That Sharp Stick in your Eye by Tina Erwin

       If you have a sharp stick in your eye, it is extremely difficult to heal your eye until you actually remove that sharp stick. Metaphorically meaning that before you can correct a problem, you have to understand the root of the problem and sometimes it is so obvious that you can’t see it because it completely takes up all of your vision. Let’s use this example.

       Recently I received a request to psychically clear an antique shop in Solana Beach, California. The client said that they were sure that there were ghosts, and maybe something more, something that felt really dark there so they asked if I could just ‘clear’ it.

       That’s a pretty straightforward request. However, when you work in the world of metaphysics, nothing is, as it seems.

       First of all you can never fully clear any antique shop because some ghosts forever attach themselves to certain pieces of worldly goods and stay with those mortally created things, be they jewelry, a bed a couple may have slept in for 60 years, or a teddy bear cherished by a ghostly child. So the antique shop owner will have that ghost until the item is sold.

       What can any intuitive, worth his or her salt actually do in an antique shop? The only thing you can do is to clear it for the moment. Then if you have that skill, you can clear the property through the stacks of time, removing any haunting predecessor energy. However, a ghost may come in with the next antique piece of furniture, so no antique shop is ever fully cleared. However, a ghost is one thing, dark beings are quite another and those have a very different cause.

       Back to our shop in Solana Beach: so before I accepted the job of clearing this shop I asked the shop owner if she had a Tarot deck. I always start there, because this is the most common form of entry-level black magic and it will always contaminate any location for an unending amount of time. She said that she did own a deck but claimed that she never used it. I asked her if she kept it by her bed. Yes, she replied, and wondered how I knew this. People who own Tarot decks routinely keep them either under their bed, in their nightstand or somewhere in their bedroom. There is a reason for this.

       You can never clear any location be it shop or home or person, as long as someone close to the situation owns a Tarot deck, a Ouija Board or actively plays Dungeons and Dragons. The reason is that each of these extremely toxic tools of the dark side, opens a doorway to a dark world that few if any mortals know is now open, much less have any idea how to close. And very, very frequently, these tools, especially Tarot are kept in a bedroom because the dark side accesses the owner in the sleep state. Once you own them, whether or not you ever use them, these cards now own you. Tarot gives the card reader or deck owner, an illusion of false power. The card deck owner however, instantly becomes the pawn of a darker intelligence and this being will suck energy not just from the deck owner, but the owner’s family and any hapless person who ever asks for ‘a reading.’

       So I asked the antique shop owner if she would be willing to destroy her Tarot deck explaining how much darkness the deck was bringing to her life. She became instantly defensive and said she would think about it and get back to me. I never heard from her again.

       That Tarot deck was the sharp stick in her eye. She was unable to see how it was affecting her because it was so effectively blinding her vision. Tarot deck owners pretty routinely defend their deck. The pawn is readily directed to hold onto that toxic card deck/strings of control.

       All pawns have power, even pawns manipulated by a dark intelligence. All she had to do was to burn that deck, something she was most reluctant to do. It takes a surprising amount of effort to burn a Tarot deck because there will be active resistance but once you do and then you psychically clean and clear your house you will be in much better shape.

       Ironically, the antique shop owner knew that something was wrong, that something felt off and didn’t quite know what that was so she sought someone to help her. However, at the end of the day, she was unwilling to give up her cards even though she kept insisting that she wasn’t using them and they couldn’t possibly be influencing her. Tarot decks always influence you, whether you use them or not. If you do use them and do ‘readings,’ you incur the karma of now, negatively influencing each person you contaminate with your cards. This is why the person receiving the reading, shuffles the deck: a connecting cord with that card deck and the hapless fortune seeker is instantly, and forever created. It’s a very toxic cord.

       When the shop owner refused to burn her deck, I knew I would never hear from her again. A haunted antique shop is one thing, but a shop connected to darker intelligences is quite another. It is unlikely that the shop will do as well as they hope it will because of what they are chronically connected to in the sleep state. It’s amazing how this works. It’s like leaving your front door open in winter: you will never be able to heat your space if you leave your door open. And no psychic can clear any space if the owner owns one of these toxic ‘sharp stick in your eye’ Tarot decks.     

