concept of the One. That is always sad for us to see. But, it will be for you to choose. We will still be Here.

  ***