Written by: Desiree Holmes Scherini, Executive Contributor
Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.
When someone says, “other worlds”, images of outer space, and distant planets often come to mind. We may tend to think of “other worlds” as far away from us, alien and unreachable. However, each of us inhabit many “worlds” right now, that we just aren’t commonly able to observe. These “worlds” are simply levels of consciousness, and can be simplified into three, seven or even more, into the myriad of stages in between. In the three we acknowledge body, mind and spirit. These basic divisions include more subtle stages, into the seven: The Body, The Energetic Body – Life Force, The Astral Body (akin to the dream self), The “Animal” Soul, The Human Soul, The Spiritual Soul, and The Spirit (the “highest” frequency of our being. Each of these states is a world of existence that our being can experience and does.
As “human beings” we are most keenly aware of our physical world, our bodies, homes, furnishings, aches, and pains, as well as physical pleasures. While in meditation or sleep, we may become more aware of our Astral being, as our physical body rests, and our mind is free to roam through dreams, time, and space, without the limits of the physical body. Sometimes in deep states of meditation, temporary death of the physical body, or hypnosis, our spiritual being may travel even further, to the edge of the highest level of being, while our body is still in physical form. These experiences have been documented throughout the years. Some through near death experiences (NDE’s), others through meditation or even spontaneous events.
Perhaps the most difficult thing (for many who do not study or contemplate such things) is to fathom the independent state of consciousness, separate from the physical body. Our 3D reality seldom permits for consideration of the mind existing beyond the thinking brain. Luckily, in recent years, some scientists have given more serious consideration to the concept that our mind (consciousness) is indeed independent of the physical body. Near Death Experiences (NDE’s) have been instrumental in supporting this, as survivors have shown no brain activity, yet return to life with extraordinary stories of their time while “dead”. Many previously cynical researchers have come to support the concept of consciousness existing beyond the body after years of careful investigation. Among them is Dr. Peter Fenwick, a highly regarded neuropsychiatrist who believes that “the brain does not create or produce consciousness; rather, it filters it.” Fenwick states that “consciousness actually exists independently and outside of the brain as an inherent property of the universe itself like dark matter and dark energy or gravity.”
Similarly, Dr. Brian Weiss, a respected Psychiatrist, did not believe in reincarnation until one of his patients began discussing past-life experiences under hypnosis. After confirming elements of the patient’s stories through public records, he came to be convinced of the survival of an element of the human personality after death. As well, Dr. Michael Newton, Psychologist and Hypnotherapist, described himself as a skeptic by nature, who specialized in the area of clinically practical behavioral modification for the treatment of psychological disorders. He resisted requests for past-life regressions until a patient found relief from chronic pain by spontaneously going back to a past life experience of injury. This led Newton to a long career of using past life regression to help resolve current life issues, and even more importantly to discover that his hypnotized subjects could report back to him on their experience of the spiritual realm of the interim passage of their soul transiting what he came to term “life between lives”, where they passed between this life and past lives. His work led to thousands of spiritual regressions, providing case studies that reported unexpected and extraordinary correlation of the subjects’ experiences. Therapeutically it also led to deep emotional healing and insights, and he went on to develop and teach the hypnotic process of “Life Between Lives – Spiritual Regression” with Dr. Allen Chips, Through the National Association of Transpersonal Hypnotherapist, as a therapeutic tool for hypnotherapists.
As a hypnotherapist I have been lucky to be trained in Past Life Regression Therapy and Drs. Newton and Chips’ process of “Life Between Live’s Spiritual Regression”. Being trained for these processes requires the experiential component of being the subject of the hypnotic processes as well. Here I want to share my direct experience of the spirit world while in that state, but first I would like to provide a personal experience that preceded this, which provided me some confirmation of the reality of this “other world”.
