Notes from a Wandering Traveller

Wow, again it has been a long time between posts. Suffice it to say that I am finally retired and already off in Iquitos, Peru where I am working with some Shamans in Ayahuasca.

I am having a fascinating time here and since I will be travelling for a while I decided to set up a separate blog "Notes from a Wandering Traveller".
Please join me there. http://notesfromawanderingtraveller.blogspot.com/

"The Last Vestiges of Normalcy" will continue to operate as well but will be dedicated to channeling and other spiritual interests.

I am going back for a second shamanic camp in a few days where I will diet Sanango for the first time. I am really looking forward to it. I will be away from Internet access for 12 days.

I recommend the Blue Morpho camp to anyone who would like to begin a journey of a lifetime with Ayahuasca. The camp is very safe and the Shamans are very experienced and very ethical. Read more on Blue Morpho Tours. http://www.bluemorphotours.com/

Getting Unplugged.

May is almost over and I haven't posted since March. I have not been idle, just otherwise focused. It seems to require a lot of think time to plan the closing down of everything life has been. Some more "stuff" has to be gotten rid of due to lack of space and sometimes that involves a mental releasing prior to the physical release. Ah well, I am slowly moving in the direction of trusting the universe to provide.



Finalizing retirement plans, setting financial matters so they continue on automatic, organizing retirement insurance including travel and consolidating important information so that it can be easily utilized along the road have been my focus of late.



I am happily planting out flowers and enjoying the beautiful spring weather in my borrowed garden. It is wonderful to get my hands into the soil once again.



I have a back-log of channel requests that I will attempt to deliver in the next several days.

In the meantime, for those in the Northern Hemisphere, I hope you are enjoying spring as much as I am.


Saskatchewan "Living Sky" shots are courtesy of Terry McBride of Saskatoon.



Namaste'

Oneness

I was speaking about unity and oneness at our channelling circle on Monday night and someone asked me to do a piece of channelling on that subject. I know why too, it’s because when I am channelling, the information is more succinct and understandable than it is when I just talk. The fact is, when I am talking I have difficulty finding the words I want to use, and as a result I don't explain things so well.

During the circle we were dealing with an entity who had harmed me in another existence and I reasoned that not only did I need to forgive him, but that I needed to love and accept him because he is an extension of me.

I said, "If everything is love then good evil and anything in between is also love. If everything is love, and God is love, then I am also love. Both the entity and I are love and within God we are one."
As I think about it now, we are one in the same manner that an ear and an eye are part of one body and the life force of that body is within both the ear and the eye at the same time.

That is the way I think about it and that is about as far as I went with it at the time, but there is more to it than that, there is the experience of feeling it, which is what I was having trouble putting into words. The feeling of being one with goodness is one thing but when you need to come to terms with your oneness with evil or darkness it is quite another thing. In the moment that I was face to face with this darkness I knew that I had to totally accept it in order to get past the burden it caused in my life.

WOW, Thinking of it as me and not another really helped. My heart knew instinctively that it was the right thing to do and I did it. I know that it allowed healing to take place.


Now I will ask for a channelled message to expand on this topic. The message will be directed toward me and my understanding but it may also have relevance to the understanding of others.


Greetings!

The idea that humans have regarding their separation is not accurate, in fact it is so inaccurate as to be the cause of tremendous distress in your world.

Feelings of separation support feelings of lack, fear, anger, hatred and pain. You would argue with us that all of these really exist and we would answer that indeed they do. You would argue that you cannot accept others as one with you until they stop hurting you and taking what is yours and we would answer that you must accept them as one with you before they stop these things.
Let us point out that you are causing much distress and pain around you by holding the notion that you and others are separate. You will not be free of this until you see each other person as yourselves. This is far beyond seeing others as your brothers and sisters on planet earth.

It is your belief patterns and thought processes which must change as these are the precursors of your actions.

Realize that working to save the underprivileged and desperate people is like a band aid compared to what your world needs.
We are not suggesting that you stop helping others but that you go farther and hold each person in love and acceptance.
We suggest that you look on all people as equals and that you see that their spirit is as privileged as any others within universal love and abundance. You may want to argue that this will not change other people, but it will dear ones.
If you hold that some are poor then that will be your reality and if you hold that all are abundant then that will be your reality. It may not be everyone's reality yet, as all are in choice, as you know but by holding the space for it you are helping others to create it.

This is the reason why each one must start with themselves first. Use your emotions as a tool for this to let you know when there is something to be released. Feelings of anger, judgments, loss, fear, lack, jealousy, blame and hatred all tell you that something is not right. The past must be healed by accepting and forgiving and allowing that it is part of the one. This is not to say that you must continue to be treated badly by others but that you can set yourself free from the past and in so doing you will make it possible to make other choices in the future that are more supportive and positive.

