Chapter One - Passing Over

Joe's Passing

While usually there are many similarities in how people normally enter the spirit world, for those who die suddenly their passing seems a little different. Here is conversation with Joe, a young boy, now in the spirit world and being given training as a communicator. He was brought to us for experience.

Spirit: Hi, can you hear me?

Sitter: Yes we can hear you.

Spirit: Joe.

Sitter: Good evening Joe and welcome.

Spirit: It’s my first time.

Sitter: Well you’re doing very well; you are coming through loud and clear. What would you like to tell us, Joe?

Spirit: Oh, I don’t know whether you’d be interested but I’ve been sent you see. Practice, because they say... well what they mean is, that I’ve got the gift of talking, [chuckle] and they thought you might be interested in my story.

Sitter: Yes please.

Spirit: I’ve been here quite a long time...ahh, oh, I don’t know how to put it all together... but I lived in North America nearly in Canada, we were on the border really, and (they keep prompting me) there was a fat old lady on the throne of England.

Sitter: Would that be Queen Victoria perhaps?

Spirit: Did she wear a cap thing on her head?

Sitter: I think so.

Spirit: Her picture was in the schoolroom.... when I went to school that is. I lost my folks, they both drowned. So did I, but that’s another story. I was about ten when I was by myself and there used to be some do-gooders chasing me around to sort of go to school and live in their house; but no, I was independent like, and folks were good. If I swept their path, or gave the boardwalk a bit of a dusting, or helped carry parcels, any odd jobs, I might get a coin or a meal.  I made do.

It was a bit hard in the winter and I guess that when I was between twelve and might have been fourteen years old, I decided that I’d have a boat because we were on a river, or stream perhaps you’d call it, attached to a river.

I got lumber whenever I could. On building jobs if ever there were any bits; I’d do a few odd jobs and ask for bits. And I looked at other boats and got mine together. Just a boat for one or two folk you understand, and I was going to catch fish, the idea being that I could sell them and get a bit of money ‘cause I needed some clothes. I’d had hand-me-downs that never fitted for years and that’s tough when it’s your feet!

Well, came the great day and I had my can of worms and a little line, and the oars and an extra tin for bailing, ‘cause I thought she might leak a little bit. So I pushed her out into the stream and started rowing, and when I say a stream I guess it would be as... oh I don’t know anything about measurements... would you know what a stable for horses would be like; the area they cover?

Sitter: I’ve got a rough idea.

Spirit: Well imagine about three of them together... something that would hold about sixty horses. When the soldiers, or the Mounties, or the police came round they needed to have somewhere for their horses, so it would take in width about the same amount of area, so it’s a pretty wide stream. See?

Sitter: Yes.

Spirit: Well I'm in the middle of this and, crikey, I started speeding and I wasn't rowing! It suddenly narrowed and whisked me along, and I had to start bailing 'cause the water was coming in pretty quick. It had got to my ankles before I really noticed it, and I must admit that I was hoping that somehow I would end up by being swept into a beaver dam or something,  'cause the speed was so great that I knew I'd end up in the river, the big one - which I did.

By now the water's up to my knees and the boat's actually below the water and then... I think it must have hit a log or something, because it turned over. But I managed to swim up and hold on to the top, and by now, (because I think this must have been over quite a bit of time as I didn't have a watch) - well I don't really know what happened. I know that I got a mouthful of water, and I know that I went below the water but I came up and I'd lost my oars too … and they'd taken hours to make.

Then I was below the water again.  Something caught my legs. It must have been a tree that was going past. I'd lost my boat.

Now this is the part that you are going to find hard to believe, but the next thing that I knew was that I was on a bank. It was dry, and there was a fellow sitting on a stone looking at me, and he says, “We've been waiting for you Joe”. Now I thought that that was a lot of bunkum, call it what you will, 'cause how would he know that I was going to be there. So I looked at him and he said, “It's true Joe. How about you standing up and coming with me.”