Himalayan Salt Lamp Benefits Part 1

The following information was taken from: http://www.gemrockauctions.com/learn/gemstone-articles/himalayan-salt-lamp-benefits 

Himalayan Salt Lamp Benefits

Many ancient civilizations have considered salt an extremely important commodity, from ancient Mayan to ancient Egyptian  and  today we are only just again realizing how good salt is for us.

       

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Benefits of Himalayan Salt

250 Million years Old

Experience Himalayan Salt! Created by Mother nature for 250 Million Years in the Making

It has been acknowledged worldwide that the following are benefits derived from the Himalayan
Salts are the following:
1) It helps with dry skin problems e.g. eczema and psoriasis
2) Aids in faster healing of wounds
3) Aids in tissue alkalization
4) Helps with relaxation of deep tissues
5) Helps cleanse and detoxify
6) Aids in ones well being and energises the body
7) Aids in the positive mood swings
8) It aids in balancing the endocrine system
9) Enhances more energy bringing about sense of well being
10) Aids in the rejuvenation of the body
11) Helps absorption good nutrients for the body and eliminated toxins

12) Himalayan salt is much better and healthier alternative to table salt.

13) It has also proven that salts provides soothing and calming effect to the body

14) Salt helps with achieving good sleep.

15) Himalayan salt dispels stress

16) Himalayan Salt is a natural ionizer ridding the air from dust mites and bacteria, therefore helps with the

better quality of air that we breathe.

17) It helps replace harmful ions from electrical gadgets and helps balance with healthy negative ions.

18) Himalayan Salts aids in ones concentration.

19) Himalayan Salts had been known to have 84 mineral & trace elements.

20) Himalayan salts helps and aids in rebalancing the bodies frequencies and vibrations.

     

Use Himalyan salt lamps for your computers with multi-colour LED lights

HIMALAYAN SALT LAMP

The purest of salt in the world was formed many millions of years and found deep in the foothills of the Himalayan mountains. Crafty artists, hand carve and shape the salt crystals that are used in the making of the Himalayan Salt Crystal lamps.

Each Himalayan Salt Crystal lamps is unique, as they vary in different shades of color, design, also shape and size differ. Designs vary as it can be a Salt Crystal lamp, or candle holders with special bases. The soft glow of the lamps gives an impression of an enchanting surrounding, it  refreshes and gives one a nice sensation.

Himalayan Salt Crystals lamps can be placed in any room that needs air freshening. Himalayan Salt Crystal Lamps have been highly recommended for placement in smoking areas, baby rooms, kitchen as well as laundry areas because they help refresh the rooms.

For people who are around computers a lot, it is highly suggested that a Himalayan Salt crystal lamp be placed beside your computer as it affects how your work, because it gives Negative Ions and alleviates humidity and freshens the air.

The soft glowing light emitted from the Himalayan Salt Crystal lamps create and sets the mood for awakening ones sense of imagination. Its been well recorded in past history of the benefits of salt. It had been traded as currency.

Salt aids in the preservation of food as well as a tonic drink. Salt had been regarded to rejuvenate the body. Surrounding oneself with salt crystal rocks relieves one of respiratory, asthma and allergy illnesses. Joint pains are also alleviated when you are surrounded by the rock salt crystals.

The Negative Ions in the rock salt crystals clears our the bronchial passages therefore ridding of bacteria and microbes. Himalayan salt crystal lamps are known to be natural Negative Ion generators. Himalayan Salt crystals lamps are naturally known to attract moisture (Hygroscopic). Because it attracts moisture, its health benefits are enormous as it aids in the relief of hay fever, sinus related symptoms, asthma as well as allergies.

 

The Himalayan Salt crystal lamps also alleviate migraine and rids an individual of being susceptible to colds and flu.

Negative Ions in the Himalayan Salt Crystal lamps increases ones immune system. It also aids in mind

concentration and improves mental alertness, improves indoor air purity and odours as well as other health

solutions. Himalayan Salt crystal lamps can be placed in spas and bathrooms but too much humidity can dissolve

the salt crystals quickly. As long as Himalayan Salt Crystal Lamps are not exposed to too much humidity, their life

span will last longer. The placement of the Himalayan Salt Crystal lamp is paramount to its effectiveness as it will

determine the positive effect of its Negative Ion discharge.

