The next morning Carol felt tired and a little sick.
“Carol, are you okay?” asked June.
“I feel lethargic this morning. Maybe I could use a bath.”
Carol looked at her hands. They were darker than she remembered, and appeared opaque and chalky. She wished she had some of the morphine that had been at her bedside table prior to her death.
“Carol, I think I know what is happening to you. I’ve seen it before,” said June. “Once I was with several other people. One of them got all dark and chalky like you are. Someone said he was losing his etheric body, and moving into his astral body. We could use some water.”
“Yes, a drink and a bath sounds like a great idea.”

“I was walking the opposite way as you when I stopped at the boulder. I had just passed a spring,” said June.

“Okay good,” said Carol. “Let’s go!” and they started off.

“Apparently, our beings have multiple layers. There’s more to it than just body and spirit. Losing your etheric body is a little like losing your physical body, but not nearly as traumatic. The function of the etheric body was that it would animate our physical bodies, before we lost them. Sometimes, it is called the pranic body. It is the life force of the physical body. Yet earthly science has not detected it.”

“It must be the mystery that made our physical bodies alive. I always wondered about that,” said Carol.

“Yes, I have learned a lot since my arrival here that I never knew while on Earth. We’re in the astral world, also known as the intermediate state. I have also heard it called Purgatory, the soul world, the bardo, and Kamaloka. Kamaloka is Sanskrit for ‘place of desires’. Eventually we will shed the astral body, and one other body, I think, and the higher three bodies, of our originally seven-layer being, will translate to the spirit world, heaven, or paradise, called Devachan in Sanskrit. The last three of our bodies, collectively, constitute our spirit. I wish I knew more. All I know is from snatches of conversation that either I overheard, or were said to me in passing.”

“That’s more than the big zero that I know. I’m grateful for your knowledge! I did notice the cravings.”

“Carol, you might not be able to drink the water. I can’t either. Someone told me a long time ago I needed to shed my etheric body, but I still have not done it.”

They reached the spring in about 20 minutes. By this time Carol found it difficult to breathe. They took off their robes and blankets. Carol removed her scarf. June walked into the stream, squatted and scrubbed herself with her hands. Carol placed the toes of one foot into the spring. The water rushed by her foot and seemed to penetrate it. Carol took a step forward and brought the other foot into the water. It was beyond exhilarating on her feet, but was almost too much for her. She took another step and squatted next to June. She touched her face into the water, then leaned back all the way, then returned to a squat. Carol tried to take a drink, but was unable to swallow the water. “I think this is enough for me!” Carol loved it, but it was just a little too harsh, like an overly aggressive massage. She retreated to shore.

“You’ll acclimate to it soon, Carol. Why don’t you hand me your robe, blanket and scarf, and I’ll wash them for you?” June washed both their robes, blankets, and Carol’s scarf, then spread them out in the sand to dry.

Carol lay down in the sand. As she lay she felt pressure building at the top of her head as if she were pressing against a wall. At last, something gave way, and she exploded out of herself like a cannonball. She stood and looked down at a limp likeness of herself lying in the sand. A moment later, she realized what had happened. Her astral and higher bodies, including her consciousness, had exited her etheric body, much as the etheric, astral, and higher bodies had exited her physical body two days previous. She looked down at the etheric corpse, another likeness of herself. It slowly faded away.

Carol sat in meditation, because she was curious to know what was happening to the etheric corpse. She received a clairvoyant vision of the etheric corpse traveling to the mortuary where her physical corpse was. It slid through the outer wall, and hovered over the rows of refrigerated drawers where the bodies were stored. She saw other etheric corpses there as well. They hung in mid air, misty and ethereal, like ghosts. Then Carol’s physical corpse was removed from its drawer and laid out on a work table.

Women she knew from the synagogue removed her pajamas, washed her corpse, and wrapped it in long pieces of cloth. It was then laid in a simple wooden coffin. Joe, his two brothers, and another man, loaded the coffin into a hearse. When they arrived at the synagogue, the coffin was brought to the front of the meeting hall. All the while Carol’s etheric corpse hovered over the physical corpse like a cloud of mist. Carol’s astral body sat in meditation in Kamaloka, and Carol’s spiritual essence bilocated to a mortuary in California to observe.