These changes are occurring faster now but not to the extent that they need to change for the healing which needs to occur. The concept you hold now of oneness is not yet oneness because you are still thinking that you must help to bring everything into that oneness. Part of the awakening which you are going through is to realize that everything is already one and we mean everything. If all is one and nothing is outside of the one then, anything, anyone and any experience which has happened in your life is part of the one. The one is love so that means everything in your life is love. You might argue that it doesn't always feel like it but we say to you, it is because of your belief in your own separation that you see it this way.

You will need to give up your separation. There is no other way. It may be the hardest thing you have to do but it will also be the most worthwhile.

Fay was confronted with an energy which seemed dark to her and her instinct was to get rid of it somehow. She was surprised to learn that she needed to forgive, accept and love the energy very deeply and completely and she was able to do that to the extent that she really felt that she and the energy were one. At that point it no longer seemed dark or threatening at all and she was one with it. There was much being released but it was her own misunderstandings and misconceptions and judgements which were leaving and great healing occurred at that moment.

Achieving oneness is an inside job which each must do for themselves. It is actually bringing oneself to clarity by releasing your own negativity which simply brings you to a point of recognizing the oneness which is already there. As you work with this you will encounter more and more oneness experiences and your energy will become brighter and brighter. Hold this feeling in your heart as much as you can as this will do much to aid others who are making this shift also.

As always, remember that we have much love for you and we are always ready to help if you ask.
Go in peace.

THREE

I am getting not so subtle nudging that it is time for message # three so here goes.

You don’t want to hear this. Never-the-less we are going to say it anyway. It is time to take inventory again. This time it will be even more personal and more thorough. You have come through a time of great adjustment within your physical, emotional and spiritual self. You have absorbed many new energies and upgraded and blended others. You will have a chance to rest the physical self while we help you take stock of where you are now.

A long time ago you eagerly volunteered to be a part of the team of healers living at this earth time. You saw the opportunity to be of service and to grow at the same time.

When we ask you to take inventory we are really asking you to recalibrate your concept of yourself so that it is more accurate.
You can list your strengths and weaknesses if you want and that will be an indicator of what has changed.

We also want you to see how much more allowing you have become as, many times, you just observe without interfering. We ask you to look at your heart and see how much it has opened. You trust yourself more but you also are really trusting life as well. You believe that you can live freely and without worry and that you truly can create a beautiful universe in which to live.

Also, as in any inventory, we must clear out the things which are no longer needed. Many of these have been dislodged already by the fluctuations of energy you have been receiving. Some have even been transformed and cleared already. You know this because you are feeling generally happier and lighter. Your motivation is higher now as you have already experienced some benefits.

The way to work with this now is to observe yourself and notice what still feels uncomfortable. You might need to get some help with the next part which is gently dislodging the old belief, habit or memory which is the source of the pain. Are we suggesting that you be pain free? Yes we are! Pain is an indicator of a problem, it is not meant to be lived with day after day. The more pain you release the easier it will become.

We are helping you to prepare for an existence which is based in love. Isn’t that great? You can do anything you want, basing it in love, and not only are you expanding yourself but you are radiating love to the rest of the world. Any time you are holding love and light within yourself you are the healer you came here to be.

In the next dimension there are no problems like we have here because issues are transformed instantly. Everyone will know that all are one and everything is just information. There is no reason why you can’t live that way right now. Leave the dense energy for those who still desire it and move into the light of love.

We will be by your side the whole way. Call on us as you need and it will be our joy to assist you.

Peace be with you dear ones.

Another Tricky Dream

I often use the meditation group I belong to as a resource to work through complicated issues in my life, to be my sounding board for hair brained ideas and to thump me on the head when I am missing a significant sign post in my life.

As I prepare for my retirement and some extended traveling, the group is the only connection I have left of my associations of the past. It is one which I value and will not happily relinquish when I head off for a year or two of travel.

Our group has dwindled down to a handful of regular members and one of them broached this subject at our last gathering. Since I and one other member are doing significant amounts of traveling she wondered if the group would be able to continue. She thought perhaps we were all ready to move on to other things. I was sorry to hear that, and went home that night with a heavy heart.

For years I have longed to have the freedom to travel extensively, and now the time was here. I knew that I could stay and put some effort into enlarging the group, but I know my heart wouldn’t be in it right now.

The very next night I had this dream......