 

HEALTH BENEFITS OF HIMALAYAN SALT CRYSTALS

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Himalayan Salt crystals had always been regarded as beneficial to health - being natural and absolutely no chemical and helps the bodies condition. Mixing Himalayan Salt crystal with water is known as Sole' which had been known inthe olden days at the life's soup. The reaction combining the salt and water is called brine. This aids in balancing the positive and negative ions of the water. This combination hydrolizes the molecules  in the brine therefore makesa noticeable vibration in the body. This solution when taken is specially effective when a person is sick. Taking one teaspoon of the solution (250ml water) on an empty stomach each morning is advisable. This solutions helps indetoxifying the body of impurities. This solution is also great as the mineral content is easily absorbed in the skin.

For natural remedy this Sole' solution can be helpful as below:-

a) Any Chronic Respiratory condition like Asthma, bronchitis and even sinusitis can be remedied by inhaling the brine solution. You can rid of the pollutants by covering your head with the towel, breathe in the steam from a pot with a salt and boiling water. By inhaling the steam from the solution will rid the pollutants as you will cough it out.

b) Helps rid the heavy metals in ones body because it will balance the pH factor in an individual. The Himalayan salt crystals has the ability to dissolve lead, arsenic, mercury and even build up of calcium in ones body.

c) The solution helps in preventing bleeding of the gums and also gives you fresh breath sensation. Use the solution when you brush your teeth as often as  possible.

d) Ear infections can be prevented by using a few drops in the ear.

e) Soaking your feet in the solution prevents you from having feet fungus.

f) Allowing the brine to dry when rubbed on affected area of the skin helps prevent psoriasis.

g) Himalayan salt crystals can be used as a facial scrub by adding organic soap, perfume free with the salt will lessen acne problems.

h) Gargling with this solution will alleviate sore throats, but don't swallow it.

i) For headaches you may use the solution to massage the head and neck. By combining 1 teaspoon of salt and 1 teaspoon of cold water and used a compress to alleviate headaches but constantly changing the solution as necessary.

j) Wrapping the Himalayan Salt Crystals in a pouch word around the neck will help  prevent motion sickness as this aids in the balance of the body.

k) Monthly period (Menstruation) complaints can also be alleviated by using a salt sachet warming it for half an hour to get rid of the cramps, placing it on top of the abdomen with hot water bottle. Using the Sole' in the batch improves the body's electric current, therefore making the body's ability to heal itself. The Himalayan salt crystal solution can also be used for rheumatism, wounds, insect bites, after care from operation and aids in relief of skin irritations.

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CARING FOR HIMALAYAN SALT CRYSTAL LAMPS

Make sure that your Himalayan Salt Crystal Lamps is stored in a dry environment cause it attracts moisture.

Himalayan Salt crystals are hygroscopic, meaning it attracts moisture. It should be placed not directly with the moisturised airflow of coolers or air conditioners. When placed in window sill make sure the lamps sit on a waterproof wood or saucer bases as when it attracts excess moisture it may damage the window sill. Lighting the Himalayan Salt Crystal lamps dries it very quick because it releases its own moisture, this process then creates the effect of purification and ionising effect on the environment around the salt lamp. When crystallisation occurs, all you need is wipe with a damp cloth. For the best purifying effect, we recommend that lamps must be lit everyday.

This will then give a consistent negative ionizing in the room where it is placed. When replacing the bulb (make sure it is turned off and unplugged), you need to carefully pull out the lamp fitting. Remove the bulb carefully and dispose, then screw in the new bulb. You need to squeeze the butterfly fitting and allow to slide inside the whole with the desired depth, making sure it is not touching the lamp. With tea lights in the salt lamp, make sure you have extra long matchsticks to light the candle (this will ensure you don't burn yourself). Tea light candle holders are very stable and cannot be blown by the wind. Make sure that you extinguish the candle, they can be hot and splash over clothing, furnishing or even your skin.

The Painful Truth about Exiting a Relationship by Tina Erwin

          The sad truth is that divorce is happening at an ever-constant rate. We all wish it weren’t true, especially the children who suffer at the apparent loss of love, but it is a ruthlessly recurring reality.

         Yes, we know: everything happens for a reason, a reason we can’t always see, a reason we may not want to face and a cause that we wish could have been avoided. At least you know you aren’t alone. Maybe it would be good to have a guidebook on how to breakup, as if a “how to” could somehow make it a wee bit less painful. And a guy who offers us hope that there is life after the “D” word has written just such a book.