. . .

When Carol’s consciousness returned to the soul world, June sat in meditation. Her skin appeared opaque, chalky, and darker than usual, like Carol’s had earlier. Patches of astral light emanated from fissures in June’s etheric body. It had clearly begun to disintegrate. “June, it is happening to you now!” said Carol. “You are shedding your etheric!” June’s etheric body disintegrated and wafted away a bit at a time. The etheric corpse slowly dissipated as June sat in meditation. An even more perfect body remained. Colored lights emanated from June. They made a transparent ovoid shape around the more dense part of herself. “June, you are absolutely radiant!” said Carol.

“So are you, Carol! Pretty colored lights are radiating from you.”

June’s astral body looked the same as the etheric that had dissipated, other than the glowing translucent colored aura that surrounded it. Carol ran her hand over her scalp. Her hair felt the same length as the hair on her etheric body had felt, which had felt the same as the hair on the head of her physical body immediately prior to her death, which was about a centimeter of new growth since her last round of chemotherapy two months earlier. June’s tight black curls looked the same, except that now, blue, violet, and turquoise lights emanated from her head.
They took another bath. They both drank deeply. The water was refreshing. The water against Carol’s skin exhilarated her, and was no longer too intense. The bath was very nice. Then Carol and June put their robes back on. Carol put on her scarf. June finger-combed and squeezed her hair. Their ovoid shaped auras extended beyond the robes they wore and the scarf Carol wore. The denser part of each woman’s astral body, the part that wore the robe, was approximately the same size and shape as the now discarded physical and etheric bodies had been.

“My husband is Jewish. He’s giving me a Jewish burial,” said Carol.
“It’s nice the way the Jews bury their dead right away,” said June.
“That is nice,” said Carol. “I’ll probably be tuned into that and bilocating over there from time to time. Just so you know, if I seem spaced out.”
“That’s okay, everyone here is a little spacey,” said June.
. . .
Carol went back into meditation to observe her funeral. Her next of kin were in the front of the sanctuary. This included her mother, sister, husband, daughter, son, daughter-in-law, and 22-month-old granddaughter. Other relatives were there, including Carol’s sister and family, Joe’s two brothers and their families, Joe’s father, as well as a number of friends. In front of the mourners was a simple wooden box. On the coffin two candles burned. Carol was grateful to be buried within two days of her death. She was thankful that she was neither embalmed nor cremated, and that her body was treated with respect.
Joe gave a long eulogy, He droned on and on about Carol’s accomplishments and how much he missed her. Carol stood right in front of him, and tried, unsuccessfully, to get his attention.
“Just another boring funeral,” Carol said to June, as she brought her consciousness back to Kamaloka.
. . .