I was hiking somewhere in the world and on this particular day I was going to climb a mountain. I was wearing hiking boots, knee-length pants, a t-shirt and a headband. The mountain was large but it was not rocky. There were dirt paths all the way to the top and the day was sunny and not too warm. I walked all day and reached the summit just before sunset. I realized that it might be dangerous to walk down in the dark so I asked an attendant where we would sleep. He said, “No, we will get you down safely tonight but first go to the summit and take all the pictures you want, then come back to me”. I did that and when I went back he took me around to the back side of the mountain to an opening like a cave. Inside was a funny type of elevator. It was like a dumb waiter on a conveyer belt and each person got to stand on a little platform with only a bar to hold onto for safety. The belt moved like a pulley and as each platform reached the top it flopped down ready for you to step on. The attendant stopped the belt for me to get on and I remember feeling weird about it. I had happily hiked up the trail all day long without a care or a plan and without noticing that I hadn’t met a single person coming down but neither had I seen the elevator at the bottom nor was it mentioned at all. I should have been happy about having a way down the mountain but I was not at all sure I wanted to get on the rickety thing. I do not know how the dream ended. I have a feeling that I may have taken the elevator but I do not remember the trip down the dark tunnel through the mountain or arriving at the bottom. Perhaps I was stuck there?

I feel the dream is connected to my meditation group in some way. I feel the loss of the group but also feel that travelling is something I would benefit from. I know everyone in the group will be OK in spite of whatever happens but I still feel like a deserter.
In the dream, I was feeling shocked at the top of the mountain because I hadn’t signed on for a scary ride on a rickety elevator. I didn’t want to spend the night alone in a cave on the top of that mountain either. I was trapped.

I am not sure if the dream is telling me that I need to do what feels right to me or that my responsibility lies with the group or something else entirely.

I was going to put the question to my guides but before I could do that, I was invited to an impromptu channelling circle where I posed the question during meditation. One of the members, a unique individual who channels with numbers rather than words, guided me through releasing those fears in a way which seemed to be nothing short of a miracle. The numbers carried an energy vibration to me in the same way that words would have. The first number helped me step back from the cave and the second one provided a feeling of having been released from the necessity of using the elevator. Gradually, the opening of a clear Plexiglas tube appeared behind me and I was drawn to step into it. As each number was received I was able to move farther into the tube and I could look down through the Plexiglas to the valley floor below.

The amazing thing was that the part of the tube I had walked through had already disappeared and there was only a short portion of it available ahead of me. Strangely, I felt completely safe and eager to continue. As more numbers came I moved quickly through the tube until I reached the forest floor below. I was safe on the ground again and feeling amazingly uplifted and free.

My analysis is that I have been released from the fear of saying "no" when no acceptable options are offered. In looking back on my life it is clear that similar situations had occurred many times. Funny, the thought of asking spirit for another solution had never occurred to me. I had to be shown, and to feel it and to learn that there is always another option if you ask. I feel this in every fibre of my being now and am truly grateful.


Now here is a comment from my guides.....

We are feeling as merry and uplifted as do you and we bring great congratulations from many who are watching your progress. It was as though your heart became more open to spirit in that moment. You have taken many steps toward turning things in your life over to spirit already and yet you are still a beginner. Your understanding has grown this time and you now know what it means to let go and ask for assistance. The path you are about to embark on will require you to perfect this ability if you wish to have an enjoyable time. We have no doubt that you will be able to do it and we look forward to many more such celebrations.

There is a quickening now both in your energy and that of others. Each challenge such as this which you are able to overcome adds to the abilities within the collective as you are aided by the growth of others. As it unfolds for you, you will be able to see more and more.


Remember that you are always safe, taken care of and loved.


Beloved, peace go with you.

I'm Not Dreaming!

After waking up completely elated from a recent dream I desired to understand the information it imparted. In the dream I had been given a sheet of paper and asked to write a word which signified a problem in my life. I put one word at the top of the page and immediately there were about 20 other words scattered about the page. I began to read. Each word had some connection to the word I had written. One word was its opposite while another was a synonym. One pointed to a variation of understanding or definition of my word while another pointed to one single aspect of the subject my word denoted. I was fascinated as I noted that each word was related to my word in some way. Then, I read a word near the bottom of the page and instantly the problem no longer existed. The word I had just read had cancelled out the original word with a rush of energy that can only be described as both gentle and pleasurable.

I asked for the source of the dream and was told I had been in the 5th dimension.

My first impression was how easy it is to solve something in the 5th Dimension. Neither my mind nor my emotions had been involved. It appeared that those words carried a lot more energy than I had expected and they interacted with each other independently. I was simply the observer. This is very good, I thought as I thumped down into my chair, scratching my head and feeling as though something way beyond my current experience was opening to me.