         Frank Love’s, How to Gracefully Exit a Relationship offer that road map out of the emotional chaos of divorce. As you read his book, he offers what appears to be often hard won experience in what not to do as well as what to do. He encourages the reader to ask questions, to seek answers to queries about the relationship and it’s foundation. He also offers the reader a pathway through the often emotionally blinding maze of cruel emotions that act has handmaiden to the word divorce. The irony of Frank’s book is that if you read this before you get married, you may not end up in divorce in the first place. Much of his point of view is how to have and maintain a stable and long-lasting relationship.

         The Lightworker’s Guide to Healing Grief also offers a look at divorce through the eyes of grief, especially the grief that children feel.

        

   “Divorce is so common these days that it is the unusual child who has “original” parents still married to each other. No matter how many divorces there are, when it happens to a family, it usually causes a profound sadness, and all parties will grieve it in their own unique way. Yet it is even more than this.

Divorce is a shockwave that undermines any individual’s concepts of love. For some, it is the end of family love—that unique nucleus of safety, security, and happiness. Divorce creates a sense of vulnerability that will always have to be grieved. The safe haven of your home no longer exists. The love you trusted and the people you trusted have betrayed you. Now you have to open an entirely new chapter of learning how to live and to love again when the love that was your foundation in life is shattered. . .

The sense of security all parties used to have is gone now. The couple made a commitment, and someone did not keep it. One of them becomes an alcoholic or abusive, and changes have to be made. This situation may seem like emotional abandonment. Another way to look at this is to realize that a different path has been chosen, one away from hurt. Grieving this choice will eventually move the family into a better place.

Sometimes you each have to realize that something has to end before something else can begin in your life. Grief is part of this process.” (The Lightworker’s Guide to Healing Grief, pages 6-7)

         All relationships/marriages struggle to make it work over time. Bright, blinding, new, romantic love is seldom realistic. The romance will ultimately wear off and the realities of personal habits, childhood traumas, and personality anomalies, which affect each of us, will surface in any relationship. What determines whether or not your relationship will survive is how true you are able to be to each other on a day-to-day basis. It’s hard work.

         Long marriages look like a lucky break, but the luck is in the insight, loyalty and skill each person brings to the table. A marriage that starts out off kilter will be instantly off course unless both parties welcome compromise into their lives and begin to face the realities of being an adult, of being a whole person.

         Some personality problems are not reparable. (I know it’s absolutely sacrilege to say this but it’s true.) Some personalities will not be able to overcome severe sexual, physical or emotional abuse. That person will try, may seek counseling, but sometimes, nothing can change who and what they became because of what someone did to them. Some souls can overcome staggering abuses and be amazing spouses. No one can know this until the attempt is made to see it through at least for a while.

         Everything happens for a reason. Frank Love also addresses this quite well and most gently. Even though your heart is breaking, sometimes ending something that is toxic will eventually free you to have a better life. Everything happens for our greater good even if we cannot see it at the time. The person who rejects being a ‘survivor’ and embraces being a whole, functioning, happy person will ultimately live the happiest live because he or she will have embraced the lesson at hand and moved forward with that dauntingly acquired book of wisdom.

    Frank Love’s, How to Gracefully Exit a Relationship is available on Amazon.com.

 Tina Erwin's The Lightworker’s Guide to Healing Grief  is available on in ebook and print-on-demand through Amazon and wherever ebooks are sold.

KS&: 397 The Service of Distributed Power Part 3: Translating The Crossing Over Prayer© by Tina Erwin

        The other morning I was struck by an incredible idea: what if we were to translate The Crossing Over Prayer© into every language we could?

         What if we could distribute this wonderful power to all the peoples of the world?

         Death is not proud, selective, sensitive or elite.

         Death, that inevitable spiritual opportunity, will come to all of us in some way or other.

         Death, that bringer of peace or pain, depending on your point of view, will visit every family at some point in time.

         And Death will welcome millions and millions of bewildered souls into a whole new world.

         Karma, the handmaiden of Death will help each of us decide what will happen when we leave our body and enter this strange, often chillingly, scary world of life after death. For some it will be brief, but others will languish there for an 

interminable length of time.