“There she is! My little honey-bunch!” Carol looked straight ahead and watched a being materialize right before her eyes. She first saw a cloud of smoke or mist materialize that was shaped like a human. Then it solidified into the man she recognized as her father. He wore a snow-white robe. His features appeared angelic. He had a large halo of golden light around his head and body.
“Papa!” Carol exclaimed. She ran towards him.
“Careful honey, you’re going to run… right through me!” said Carol’s father. Indeed, rather than hug her father, as she had intended, she had walked through him. They both turned around to face each other. “You’re in the astral state, and I’m in the spiritual state. Give me a few minutes to solidify into this realm, then you can hug me.”
“Okay Papa, I’ve missed you so much!”
He reached down and picked up a pebble, but it fell through his fingers. “Another minute more, I’ll get here.”
“So you live in heaven now?” asked Carol.
“Yes, heaven, the spiritual realm, or Devachan, as it is variously called. You’ll be there too, sweetheart, just keep praying the way you’re praying. When it’s time, I’ll come for you.”
He picked up a pebble again. He tossed it into the air, caught it, then deliberately threw it a couple yards away.
“You can hug me now, gently.”
Very carefully, Carol circled her arms around her father’s shoulders while he circled his around her midsection. “Thanks for coming to see me, Papa. Do you remember June? We were friends during school.”
“Nice to see you, Mr. Mendez,” said June. She came forward to shake his hand. Mr. Mendez took June’s hand. “Nice to see you too, June. You can call me, George.”
“Okay, George. It’s really nice having visitors from your world.”
“Nice to be here, for a while anyway.” Then he said to Carol, “Carol, your spirit guides will come talk to you tomorrow. They will explain what you need to do to make rapid spiritual progress and get to Devachan quickly.” He looked at June. “They will help you as well, June.”
“Thank you,” said June. “So is your daughter.”
Carol smiled at June and shrugged, then turned to George. “Do you live in a mansion, Papa?”
“Yes, my life is amazing, just amazing! There is an ocean nearby that heals every pain you ever experienced. I swim in it every day. All my neighbors are really loving, godly people. Many of them suffered persecutions during their earthly lives. Now we all treat each other as we like to be treated. That is Paradise.”
“Do you see the Lord?”
“Yes! He lives among us. He is one of us.”
“Do you see God?”
“We see his light, feel his warmth, and experience his love. He is still a mystery to me. The best way to find God is in each other, and especially in the founders of religion, many of whom reside with me in Devachan. There are gardens there for the various religions. I have been to the Christian garden, the Buddhist garden, and the Jewish garden. I also was privileged to visit some indigenous gardens. There are many others I haven’t been to yet.
“Here in Kamaloka there are no gadgets, or instruments of any kind, but in Devachan are amazing musical instruments, and the music there is beyond your wildest imagination!”
“Sounds fantastic, Papa, I can hardly wait…. But I wasn’t persecuted, I persecuted.”
“No you didn’t, Carol. You weren’t perfect, and you lived in a realm that has not yet been made perfect. You could have done better, so could all of us. As for being persecuted, what do you think your disease was?
“Accept yourself, accept your life. Be grateful, count your blessings. Face everything you did, everything you went through, and transform it, one event at a time. You can do it! If I can do it, you can certainly do it!”
“Thanks for the pep talk, Papa. I’m very grateful to you!”
“My pleasure, call me if you need me. Love and blessings to you both!” With that he faded away.
“What a day! That was amazing! The way he faded out reminded me of a coyote I saw on the trail when I first got here.”
“Yes, animals have astral bodies, but they don’t have spiritual bodies. They come here with their astral and etheric bodies, lose their etheric right away like most of us seem to do, and then, after a couple of years — it varies — the astral body just fades away. They are not translating to another realm anywhere, they just disintegrate. That is what you saw, the final end of that coyote.
“Of course the entire dog species, I think, has a collective spirit. It could be, each breed of dog has its own collective spirit, but I believe it is each animal species that has its own collective spirit. These animal spirits live here in Kamaloka and direct their species as a whole. An individual animal does not have an individual consciousness, only a species consciousness.”
“That’s very interesting, June. That is the explanation I felt I would find. Thank you!”
Then Carol added, “The burial should be happening soon. Do you want to tell me anything or ask me anything before I go?”
“I’m still basking in the afterglow of your father’s visit,” said June. “Go ahead, do what you want to do!”
. . .