I wanted to tell someone how excited I was, but I didn’t think I could tell it satisfactorily. What would I say, “I had a dream in which I wrote a word on a paper, more words appeared, and one of them cancelled out the problem word”? It didn’t seem to be much of a story, but my guides kept pushing me to tell it. That was a whole week ago and I have thought a lot about it since then. I did tell it in my meditation circle last night and they said “Write it and you will get more”. That turned out to be good advice, but there is still more information I want so I will open a channel which will allow the rest of this piece to be a guided message:



Dear one .....

Each step you take brings you closer to the one, the universal field of love.

You have tapped in many times, without recognizing in the beginning and later without remembering. The feelings you experienced on this occasion from the fifth dimension were so startling that you can no longer deny your experience.

Now you have a benchmark for the place you are being guided toward. Just hold it in your heart. Do not berate yourself when you fall short of this mark but use it to aid yourself in noticing how more and more you and others are achieving the miracle of unrestricted love. The point is, now you know it is achievable because you have within your experience the way it feels. All you need do is hold on to this feeling until the world matches it.

We have said it before but it bears repeating, things will get easier and easier now because the new energies are building toward new potentials. You will be asked to do less and it will have more effect.

There is no longer a need to act like a warrior, fighting the dark even though the dark appears darker now in comparison. Yes, the dark will resist for a time but you needn't worry. Just release the need to change or control anyone or anything. Show by example how to release the "old world" of your own life and bravely face your own fear of change.

The new world is upon us! Put down your swords and follow your hearts. Throngs of guides are here to help and you are loved more than you know. Walk in peace blessed ones.

It's official!

I am now a card carrying "SENIOR CITIZEN".

The picture is very dark and hard to photograph. It shows a view of Canada's Parliament Hill at night.

Its funny how nobody gets excited about turning "senior" and yet they are all over turning into a teenager, turning 16, turning 18 and even turning 21. After that it begins to be about holding back your age. I remember I had my first (and worst) age crisis at the old age of 29.

I guess we go merrily along without mentioning how we are dreading getting older until one day we "hit" the big 40. Nothing graceful sounding about that, and friends tend to dig in with the old jokes and the black balloons. I think they do that at 40 because they think that 40 really is getting old and they don't want to point out the obvious later on.

By 50 you are starting to care less about how fast you are aging and are kind of proud to have lived half a century.

By 60 you are starting to get excited about retirement, like when you were 16 and couldn't wait to be 18. The only difference being they were waiting to start and you are waiting to finish. Those last 5 years don't take so long to go by and then there is something to celebrate, the end of life in the working world.

Sure, it doesn't always happen at 65 but there is a point where you are done and you are clear to do anything you want. Remember being a child and how delicious time was. Those long endless summer days, spending time with friends - all day if you wanted. Wake up whenever you want and sleep whenever you want and you don't even have to be responsible for your own expenses if you have savings or a pension.

So I say, lets celebrate turning senior, lets start enjoying senior benefits and discounts and lets talk it up. Congratulate seniors on entering the next phase of their life. Tell them to live it up and do everything they always wanted to do. I know I will.

Accepting Joy

I just finished enjoying a post by Brenda J. Hoffman on "Brenda's Blog" entitled "You Will Not Fail - You Will Not Fall". She has been a channel for more than 20 years and I find her offerings to be practical and helpful.

Lately, I have been encountering a situation at work which was very irritating to say the least. It involves a group of people who, for a number of valid reasons, have been unable to change their actions in a way which would more easily accommodate the piece I do with them. I could whine about it more but that is really all you need to know.

Thank you for thanking me, you're welcome!

I was getting so worked up about it that I eventually had to let one of my co-workers take over the area temporarily. I was loosing the ability to even be polite, but at the same time knowing that it was really weird to be feeling that way. Anyway, I just bailed to save everyone a bad experience knowing that it was something going on with me but unable to deactivate or solve it.

Sure, I would have solved it eventually but along comes Brenda and blows it all out of the water.

After reading her article I went into a short meditation myself where I saw an effigy of me lying on a lounger and being run through with swords. It was very puzzling until I realized I was fine and watching from a distance.

Hello!

There it is, I am fine at work too, and its not about me at all. This past year everyone has had to work harder because of staff shortages and inadequate funding, yadda, yadda, yadda. I am still fine. I will be fine.

I am a spiritual being in a physical body. I can be in the joy of spirit no matter what. Ah, but I keep forgetting. Isn't that why we are here, to remember that we are indeed spiritual beings?