         Free Will, the last vestige of mortal/soul opportunity will help us to decide where we will venture next. Will we find that light of the divine and cross into the Heaven World, or will we stand bewildered in the darkness of disbelief and/or guilt and languish for a very long time as a misunderstood ghost/apparition/spirit?

         The Crossing Over Prayer© is perhaps one of the very last tools that a mortal person can use to help a loved one to find that light of the Divine, no matter how that person died, regardless of their belief system or lack of thereof or their level of guilt.

         Please help me if you can to translate this prayer into every language on the planet. Please help as many souls as possible to heal.

         Translating is not as easy as it sounds. I could merely use Google Translate or iTranslate but I am looking for a human being who truly knows and loves their language and who is willing to put their heart into the translation. Few things are literal translations. However, if you would be willing to work with me, we can get this translated.

         You will also receive credit for doing this. Helping with this translation carries with it a certain amount of karma. What this means is that every single time a person finds the TinaErwin.com site and uses The Crossing Over Prayer© in that language, a certain amount of what is called ‘distributed karma’ attaches. This means that a percentage of the wonderful energy of the prayer comes back to the translator. Everyone benefits. If you wish to translate this prayer and remain anonymous, that is also fine otherwise, I will list your name and location – with my profound gratitude. Please feel free to share this with other friends and family members. As translations come in, they will be added as ‘buttons’ on TinaErwin.com

         Here are the languages I currently have translated:

       Arabic

       Farsi

       Hebrew

       Italian

       Spanish

       Turkish

        

These are the languages I need translations for The Crossing Over Prayer©. If you are interested in translating this prayer, please contact me at Tina@TinaErwin.com

. . . . . and thank you with all my heart!

Bengali

Bulgarian

Cambodian

Cantonese

Chinese

Czech

Dutch

Finish

French

Hindi

Hmong

Hungarian

Galic

German

Japanese

Javanese

Korean

Kurdish

Laotian

Latvian

Maylay/Indonesian

Mandarin

Navajo

Nepali

Norwegian

Pashto

Persian

Polish

Portuguese

Romanian

Samoli

Serbo-Croatian

Swahilli

Swedish

Swiss German

Swiss French

Swiss Italian

Tagalog

Tamil

Thai

Tibetan

Ukrainian

Urdu

Uzbek

VietNamese

Wu

Zulu

The Crossing Over Prayer©

by Tina Erwin

The following prayer is an excerpt from the book series, Ghost Stories from the Ghosts’ Point of View, and is designed to help you help any ghost to cross over into the Heaven World.  If you see or sense that you are being haunted, you can say this prayer with conviction to send them to where they need to go.

The Prayer:  Sending Ghosts to the Heaven World

  Dearest Lord Above,
I humbly request that you take
any and all souls, who have found
my divine light of service, into
the Heaven World, right now.
I ask that an angel wrap each
soul in a blanket of healing light,
right now.
I pray that every single soul
will use the Light Bridge provided
by my Angelic Team, to transition into the
Heaven World, right now.
I send love and healing to all souls
no matter how they died, no matter
their level of guilt, without any judgment
or prejudice whatsoever, right now.
May the light of your love, Father,
embrace and keep all of these souls
now and forever.
Amen.

    

    

KS&L 389 Being in Resonance with Death by Tina Erwin

       I was talking to a friend recently and she told me that she had been rather sad lately, feeling like there was ‘a darkness’ within her.

“You know, I have to tell you that I feel,” (and she hesitated here) “that I am in resonance with death. I want to know if you are also in resonance with death since you work with death so much. How in the world, I mean, I really want to know, how do you manage the sadness from hearing what horrible things people do to each other, much less listening to what a ghost would have to say about how and why he or she died. I guess if I seem bewildered by my own feelings, I am even more baffled by what you do.”

         “The difference between what I do, and your feelings is really quite simple:  you are actively grieving. I’m not.”

         You are currently grieving the death of your mother within the last year. When we grieve, we automatically review our life with that person.  Those feelings engender the memories of the grief you were never allowed to work through with the death of your father when you were a small girl. So, literally, you are grieving the loss of both of your parents, the cascade of abusive events that happened to you after your father died and the struggle you have had with these feelings for almost forty years. That’s a huge amount of emotion to try to process and yet live day to day, of being a mom, a wife, a friend and a sibling.”