Well I didn't mind the standing up bit, and that was strange 'cause I didn't stand up... I floated up! Wow! And then I looked around, and there was me still lying there. So I thought, “Oh! I've hit my head and I'm going funny”. But Joe said... Oh sorry I'm getting this all wrong.

Sitter: Don't worry about it, just take it slow; it’s a very interesting story.

Spirit: It's nice of you to say it.

Sitter: Oh, I mean it.

Spirit: Well, this chap, I don't know his name, he said that it was time that we moved on. So I took a couple of steps but I didn't go anywhere, I mean I must have gone somewhere, at least my eyes did for I saw that I'd moved, but I was still lying on the beach. And this chap said, “I think that perhaps you'd better sit with me for a while and I'll explain something to you”.

He said, “Have you ever heard of a soul?” Well of course I had, it was on the bottom of my feet!  But he said that no, that was not the sort of soul that he meant. So I said, “You explain it to me”.

So he says, “We've got two parts. One part needs to eat and be looked after and that part of me was lying on the ground”. “Well I could certainly see the part of me that was lying on the ground and he said, “The other part, the part that thinks, was what was sitting with him!” and he said, “That bit that's on the ground is what you call dead and the bit that's sitting with me is you and you know that you exist because you can think.”

So I didn't know quite how to take that. So he says, “What do you think happened out on the river?” So I told him about what I thought had happened. He said, “Well you are thinking aren't you, otherwise you couldn't have told me that”. So I looks at him and I says, “Yeah”. He says “Right, you exist 'cause you think.  Now that thing lying on the ground there, you've finished with it, so come on Mr Joe Think, we're going for a walk. You're what's called 'dead'”. At that stage my thinkery wasn't thinking, but I liked this fellow you know, he seemed honest, and he said, “See that light that's ahead of us”, and I sure could see a light. He said, “We're going towards that, and as we go you're going to see something”.

And you know as I walked towards that light, I saw what I'd been. I’d heard that your life flashes before you, when you're dead or dying, or something... well I saw mine. It was peculiar. There were some bits that I wasn't very happy about, and bits that I thought, “Oh well, that’s not too bad”, and this chap who by now had told me his name... he said that it was Michael but I could call him Mickey, or Mick; he said that when you died, the little bits and pieces that weren't so good… he said that you learnt from them. You learnt not to do it again, (that's if you had your head screwed on), he didn't quite say it like that but that's what it meant.

So I agreed with him that, yes, things hadn't been too good at times and he was pleased about that, that I'd agreed with him, and he said, “Well now you're with us, and this is a pretty good place you know”.
It was sunny, it wasn't cold, and you didn't seem to worry about food or clothes.  But I just didn't want to sit down and do nothing.  That wasn't my sort, so I was given a job... to help other kids who found things a bit hard when they came over, but they had to be taught that they were 'think' - and if they could think, they ‘were’ - and explain about the soul bit.  I'm not sure of that myself quite yet.

But because I was full of curiosity I used to see people like you sitting in little groups, so they allowed me to listen in to some of them, and because I'm always talking they said that I could be a communicator and you folk are my first opportunity.

Sitter: Well you don't have any worries Joe; you are coming through loud and clear. I'm interested in what you said about the sun though because I thought that you didn't have a sun over there.

Spirit: Well it's not the one you know. It's just that my first impression was that I felt... dry I suppose it would be. You see I took quite a journey in that river; I lived a lot of it, and I was like a dirty wet rag, and to arrive at this place that was so light, so bright, I guess I just thought of it as sun, 'cause I was secure. I was no longer cold, wet, or frightened because with Mickey beside me I felt all warm and wonderful.

And you know, what was rather nice was that a few of the folks that I had known, well I suppose you’d say on earth; well I saw some of them... they were over here too. They were here before me and they'd come to say “Hello”. Made you feel at home.

I understand now that it is home and that we always exist. I'm not good at putting it into words but I hope you understand what I am getting at?

Sitter: Yes, we understand Joe and I'm sure you'll find it easier with practice.