My mother passed away in the summer of 2019. I was there in the home to help at the time. The morning after her death she appeared to me, in her physical self, while I was in a half-awake state. She had three smooth flat stones in front of her, and she was waving her hand upward and raising up her torso, as she raised her hand into the air. She said, “build me up…” and something about her bed. Her message didn’t make sense at the time, but I made a note of it, and told my sister and father. Two days later, while visiting the cemetery we were presented with the options for her burial, among them was the new mausoleum, a tall, smooth stone structure. We then knew that what she wanted was to be interred in the mausoleum for her final resting place (“her bed”). Following that communication, I had several dreams of her that I would share with my family. After about three months, my father said he felt sad that he never had dreams of her and missed her immensely. So, I thought, since she had communicated with me before, that I would try to ask her if she had a message for my father. As I woke one morning, I stayed in the half awake, closed eye state and asked her for a message. She did reply, with quite a detailed response for my father, that later led us to a wooden chest containing a years old loving letter to him, from her, in which she expressed her love for him and recounted when they first fell in love. It had been sent to him several years ago, while he was on travel but was returned “to sender” because he had left the hotel by the time the letter arrived. Neither my dad nor I had any knowledge of this letter before then, yet it held the perfect message for a grieving husband.
During that exchange with my mother, I felt that our “connection” was quite strong, so I asked more questions. “What is it like there?” I asked. She answered “It’s beautiful! Everything is beautiful! I’m beautiful!” I asked if my Godparents and my sister, who are all passed, were there, she said “Yes” and she even mentioned a favorite dog, Donnie, from before my birth, was there. Then, she surprised me, and brought me out of my state by saying “You’re here too, you just don’t know it.” This was the first of three confirmations that I would receive, that my “being” is not limited to the physical plane.
A month or so later, as I prepared for my certification as a “Life Between Lives” Spiritual Regression Specialist, I had several books to read. Primarily those of Dr. Michael Newton, in which he documents the experiences of the subjects who independently described their journey through the spiritual world. As I read the narrative of each of the subjects, and Dr. Newton’s overview, it was made clear that the subjects routinely reported that their “souls” were not encapsulated in the physical body, and that there was a portion of their soul that ALWAYS stays in the “heaven world.” Their reports were that while in our normal waking state, most of us are unaware of this, and we tend to believe that our whole “being” is only here, in the body. Dr. Newton noted from his subjects’ reports that “The average soul takes around 50 to 70 percent of their energy into a body. This can vary from life to life, depending on a soul’s body choices and state of advancement.”
Then, in late fall of 2019, a couple of months after my mother’s message about me “being there too”, I was preparing to give a presentation on the Theosophical concept of “Devachan” (best described commonly as a layer of “heaven”) to a Theosophical lodge. Among my references was a small book by an early Theosophist, C.W. Leadbeater titled “The Devachanic Plane or The Heaven World, It’s Characteristics and Inhabitants”, first published in 1896, over 100 years ago. He had mastered a deep level of meditation that led to psychic sight. In the book he describes the spiritual realm and explains that the soul, or spirit, inhabits several different “levels” of it’s being, differing in frequency. Among those levels is the physical body, and the nonphysical “bodies”. He states, “We have not at present in the English language any convenient and at the same time accurate words to express these conditions; perhaps to call them respectively embodied and disembodied will be, on the whole, the least misleading of the various possible phrases.” This he found more appropriate that the terms ‘living” and “dead”, as the soul never ceases. So, again, I found a reference to the soul or spirit existing in that realm, both while “alive” and while “dead”. I had three diverse and separate confirmations, separated by source and time, which substantiated the reality of the particular “other world” of the energetic spiritual body. With further study, I came to understand that my mother’s first communication with me was from the Astral Plane (where the recently deceased is still connected to the physical world), and a few months later, her description well represented her experience of the “Devachanic” Plane, to where she must have transitioned (where it is indeed quite “Heaven Like” and the being is surrounded by loved ones and beauty).
Then came my first opportunity to experience this “other world” through the process of Hypnotic Spiritual Regression! Unlike the thousands of case studies in Dr. Newton’s books, I did have some prior knowledge of the experience of others before my own session. I had read their experiences, and the similarities of the stages of the passage through the spiritual realm, so, I had an expectation of what I would experience. However, I was surprised to find that it did not fit my expectations completely and seemed to definitely have its own unique process for my visit. Similar, yet different enough to provide me with some confidence that there was indeed something “true” about the experience, and I wasn’t simply making it up based on what I had read. As with other things of this nature, unless one experiences it themselves, it can seem quite questionable.