“Yes, all of that’s true, but I am also concerned, fearful that something will happen to my husband and my children. What if they die? Don’t you ever worry about these things in the work that you do?”

She persisted in wanting to understand why I am not sad all the time.

“When a person is grieving, one of the unwelcome persistent ‘guests’ who never seems to leave you is fear. Fear for the death of other loved ones, fear for the death of friends, guilt over the people who have left you and then finally fear of or for your own eventual death. When people grieve, they seldom realize that the safety of the world they knew is shattered and that feeling they used to remember of being ‘safe’ is now gone, sometimes forever, but not always. You can regain that feeling of safety. However you look at it that ‘fear’ feeling also translates into very ‘sad’ or ‘dark’ feelings. Grief work together is specifically designed to bring the light back into your life.”

“Yes, I get all that, and all that you described is true for me, but I want to know what do you do so that you don’t grieve the people you help and are not profoundly saddened by what you hear?”

“Okay, well, yes, it’s true: I do hear things that would make the angels weep. Some of it is so profoundly sad that I have to take a deep breath to keep on going. However, I am a student of karma. I am a journeyman on the road of life and I respect all of life’s processes. To this end, I work very hard to stay in resonance with life itself, with happiness and with love. Only love heals. I also have a tremendous personal support system. One of the by products of grieving is the feeling that you are alone in a sea of people, that no one understand you, but that isn’t true. Lots of people are grieving and even more people are dedicated to living a wonderful life.

Everywhere I go, I meet amazing people, people who have triumphed over adversity, who have met life’s challenges with grace and courage. These are the people who give me hope, who help me to face another day of hearing sad things. I also have the privilege of watching people heal, progress and conquer that which has held them back, brought them pain or sadness. People do heal. People can and do change and people rise above the sadness and find happiness. Frankly, if I couldn’t see this, I probably couldn’t go forward with this type of work.

Working with the dead is an honor and a privilege. There is an intense gratification in helping a person who has been lost and alone, guilt ridden and full of pain, find the light, feel healing and release the burden of life in the 4^th dimension. Every single soul I can assist brings me a sense of completing my mission, which is to help them.

One less soul in the astral plane is one less soul who burdens the earth as a ghost. The more the earth is cleaned, the better and happier the world will be.

I stay in resonance with life by working with my plants, feeling the life that springs from the earth. I rejoice in my very long and happy almost 40 year marriage. I spend time with my adult children and the wonderful people that each of them married and finally I spend time with my grandchildren. I delight in the pleasure of all of them. I am truly blessed with a deep and abiding loving relationship with all of my siblings. I have long and meaningful relationships with friends in many parts of the country. Every single one of these people, bring me happiness. I am deeply grateful to have them in my life.

I am in resonance with the understanding that life is not about static living. Life, the dynamic of soul evolution is going to mean that people are going to have challenging experiences, wonderful events and horrific scenarios that each of them have to face. No one leads a ‘charmed’ life. Every single soul on the planet comes in with karmic challenges that they are each required to face, if not this life time, then the next and the next.

New growth whether it is within a person or a plant, is life’s longing for expression. Sometimes that new growth has to work though cement and sometimes it has wonderful rich soil. Which will be the stronger plant? Both of them can be strong or both of them can perish. Each has to decide how to deal with the opportunity given.

I do know what grief feels like. I know what it’s like to wonder how life can go on seemingly happy, and you feel like your life has led you off a cliff. I know. I also know that hard spiritual/emotional work can heal those grinding days. That’s why I am not now, nor will I ever be in resonance with death. Only loving life heals you and keeps you happily, among the living.”

          

         

KS&L 176 The Death of Innocence by Tina Erwin

        Dear Friends, I wrote the following blog several years ago. The information in this piece echos the same cruel and inspiring elements that we have watched in the events in Newtown, Connecticut last Friday. My own aching heart goes out to all of those families. The extreme cruelty of this latest example of modern violence does not diminish the staggering acts of courage displayed by all of those teachers, staff members and children. Let all of our prayers be sent to give the living courage to face the challenging days ahead, for death on this level continues to echo out in truly agonizing ways long after the initial event. These families have many difficult days ahead of them. Please send them your prayers long after these first initial days pass. Compassion is appreciated no matter how recent or long ago an event took place.

