My personal view after a lifetime (lifetimes?) study of the Book of Between-States (AKA The Tibetan Book of the Dead) is: Walk on By. https://youtu.be/ijhL9Y7skQs It has more problems than an early Mets game, in my experience. But if it sings to you, go for it. I feel the life of a Tibetan muckety muck is pretty dreary and I've not much time for the "follow our teachings and you'll achieve enlightenment / awakening / salvation" set. Bart Simpson's catchphrase comes to mind LOL.

That topic came up for me just the other day. Religious communities are very good at it, and the same thinking appears in other communities including the "spiritual" community. A few examples may include:

• This [object] holds great power / I hold power when I use [object] / You are not spiritually advanced enough to use [object]
• I am from an ancient lineage
• I am a member of the high council / several high councils
• Follow my instructions and you will be enlightened / awakened
• My book is written by God and is inerrant
• All you need to know is in This Book / This Teaching
• All Other Books (TM) that are not This Book are false
• I have a personal relationship with [deity/higher power]
• I am personally guided by the great master(s)  / the most spiritually advanced beings
• [Great master] talks directly to me / through me (channeling)
• You can only access [higher power] through me
• My teacher holds / has unique access to the Truth (e.g. your teacher is a false teacher / teaches falsehoods)
• There is only one true teacher / teaching
• You can't possibly understand what I understand
• You can't possibly do what I do
• You have to die to get to heaven
• You are going to hell
• Do as I say and you will get to heaven / be enlightened / reach nirvana
• Poverty is grace
• You can't possibly heal yourself (without me)
• I can heal you
• You were born a sinner
• The body is corrupt (the spirit is pure)
• Woman is corrupt / inferior / unworthy without a man and children
• Being a woman is shameful
• Only men can get to heaven
• Only humans can get to heaven
• If you live by our sacred text you will get anything you want (happiness, wealth, love, material things)

Etc. etc. Been going on a long, long time.

Back to the Tibetan Book of the Dead. How many problems were intentionally inserted in the text/teaching to preserve the priesthood's control — e.g. refinements of any of the bullet points above. We can't just have any old schlub doing whatever it is they please, eh? Order must be preserved in the hands of the right people — such as those who "know better than you"!

Sure, ask away.

I deemed my preparation for (and process of) the the most recent guide work too boring to post. Since it's apparently not, here we go. I am skipping the business formalities.

The name of the transitioning person is all I really require. Once I have an ident I can locate anyone. The question I might anticipate here is: how do you do that? And I'm not certain I can answer that with any clarity. All I do is look. That's how I place my intent. It's action. Bruce teaches some techniques for placing intent. Me, I look. Whatever works for you ....

I brought this point up a day or three ago on another forum that is about ... hair. The sort on your head. It's a place where (mostly) ladies talk about growing and maintaining long hair. There is a sub-forum open only to site members where a thread for witches (and pagans and druids and what-have-you) has been going on for five years. I sometimes post to the thread if I have something useful to say. Someone posted how she used a smudge stick to clear her home of negativity following a period of many people and high emotions. I posted a reply to say that the power is not in the smudge stick. The power is in YOU, and if the smudge stick helps focus intent then fine. But the smudge stick has no power in being a smudge stick. It's a bunch of herbs tied in a bundle and nothing more than that.

Two witchy sorts reply:
"I totally agree with you. The smudge stick and smoke give you something to focus your energy on. You can do the same with just sitting in one spot and fully focusing, with no tools. But there is comfort in ritual."
and
"I've heard that concept phrased as "A good magician can do high magic(k) naked in the middle of a desert with no accoutrements whatsoever, but sometimes it's convenient not to have to dedicate mental energy to remembering every last detail." (Conveniences such as appropriately colored candles at the quarters, for example.)  "

No real disagreement from me, it's about placing intent. If it works for you, hey? Just so we all understand there is no power in the smudge stick or candle. And I don't need Buddhist's robes or holy books to facilitate a transition. Not that I didn't try. Once. It spooks the person who is transitioning, unless they were raised as a Tibetan Buddhist. Just not all that many in Buffalo, hey?

So what do I do to place intent on my client's transition? Um, I needed his name, and I asked for a photo, if available. The photo wasn't really necessary for me but it gives the family a sense of ease. There are certain expectations with people who ask for a service. Nothing wrong with that. When I show up to play a jazz gig I don't dress like Tina Turner. When I accept transition work I don't comport myself like a stumblebum.