Thanks Brenda, for the gentle kick in the spiritual butt!

Do You Really Want To Kill Your Ego?

Steve Pavlina poses this question on his Personal Development Blog dated January 20th, 2010. It's been pestering me since then because there is another side which he is not seeing. Bear with me while I develop another perspective, referencing his article from time to time.

How Steve Sees It

He uses ego to refer to "your physical world identity, mainly your personality and sense of self". I agree! Then he goes on to describe persons who "go all out" with it as "giving away possessions, shaving their heads and spending their days meditating, doing chores and striving to give away any last bits of attachment to their previous identities".

I am willing to grant that these practices do happen, but they need to be seen in the context of their intended goals and not, as Steve sees them, as aberrant activities of a character too weak to engage normal life. The goal of these spiritual seekers is to reconnect their soul selves with source. They may have already recognized that possessions are of no use in that search and are in fact a hindrance. This is not to be understood as a decision to denounce all abundance but simply redistribute it so that it no longer requires you to look after it and protect it from loss. Letting go of material possessions is not a decision that most arrive at easily. It is best framed as an action of releasing rather than as a loss. There are many who have lost their possessions through misfortune. This is not the same unless the loss catapults the person into a spiritual awakening in which they recognize the spiritual lessons which are acquired as a result.

Steve sees many people as trapped in an impossible situation because they see launching a strong career as being too ego based while on the other hand they are unable to relinquish their attachment to their identities and their stuff. I agree. People struggle on both ends of the continuum. Steve recommends that it makes more sense to strive for a career and a strong ego-based life. I on the other hand think a more heartfelt existence can be had by choosing ones spirit as a guiding principle. We need to recognize that many have strived and failed at both. There is a pull toward both ends. Both have merits and it depends on what you want out of your life which one you choose. Steve is right, it is a choice, but what he doesn't concede is that both are valid and both are difficult.

Steve goes on to say that people stuck in the middle like this are usually borderline-broke most of the time. He has singled out healers, readers, massage therapists and such. He calls it "a half-assed approach to enlightenment" while meanwhile they are doing nothing to make the world any better. I am responding to this on my blog because comments are not allowed on his articles. I really wonder why I am bothering except I need to say "Steve, you are missing the boat on this one." Look into it more and maybe even interview with some folk who are on this path before you run it down again.


Building a Stronger Spiritual Base.

Instead of weakening your ego an alternative would be to build a strong spiritual base. Consider what you might achieve with it. Your spirit is your soul. It is what remains when your human form ceases to exist. Exploring your spirit self through study and meditation might lead you to discover you are no longer interested in some aspects of your former life things that were attractive to your ego. To Steve this equates to being "sidelined as a non-player character". Steve recommends that you leave people and situations behind if they are no longer serving your advancement. If you apply this to spiritual pursuits what would it look like? You would probably be leaving behind people who are striving too hard for success and material gain and friends who refuse to accept you as you are. How would you like to develop your spirit during your time here on this earth?

Well Steve, it looks like you were right again. Your stuff is good man, just apply it more universally.


Now comes the curious part of the article where Steve notes some personal attributes which are essential for building character. Strangely, they are the same attributes one gains when building spirit.
I have replaced the words
ego and character with spirit
and replaced as having a strong ego with as you are
and replaced strong people with people
and replaced the strong with them
but the rest is a direct quote.


Spirit-building Ideas

1. Honesty - See how honest and open you can make your character. Be honest in your dealings with others. Stop pretending and hiding who you are. Share yourself openly with the world.

2. Courage - Continually push yourself to face your fears instead of shrinking from them. This will give your spirit more options.

3. Exploration - Learn by trial and error. Step into the unknown and learn by doing. Develop a "spirit" that loves to dive in and learn new things.

4. Service - Tune your "spirit" in the direction of serving others, such that the stronger your "spirit" becomes, the more you push yourself to help people. Make service to others part of your identity.

5. Acceptance - When you accept yourself "as you are", you'll be more willing to accept other "people" into your life as well instead of feeling you need to attack "them" in order to justify your own weakness.

6. Discipline - Develop a "spirit" that identifies itself with good habits like regular exercise and solid productivity.


So What's My Point?

I just wanted to say Steve that you have a great blog. I tapped into it originally because I was just getting going on this blog and you helped my understanding. I don't read all your stuff but I happened to catch this one for some reason and it was like an itch that you can't scratch so what do I do? I blog about it.