       On one terrible day in October of 2006, death struck the Amish community in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. On that tragic day, a man entered a one-room schoolhouse and shot ten Amish girls. Five of them have died. The person who took these lives is believed to have been severely mentally ill at the time of the event. He did not seem to show this illness previously so his actions came as a staggering shock to his friends and family.

       How do we as a people wrap our brains around the fact that this man did this terrible deed? How do we still our aching hearts at the sheer barbarism of his despicable act? How do we come to terms with the death of innocence? If we are parents, how do we still the fear that this engenders in so many of us. If this area of the world is not safe, then what is?

       Perhaps the way we come to terms with it is to look at the example that the Amish themselves have set. They have not lashed out. They have not blamed anyone and they have not cried out for vengeance. In the darkest of times is the finest time to live a spiritual truth. Perhaps that is what they are doing.

       Every single death has a purpose; if it did not, then why would we ever die? Why would there be so many methods of death - easy and hard, painless and painful, death at any and all ages? What could possibly be the purpose of the death of these little girls? What could we possibly learn from the sheer stark horror of the method this man used to create such harm?

       Perhaps, just perhaps it was an opportunity for every single participant and observer to learn some tremendous lessons. For the older Amish girls, they learned that they had a huge level of courage that lived within them as they offered themselves in sacrifice to save the younger girls. They must have been terrified yet they offered their own lives in the ultimate sacrifice. Would we be that courageous? 

       It is hard for us to face the fear that the smaller girls must have felt, but in the final moments, they learned how much the older children loved them. Perhaps it was their faith that got them through those chilling moments.  Perhaps they called upon their angels. We can only hope that they had the presence of mind to do this.

       And what of the mentally ill gunman? What was his lesson? He had a choice - he could listen to those unrelenting voices of hate and hurt or he could resist them.  He made a tragic choice.

       And what of his family? They were also his victims in a different way because they also lost someone they loved. The man they loved died that day. The man who committed those crimes was not the man that they knew.  Imagine their complete bewilderment. 

       Perhaps the most important lesson all of us can learn from these deaths is the nature of compassion as demonstrated by the Amish community.  There is no one to blame, no one to lash out at. There is no plausible explanation for the unexplainable.  So in the face of all of this, the Amish have chosen to offer themselves and those grieving with them, compassion. They say that they have forgiven the gunman.  What in truth is there to forgive? How do you forgive someone for murdering your children? Perhaps the answer to this is that they forgave themselves first. There is nothing in this entire world that they could have done to prevent this. They did not let guilt soil their compassionate hearts. They forgave the hate that this man displayed.  Somehow despite their pain, they came to understand that his pain was so great that only in this bizarre aspect of death could he work out his internal agony.

       The Amish are allowing themselves to grieve privately. They allow themselves the opportunity to let grief unfold in all those hauntingly private moments of what ifs and if onlys that every grieving person must endure on the journey to healing grief.

       Perhaps the other lesson the Amish are offering is that if they open their hearts and love more that their pain will be less. An open heart works both ways and lets in love as well as sends it out. Even a terribly wounded heart will heal faster if it can be allowed in those private moments of healing, to send out love. 

       Maybe the question is not did innocence die in that schoolhouse that day in October, but rather was the innocence of belief displayed in the compassion and love shown by the Amish to all the grieving parties. Hate hurts us longer. Love heals us faster. Perhaps the biggest lesson of that hard day is in every way, let us all love more. Let us all send the love of our own compassionate hearts to all of those who are grieving no matter where in the world they may be. Maybe in this way the innocence and purity that is the essence of love will become stronger in all of us.

KS&L 391 Christmas Grief by Tina Erwin

       (This KS&L was written before the Newtown sadness.)        

        This KS&L is dedicated to all families who are grieving or remembering someone who is no longer with them this Christmas.

         Last night I received a call from my long time friend Bonnie. She had come upon a terrible traffic accident on her way home. She was first on the scene, called 911, worked with authorities, and rendered what aid she could to the accident victims.

         She told me that she kept telling the on-scene police officers that she felt that there was a man by the side of the road who needed help. She had spoken with him and he said he was okay but that he had been the driver of the absolutely crushed car. She remembered marveling that he had ‘walked away’ from the accident since the car was not recognizable. The police officer kept looking at her, but he never once went over to talk to the man in the white shirt.