The actual work part of the work started before all the agreements were completed, if that makes any sense. I knew when he was passing out of his body but I was also several thousand miles away and it was my bedtime. As I work outside of linear time I knew I could start in the morning, no big deal.

I had an ident. Check. I found him, check. And then we started his journey together. In 3D terms I started my journey from County Clare to County Roscommon. It's quite a drive. I'm actually doing two things at the same time. As above, as below. Celine and I stop for a bite to eat and I share a very humorous tale of a partnered retrieval. Here our transitioning gentleman is all part of the conversation until he gets all distracted by the church across the street. Which means I'm simultaneously laughing with Celine about how I found (in a retrieval) a woman who was a prostitute and gets big laughs teasing a very uptight man in 3D — as I also join the transitioning gentleman in The Lord's Prayer. It's happening at the same time. It all strikes me as very funny, and the humor at the table is all that is required. The transitioning gentleman "got it". HaHa, only serious.

The change in the mood is palpable at this point and now we are nearing our safe haven in County Roscommon. It is a magnificent new cottage on tens of acres of field and unblemished forest. There are peat bogs to the east, and the old cottage not far from the old, old cottage. The old, old cottage is a one room affair (roof long gone) and was probably home to ten people and a sheep or two for warmth. The old cottage got it's first electric line only ten years go.

For the gentleman transitioner, we safely reached his arrival point in the afterlife territories. It took quite a while, but hey, he wanted to sightsee, he had a lot of baggage and good-byes and you know, everything else because humans are like that. I took care to insure he didn't take any detours he didn't intend to.

It's no big deal other than it took me longer than usual and had a few more 3D plot twists than usual.

Some who transition from the physical are old hands. Some appreciate a helping hand.

What I observe in my own experiences are individuals who achieve very high vibratory states in India/Tibet/Wherever typically fare very poorly (vibrationally speaking) in New York/Los Angeles/Paris. It's one thing to get really spiritually juiced up in places that peddle it. It's another thing to sustain that high vibratory rate back here where life is more complex than spinning prayer wheels and churning yak butter. (Pssst .... this is true on the inner planes — we never left, hey?)

My experience is an individual's bounce rate is artificially boosted in certain environments. Outside that support structure, the individual's bounce rate settles to its natural resonance. This is why (my experience) someone can go to a very high vibratory function such as a spiritual retreat, and soon thereafter find they are their Same Old Self Again.

I see this often among "spiritual" people I meet. There is a "high" in achieving a high vibratory rate that wears off. For some it becomes an addiction. Naturally there is good money to be made by a certain set of people who provide the "hit" — whether it is an afternoon Satsang or a Christian tent revival. A "healing" that works on stage is real enough at the moment, and then wears off. Round and round we go, another fix is always available from the spiritual candyman.

My personal view is retrievers and others "in the field" are no different than anyone engaged in any pursuit. One does what one does because one is suited to it. If one isn't aligned with, say, medicine, why go to med school or nursing school? Some of course do it for the money / because there is work in the field. So, who knows what draws someone to a line of work? Pretty individual. Seems to me if you can do the job, you're hired. Especially if you work for free LOL Not exactly a big calling.

That I did this particular job in Ireland is coincidental to what else I was doing in Ireland (not a vacation!). I have my own things to do too. On this most recent visit with my friends in Co Roscommon I noticed the old cottage, did not go near the old, old cottage, and added these bits for story color. As I said, most of the work is pretty boring. I do most of my work at my desk in my home. Sometimes I do it over coffee and have been observed working in a creperie. I recommend the galette with brie, leek, egg and ham! The traditional crêpe with lemon and sugar is very fine too 

Last I was in the old cottages was in '14. I  did not enter the old, old cottage as it is structurally unsound.

The day after the journey I traveled to a pub near a monastery ruin for an evening of James Joyce and a Guinness, as is proper.

One way I look at it is a "frequency injection". A high frequency being can provide the hit of vibrational smack.

Oh yes, sorry, am working on multiple things at the moment. I travel a considerable distance Friday (two time zones). Yes I know of Robert Bruce, not paid any mind to him in many years.

None in my conscious awareness. No books, no audios, no videos come to mind. Aware of, but not connected.