My experience following the hypnotic induction (which is quite long) had me no longer quite sensing my physical body, however still aware of it. At first, I was experiencing just darkness, seemingly for quite a few minutes, until amorphous colors began to appear, moving and mixing. Blues and purples, as if lit from within. Then appeared a point of light, seeming like it was distant, and as I told my hypnotic facilitator what I was seeing. I was directed to go toward it (yes, the “light at the end of the tunnel”). As I did this I came into a space, best described as cave-like, where there were many different lights, orb-like, in different colors. As I observed them, I began to recognize them as friends and family, despite their appearance being only colored energetic orbs of light. Some bounced about, as if to get my attention. Then I questioned why I was seeing them, as I recognized them all as those who are still alive! I expected to encounter those who had passed on, not living!
It was as if we all greeted each other, and despite having no physical bodies, there was still a sense of emotion. When I passed into the next “chamber” this emotion became expansive and brought physical tears as I encountered similar energetic beings, but they were those who HAD passed on. Again, I recognized them, my sister, a pink orb, my Godmother, green, many others in various hues, and my mother, a golden and brown glowing orb that came toward me and seemed to embrace me in loving energy. To my right there was a large white light, which seemed to accompany me through the whole process. I didn’t want to move on from this space, but eventually passed through a tunnel-like corridor where geometric shapes began to fill my inner vision. As I progressed, they began to take forms like buildings, yet not solid. I seemed to float through them, experiencing a sense of learning happening. The remainder of my journey brought insights for this lifetime, with messages received, and my facilitator eventually brought me out of the hypnosis. (This is a very brief explanation, as the complete process took about 4 hours!) As a hypnotherapist practicing this process with clients, it has been fascinating to note the similarity in experiences they have had to mine, and the reported case studies of Dr. Newton. My own account is given here to offer a personal report of experiencing this “other world” that we always inhabit yet lies outside of our everyday, physical, perception of reality.
Throughout history, there are reports of the experience of these “other worlds”. For many of us, we have experienced at least a glimpse of them. As C.W. Leadbeater shared, and current Quantum Physicists report, our reality exists in different frequencies. Like a radio dial, we can adjust our antenna to receive a signal. We do indeed exist in many worlds at once. These inner worlds are available for the curious quester in each of us to explore as we expand our awareness of our expanded consciousness!
Desiree Holmes Scherini, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine
Desiree Holmes Scherini is an Award Winning, Board Certified, Master Transpersonal Hypnotherapist, Life Coach, Author and Intuitive. She helps others through personal intuition, spiritual exploration, and paths toward personal transformation, using Hypnosis and several other modalities including Cognitive Behavioral, Mindfulness, Psychic Intuitive and Art therapy. As an International Speaker and workshop leader she presents on wellness and metaphysical topics to various groups. She is the host of YouTube and Podcast show “Intuitive Journey with Desiree” and the Author of “Journey to Joy-The Written Path”. You can find more about Desiree through these links.
References:
Wikipedia contributors. (2021, June 12). Brian Weiss. In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 20:07, July 11, 2021, from <https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Brian_Weiss&oldid=1028146026>
Michael Newton, Ph. D Biography, https://g.co/kgs/iXbW6z
Jim B. Tucker, 2007, Children Who Claim to Remember Previous Lives: Past, Present, and Future Research, Journal of Scientific Exploration, Vol. 21, No. 3, pp. 543-552, 2007 < https://www.scientificexploration.org/docs/21/jse_21_3_tucker.pdf >
Life Between Lives Hypnotherapy for Spiritual Regression, p. 135, by Michael Newton, Woodbury, MN, Llewellyn Publications. Copyright 2004 Michael Newton, PhD
The Devachanic Plane page 40, by C.W. Leadbeater, Adyar, Madras, India, The Theosophical Publishing House, 1916
Intuitive Journey with Desiree podcast – account of communication with mother after death https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ghosts-and-the-spirit-world/id1431626147?i=1000551726558