         Once she returned to her car, her small children told her that the man in the white shirt had come to the car and knocked on the window, but they didn’t put the window down. Bonnie was glad that her kids did as they were told. Then she drove her kids home.

         She called me later that night because she felt so much trauma after this experience that she needed help figuring out what was trauma and what was, well, something else. As it turned out, that something else was tragic.

         The man in the white shirt had died in that crushed car. When Bonnie and I made contact with him he told us that he really didn’t know what happened.  One minute he was driving home and the next minute he was in darkness. He was utterly baffled by his circumstances. Bonnie and I had to inform him that he had died. He was very quiet for a few moments. Then he began to allow himself to face the towering grief that his sudden death was generating. He immediately told us of his young wife, his children and that this wasn’t how he planned to end his day. He didn’t feel that he was supposed to die that day. This is Christmas! He’d ruined Christmas for his whole family!  As he told us this, the grief he felt at his own death began to overwhelm him. We gave him the spiritual aid that he needed. Souls that are killed this quickly go into a kind of soul shock. We offered him angels, healing and a path home to the Heaven World. Before his transition, he said he had seen the light he just wasn’t ready to go. We also asked him why he knocked on Bonnie’s car window. He responded that he ‘felt’ someone praying for him. In fact one of Bonnie’s daughters was praying for anyone who had been injured. The light of her prayer attracted him to her car.

         Finally, with our help, he reluctantly made his transition to the Heaven World. Then I helped Bonnie make some sense out of this event as she processed the trauma she had witnessed on several levels.

         Both of us pondered this soul’s sudden demise, especially now, especially 15 days before Christmas. Christmas, more than any other time reminds us of how much we love all the people in our lives. Thanksgiving does this, but there is something about Christmas that really makes our heart expand as we ponder what to get those who mean so much to us. Our gifts show how much we love and care.

         Christmas is also very much a children’s holiday. First time parents, long time parents and grandparents live for watching the bright faces of children as they become enamored of the lights on the tree, presents and the Santa Claus concept.

         Christmas time takes each of us back to our childhoods to remember a particularly magical Christmas morning or a special gift or event that happened.

         But for many people Christmas time is just tough. For this man’s family, Christmas will never feel the same. Instead of planning Christmas Eve, they will be planning a funeral.

         Perhaps it seems odd to discuss such profound sadness at this time of the year, but life events, especially poignant life events are part of Christmas, even when they are sad. This man’s wife and children will have to determine how to balance their grief while others around them are excited about the holidays. This almost bizarre juxtaposition of these two diametrically opposite emotions reminds us that Christmas is about love, the love of those who are no longer with us.

         Even if your friend or family member did not die at Christmas, their absence, even decades later, is still deeply felt at this time of year. It is often why so many people are sick at Christmas: colds/flu are the body’s way of grieving a past event.

          It is better to admit that you miss that person. Bring it to the surface and then take some time to remember the soul with your heart filled with love for this special person. If a parent is without one of their children, this is an especially painful heartache. If that parent is your friend or family member please do not wish they he or she could just ‘get over’ that deep personal loss. You don’t ‘get over’ a catastrophic life event: you learn to live a life that includes that life-changing event. And when you include that life-changing event it means that you cry about it sometimes.

         If any of you gentle readers find yourself either grieving the loss of someone special or helping a friend or family member to grieve this loss, welcome the tears that often come with heartfelt memories. Memories are alive and trigger emotion. We are not androids, emotionless bits of carbon. We are mortal, yet eternal souls having an exceptionally human experience. And human experiences demand that we acknowledge the love we have for someone who has left us today or fifty years ago.

         Perhaps that is the message of Christ: love never dies, life is eternal and life everlasting means that we will all meet each other again and again. Let this dynamic concept be the best gift we can give each other at Christmas time, the gift of love and compassion for everyone including the ones who are no longer with us.
       The Lightworker's Guide to Healing Grief and Ghost Stories from the Ghosts' Point of View are both great books to help anyone understand how to heal grief and how to help those souls who need assistance crossing over. Check out the prayer for assisting ghosts in the back of the ghost book. Both books are available on this blog.