Spirit: Well I'm no good at answering questions but I could try. I'm told I've got to be able to answer some questions. I'll try. Have you got one?

Sitters: No thank you.

Spirit: You're the sort of folks I like. You don't ask questions. [Laughter]

Sitter: Could you tell us a little bit about your life now; you told us about when you arrived there, ...what about your life now?

Spirit: Well... you don't get tired. That's something I found hard… that there is no time when you felt that you needed to sleep. Sure, you can sit down and perhaps lean against a tree and have a talk to someone, who is perhaps doing the same thing; you don't even have to know them.

You see someone going past and you think, “They don't look as though they're in a hurry, I wonder if they'd like to talk?” and the next thing is they turn around and say, “No I'm in no hurry” and they sit. Now how in the dickens do they know that I was thinking that; but at any rate... that's what happens, and we'll sit and talk.

Now if it's someone like myself, it's just perhaps our memories ‘cause our memories can go back, but they don't go forward very much so don't believe people who tell you that they can see into the future. Because from what I can gather that is just not true; a glimpse, perhaps, but it's just like what you have with your dreams. You might dream something that comes true; then again you might dream a lot of nonsense.

So these people come and go; some of them are old in their appearance but I understand that you look like you think! Now I find that hard for I just think “I'm me”, and that's what I am. Some of them must think themselves pretty ridiculous I think. But I'm told that those are people who are full of their own self-importance, (many of them), whereas I'm not important. I know it, so why try and pretend I am?

Now that's sort of time-off that I'm talking about but quite often, somehow, I know that I've got to go somewhere. And there may be a kid... who hasn't realised that he can ‘think’ and that he ‘is’ and he is looking at his poor little body that’s had it; so I do a ‘Mickey’ and I sit and talk to him.

I don't know how he sees me, or she 'cause sometimes it's a little girl, but, thank goodness, sometimes they get a bit of comfort and I can lead them along to the white light. Now once you get to that white light of course they feel happy and they're accepted.

Now, apart from that, I've mentioned that people are pushing me to talk to you folk. Well they're sort of teachers or guides if you like and they're helping me to better my thinking.

Now apart from them, you can go to school. There are various sorts of schools. Now school is something that... well I dodged. But this way it's easy because you go when you want to, and you learn what you want to.  They say what you are capable of.

And another nice thing is that I've got a boat.  Now how I got my boat I don't know, but I was leaning back on a tree one day thinking, “Now how would I build that boat if I had another try”, and I don't know how it happened but there was my boat, and I thought about oars and all the rest of it.  It's something that I don't understand, but your thinking ‘is’, is what they tell me.  So when you think of your boat you've got it, when you don't think of it, it isn't there.

If you want to learn, you get the opportunity. But, when it comes to helping someone, (I said that I would do this you see,)… so when I know I've got to go I've just got to go because you don't let people down.

That's about all I can tell you, unless I went into a lot of detail and it probably wouldn't interest you very much; like the flowers, and the birds, and the animals, 'cause there's animals here. Don't let anyone tell you that there isn't, because there is. They seem to drift past almost in a world of their own, but there's a little black and white dog and I'm sure that it's one I had when I was a little kid; looks the same to me and we get on well together. We did then and we do now. So he must have worked out this thinking thing too, cause he ‘is’.

Well I'd better go now ‘cause there's another fellow here that says that my time’s up.

Sitter: Thank you for talking to us; it’s been most interesting.  And if you're going to be a communicator perhaps we'll hear from you again some time.

Spirit: Could be, just could be!

Sitter: Well we wish you all the best.

Spirit: Thanks, and don't ever worry about coming over here... but if you build a boat… do it properly!! [Laughter]

Note: This conversation with Joe is a mine of information and reminds me of Kevin who spoke through Brian Williams in Lucy Hale's Circle here in the UK. J. H. Dec 2010.

The source of this material is Ken Hanson of Waiheke Island, New Zealand, whose Cockney wife is the Medium.
Ken passed to the Higher Life in August, 2009.

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