The following quote is about as close as I can come to expressing how I feel about this:


"By this time I had already come to see myself as a soul. That's one of the first things any student of Mussar needs to understand and acknowledge, deeply and clearly. Each of us is a soul. Mostly we have been told that we "have" a soul, but that's not the same thing. To have a soul would indicate that we are primarily an ego or a personality that in some way "possesses" a soul. The first step on the path of Mussar is to unlearn that linguistic misconception and to realize that our essence is the soul and that all aspects of ego and personality flow from that essence. At its core, the soul is pure, but habits, tendencies and imbalances often obscure some of that inner light. The lessons of Mussar are all intended to help us correct whatever shortcomings may be preventing the light of our soul from shining through."

– excerpt from Climbing Jacob's Ladder, Alan Morinis





So, you see, one of us is describing the tail and one of us the ears but if we all get together we might be able to see the elephant.

PART TWO Chapter Fourteen

THE PEOPLE!

When I first became involved with this mission back in the early 1970's, I used to doubt, be sceptical. But what convinced me of it's validity was the people. The unique people I met. It really wasn't the bizarre things that occurred, the way money would arrive at the right moment, or out of nowhere, or even the way events would fall into place far beyond coincidence. It was the people. The spectrum of humanity that I touched and that touched me. All races, all regions of the earth, all religions of the earth, all creeds, philosophies, every one of them was unique.

If you're going to have a future, a new age, then this is exactly what you need. A full spectrum. You can't do it with only one kind of person. You need the whole range to avoid intellectual breeding. When I sit and look back at the people that have crossed my path, it becomes very very clear that someone, somewhere, knows exactly what they're doing.

When I get glimpses of the future, the way it's being assembled, these foundations of the future, these seeds of the new garden, it's apparent that there's a pretty powerfully charged group of people being assembled. Now, charge them with positivity and their accomplishments can be limitless.

The old world can best be compared to the S. S. Titanic, opulence and engineering. A masterpiece of her time. She died! She died because of the arrogance that captured those who were charged with her care. The sheer arrogance that the ultimate calamity couldn't happen. The arrogance that she could carry as many passengers as she wanted, they would never need the life boats anyway. Those at her controls arrogantly thrust her headlong into the iceberg strewn North Atlantic almost daring the gods to do something about it.

That my friend, is what's happened to us. The masters on the bridge have steadfastly ignored the cautions and the warnings and have just as arrongantly run the good ship earth into an iceberg.

Everyday, sadly I watch another 'guaranteed, fail-safe, water-tight bulkhead, buckle under the pressure. You and I realize she's going down and have taken to the boats. It's truly no matter for rejoicing that many are blissfully unaware that anything is wrong. The ship's crew aren't going to tell them.

There is hope though and it lies in the fact that the next time around, there'll be a new crew at the controls, devoid of the arrogance that blinded so many. We are that crew.

PART TWO Chapter Thirteen

THE GUIDING LIGHT!

We all have guides. Some of us are aware of them and some are not. Nevertheless, they are there and are ready and quite capable to help you develop as long as that development is in the right direction. Most on this plane don't believe in them, and so they are dismissed as something that children can believe in.... for a time.

In fact, we've managed to ignore them to the point that we get along quite nicely on our own, thank you, up to a point. And that point only seems confined to this material plane. They still hang on though, and when the time is opportune they may step in to help a person out of a jam, especially if it'll lift them onto a new path.

On thing is for sure however. They are only interested in the upward evolution of the human. And for that they can literally move mountains if necessary.

They've been describes as angels, spirit helpers, devas, apparations, spacemen (or space-women) what have you. They've appeared in the method by which they would be accepted... angels, balls of light, space travellers, or elderly gentlemen.

These spiritual guides don't appear unless it's important to do so. Only when all other avenues are closed to them do they make a brief appearance. Even then, they don't generally seek to give attention to themselves. The message is the thing. In this case the message isn't the medium! Rarely do people even realize what's occurred with a visitation until after the fact.

In 1975 I knew a young woman librarian who was at a crossroads in her life. And when I came to clean the windows at the office she worked at we would have lunch together. She would usually talk about the turmoil she was going through with her relationship with her boyfriend and so on.

This went on for months, when one day she announced that she now had two men on her mind and didn't know which one to choose. Not long after that meeting she told me of a further occurance. She was in a garden of roses. Many of them looked rather sickly, but scattered here and there were some healthy beautiful flowers. A kindly looking old man wearing white coveralls approached her and said, "How do you like my roses?".

"Fine" she replied, "but how come some are sickly and the others are so beautiful?"

"I had some seeds," he said, "and I scattered them over the garden. Some grew like this, and some like that. Now, choose the most beautiful rose, and it shall be yours".

