The other day I had what seemed
to be a strange retrieval type visit, and this is
what I wanted to share:
There was a very successful artist who recently
died. I knew her slightly 20 years ago, under
odd conditions. And then I knew
of her,
indirectly, quite a bit more recently. I liked
and admired this woman enormously.
I decided to see if I could locate her, to see
how she was doing after passing over. I found
she had created a duplicate of the studio she
had painted in for decades during her life. I
recognized it because it was a place I had
visited back when I was acquainted with her.
She was painting away. She knew I was there,
but neither welcomed me nor told me to leave.
I initiated conversation with her, and this is
what came out:
-Yes, CERTAINLY, she knew she had died.
-Yes, she knew she could 'go on', but she
CHOSE not to cross all the way over yet,
as she wanted to stay right where she
was and paint some more for a while.
So... she was what we would call 'stuck'
for others in that place, in that she had
not fully crossed over into the light. She
was not ready to let go of her identity
which she'd had in her recent life. She
was not finished painting! BUT- she was
fully aware of her situation, so, really she
was NOT stuck. She was simply choosing
to do the process in her own unique way.
(She was much like this in life too- a very
unique, fiercely independent, individual.)
Seeing her making these choices was a
learning experience for me! Not everyone
needs to go across and into the light (or
however you want to refer to it) as the
immediate next step after human death.
There are detours that are appropriate
choices (not just mistakes)...
Before I left, I asked if I could look at
what she was painting. She beckoned
me over to her side of the canvas to look.
It was remarkable work, bold and colorful,
and radically different from what she painted
for decades of her human life. It was very
exciting to see. Working out these different
potentials in her artwork was clearly bringing
her great joy. And, I must say it brought me
joy also, to see what she was doing.
So... I'm wondering if any of you have
encountered similar situations?? Thanks
in advance for any comments!
***********************
Jaya: Yes, I have encountered similar situations; I've posted some of them here and called them "Contacts" rather than "Retrievals" Hunter Thompson was the most recent. Before that Susan Sontag.
Artists are very often the types who don't want to be moved on in the "regular" way. The writer Paul Bowles would barely speak to me and kind of snarled "What do you want?"
Mind you, angry teenagers are often the same.
Souls have every right to remain "stuck", just like anyone else, and their stay in some self-defined purgatory, as you noticed, can be quite therapeutic and creative.
I just offer them the option of "having a look around", and if they don't want to, that's fine with me.
For example, last year, a group of dead Kurdish soldiers in Iraq, gave me a polite refusal when I met them: they were convinced they could carry info about Iraqis back to their alive comrades, so i let them be. Later I met up with some dead Americans, who were initially distrustful, but later accepted my offer and quite liked the reception camp I brought them to.
Accepting the state of souls you encounter is part of the game we play here.
best, gordon phinn