Carol’s consciousness found her name, Carol Landau, with her birth and death years, 1963-2019, on a neatly printed sign near a grave dug out at the cemetery. A few people were milling around, but she guessed that the caravan from the synagogue had not arrived yet. Then more cars arrived. The chairs at the graveside started to fill up with people. Most everyone ignored Carol, or looked right through her like she wasn’t there. But her daughter Sophie, stood next to her and communicated telepathically: Mama, I feel your presence. I know you are here. I miss you. Sorry that I won’t be staying with Dad for the entire week. I’ve already been here for a week. I drive back to Seattle tomorrow. I can’t cancel too many classes or my students will go elsewhere. I trust, hope, and believe that you are in a good place and are only visiting here temporarily for the services.
Yes darling, you are right. I am in a good place, Carol communicated telepathically. I love you too. I miss you too. Thanks for chatting with me. It means a lot.
Oh Mama, I love you so much!
Then Sophie’s little niece, Tricia, toddled up to Sophie and wanted to be held. Sophie picked her up. Tricia reached out and gently felt Carol’s face maybe, or maybe she just put her little palm where Carol’s face happened to be, Carol couldn’t be sure. But it was adorable in any case.
Carol tried again to get Joe’s attention. He stood near the grave while the Rabbi prayed. She touched his face. He reacted a little, but did not recognize or acknowledge her in any way.
. . .
Carol returned to the place of desires. She had seen burials before. She wanted to work on transforming her life events. “I had a sweet visit with my daughter and my granddaughter,” she said to June.
“Sophie has a child?”
“No, Daniel’s child. She put her little hand right on my face while Sophie held her. You know how some people can sense your presence when you visit their realm, very few really. Every attempt on my part to get Joe’s attention failed, even while he shared stories about me!”
“I realize I’ve been here two years, but I haven’t traveled much or even bilocated much. So I can’t agree that I know how people receive you, or don’t, when you visit. I will do better now though, now that I’ve overcome the fear of facing my past.”
“That’s alright, June, we all move at our own speed, depending on what resources we have, and how much we’ve been damaged. I know you will make forward progress now.”
“Yes I will. While you bilocated to your funeral I studied the energy theft that was done to me and contemplated how to get that energy back. I feel it returning to me now.”
“That’s wonderful, June. Shall we work on it some more?”
“Yes, let’s!”
They went back into meditation. Carol thought about Joe’s refusal, or perhaps inability, to recognize her spirit. It was very sad for Carol to realize that her marriage was over. Some marriages survive the grave, but apparently not hers. That’s all he promised, “‘til death do us part.” Why did I want more than that? She thought about his care during her illness, his attention to detail during her death and funeral. She couldn’t fault him in any way. He had been wonderful. And yet the inability to sense her presence and to communicate with her in some small way was just a deal breaker. More than her earthly life was over, so was her marriage. She recalled touching his face at the burial. He appeared startled for a moment, but failed to recognize that his departed wife had touched him.
Well let me be fair, she thought. Let me give him one more chance. Joe was home sitting on the living room couch with Daniel and Sophie sitting on either side of him. Carol bilocated to the empty chair near the couch. Sophie’s eyes met hers. Then Sophie looked at her dad, who looked faded and lonely.
“Mother is here with us,” whispered Sophie.
“How can you say such a thing, Sophie?” exclaimed Joe. “You were there when we buried her in the ground!”
“Dad, Sophie means, Mother is here in spirit,” explained Daniel. “She could be sitting in that chair over there….” Daniel gestured toward the chair Carol was sitting in.
“I don’t see her,” mono-toned Joe.
. . .
June and Carol were reclining on a sand barge near a spring in Kamaloka, each wrapped in a blanket. Carol’s spiritual layers eventually returned to her kamarupa (astral body). Carol replayed her father’s visit in her mind, enjoyed his antics, and looked forward to Devachan. A small, warm shape snuggled against Carol. She recognized the black cat who had befriended her the previous day. “Hello, Blackie,” Carol said. She petted him. Blackie purred.

Contents
1. The Hike, the Troll and the Lord
2. A Cat and a Friend
3. A Visitor From Heaven
4. Spirit Guides and a Child
5. The Date Grove
6. Rainy Day in a Cave
7. Jack and June Reunited
8. Three Men
9. Zen Bell
10. What is Truth?
11. Intention
12. Several Translations
13. Seance
14. Joe Calls Candy Carol
15. Landing by a Waterfall
16. Tara’s Funeral
17. Vada’s Crossing
18. Akashic Records
19. A Premonition
20. A Murder
21. Betsy’s Crossing
22. The Spiritual Robe
23. Totem Tiger
24. An Expected Birth
25. The Chakras
26. A West Coast Beach
27. Sin and Redemption
28. No Gender in Devachan
29. Cattle Pasture
30. Seeking the Great Teacher
31. The Sacred Shrine
Afterword
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