She said she couldn't make up her mind, that she was unable to choose. So then the gardener moved into the garden and picked a beautiful yellow rose and gave it to her. Then he went back into the bed and picked the most beautiful red rose and gave that to her. Then he walked away. Even while she related the incident, she was still confused about the choice. So I told her to think again about what the gardener had done.

Her eyes just brightened and she said, "Menno, I know, I know which one." The yellow rose had clearly marked out her mate, who, incidently was the blonde one of the suitors.

Then I told her that it was no ordinary gardener, she'd seen. Now, I'm not a gardener, but it's very unusual for roses to be seeded. They're generally grown from a cutting.

The yellow rose signified her future mate, the one she would choose, and the red one was the symbol for herself. You know, just as a matter of interest, when they were married, the weirdest thing happened. Just like a final exclamation point on it all, as they took their vows, and as soon as the minister had said, "what God joins together, let no man put asunder," there was a terrific clap of thinder, right at the very moment, right over the church. I'm telling you, there were more than a few eyes rolled up to the ceiling when that happened.

As for the guides though, they're with you all the time, but very rarely do they make an appearance in dreams or in the waking world.

PART TWO Chapter Twelve

WHAT'S MINE'S MY OWN!

This chapter is going to be a very short one, but I feel a very important one to include. You know, therehas always been it's a cliche, it's often the basis for jokes. But as never before, the pressure is being felt on this earth that indeed, that is just the case. Now, there are many who are aware of it, but are taking the negative path through it all, and will be mired in it as a result.

Earlier I talked about the elevation that will occur; how the frequency rate will increase to lift "the souls" above it all. The reference to Lot's wife turning back and becoming a pillar of salt I believe is allegorical to her lowering her vibrations to the level of the destruction that occurred, and perished as a result.

Many people are aware that things are not right in the world, and are finally convinced that there will be a major breakdown in society. But instead of turning toward the positive which will lift them away they have everything you could imagine. A year's supply of this, a ton of that, they've constructed underground shelters with water supplies, breathing apparatus, and they're gone to great lengths to protect themselves against the marauding hordes they are convinced will swoop down upon them to rape and pillage. It's a protection belt on fear, not foresight. Fear of the end, not a vision of the beginning.

You know, here it's most applicable to quote, "as ye sow, so shall ye reap". If these people are ready to kill others for their survival, then they will stay at the level of the destruction. They will realize their worst fears. They don't have the faith to rise above it. Their faith is restricted to the material, their material perceptions.

The ultimate insult is the taking of another's life. But if one expects to, then those expectations will likely be met. To expel those ideas is a step onto the elevator to the new age. In other words, what you sow, and these are your beliefs, your fears, your expectations, will surely come back in the harvest. If the seeds are of positivity and faith, that's what you shall reap. If not, ...........

There is a good example of how protection will be provided in the old testament of the Bible. Elisha the successor to the prophet Elijah, was pursued into the hills by an army.He and his servant or assistant. And when things were looking bleakest, the servant told Elisha that all was lost, it was hopeless. At that point, Elisha calls upon God and says, "Open his eyes, that he might see," referring to the servant. He then saw all around them, in the sky, on the hills, a magnificant army facing the threatening 'real' army.

This extra vision restored the faith of the servant, the faith needed for protection. Then Elisha commanded that the army be smitten with blindness, which they were. And blind, they were led by Elisha into captivity, in Samaria, where their sight was restored. The king then wanted to kill the captives but Elisha intervened saying that that was the worst thing to do. Instead, they should treat them as guests, prepare a feast for them, then release them.

This was done and the result was that Israel was never again bothered by that nation. (Kings ll, Chapter 6).

The important points of this story are how faith and positivity removed the threat permanently, and that by treating their captives as guests, then releasing this, they won a far greater victory.... a lasting peace.

Like begets like. Violence simply draws violence. Stay on that plane and you'll draw it to you. And that's why I've never advocated the gathering of weapons for protection in this thing. If you prepare for trouble in this way, on this plane, how can you possibly rise above it? Your only weapon need be faith. It's all you need, and will serve you well.

PART TWO Chapter Eleven

THE NEW GARDEN!

The Pockets

On a planet
going through a time of great change
it's magnetic blanket rewoven
it's continents and seas overturned
it's races of humanity
tossing to and fro
in a fever of annihilation
there are those places
protected
as if by divine intervention
wherein dwell
the seeds of the future...
"the seeds of Time".

Here a series of mountain valleys
will protect and nourish
the highest strains of humanity
against the harshness of this winter of humanity
just like acorns
lying snug and warm beneath a blanket of snow
holding within their core
the promise of
a "New Tomorrow".

It's as if there are seeds, or a species of people that are being brought into cacoons like caterpillars. Then, winter strikes the garden, everything dies in the harshness of it. In the spring time, the cacoons open up and the beaufiful butterfly emerges. There is a metamorphasis going to take place inside the pockets; Inside these places of supernatural safety.

It will be unnatural, supernatural, how people will live. You know, when I was contacting people I was doing it on two levels. On one level I was delivering the message verbally, while om quite another level I was activating something that can only be described as a power circuit, a power source.

Everyone has, shall we say, one circuit that they operate on in this plane; just as if they are hooked into a power source of thsi plane. But the people that I contact, these eagles, have what is best described as a second circuit compatiable with a power supply not of this plane.

When the power goes off in a city, certain places such as radio stations, police departments and hospitals switch over to an auxilliary power supply and carry on. Now with people, the evolution into the material and away from the spiritual can be likened to their going onto auxilliary power years ago, operating in the material and losing entirely their primary circuit. When the things I've been talking about occur, the power supplying that auxilliary level will fail and that'll be it, game over, so to speak.

Now with the sleeping souls, their primary circuits have been kept open unconsciously by themselves and their guides. The Eagles are having their primary circuit activated by contacts such as myself and they even now, are starting to draw power from that primary source. They will switch over to that primary source entirely when the power supply on the material plane fails.

These unique people, you unique people have your primary circuit tripped already and it's being warmed up now ready for the power failure.

When that power failure occurs, the transition to the pockets of protection will take place. In these pockets like the analogy of a cacoon, the metamorphasis will take place and a new race, more highly evolved will emerge into the new garden of the new age.

As I've said before the initial boost will be dramatic, then there will be a gradual and steady elevation in vibration rate. At first, except for the location, things will be pretty normal as far as life function is concerned. But even this normalcy will be peculiar. You'll eat and drink and require shelter as normal. Now some of those in the pockets won't be able to deal with the transition despite the help they'll receive as soon as they arrive. They'll be unable to accept that they can continue living through an atomic holocast, or perhaps they'll return mentally to the material planes out of fondness for possessions they have left. They will die, even in the pockets. The sad part is that it will happen, simply because people won't be able to accept that they can live.

This is a very, very important task of the Eagles. They are the ones who must explain to the new kids on the block exactly what's happened, why they are still living and how to stay that way.

It's a job of healing of sorts. The magnitude of what is going to occur is one thing when you deal with it in the abstract, as we can only do without acrtually experiencing it. But dealing with it as a fact is going to be staggering enough for those of us aware and prepared, let alone for those who'll be taken totally unawares.

The healing comes in dealing with the shock they'll experience when it dawns on them what's occurred. And don't underestimate my friends, the impact it will have. Neither underestimate it's impact on you. You however, will be able to deal with it through meditation and prayer.

You'll have to teach these newcomers how to deal with it safely. Minds will be shattered through the dislocation of their world, everything they've known, held onto for security, gone. Only they remain, in a new and strange place. Certain people, such as yourselves, have been brought to the realization and acceptance that the world, life as it is now, will disappear. Others have not.

What they must realize is that the old image of life will change. Like an old tattered coat being sluffed off, the outer covering will change. There will be that evolutionary up-stepping going on in order to be compatiable with the planetary up stepping which will be going on simultaneously to bring about this new garden.

NOTE: To Be Continued.

PART TWO Chapter Ten

For The Harvest of the Earth is Ripe!

The tribulation, the holocaust, Armageddon, whatever you want to call it, seems to be almost upon us. Now, I don't want to come across as a doomsday prophet, but we are at the end of an age. The signs seem to be all about. Astrologically, it is the end of the Piscean Age and the start of that of Aquarius. For those less inclined to the so-called pseudo-science, the Israelites have a homeland. One solid sign from the bible that the age is closing.

We possess the means to annihilate all life on the planet through atomic weapons and now seem on the verge of it by actually talking about using them. There seems to be more and increasing moral corruption in all quarters of the affuent world, while the rest of it straves to death, and on and on and on. There are many publications that look in depth at supporting the arguments that the New Age is almost here.

It's not my role to convince anyone of that, nor is it my role to deal with the negative side of the event to any great depth. My role is concerned with the New Age, and the "seeds of time", the seeds of the garden of the new age.

But what of the autumn and winter which will precede the spring in this new garden? Briefly, here is what I've been given.

The things I have been shown run roughly along with the metaphors in the Bible, but not exclusively so. It would appear that the time of tribulation will occur in its beginning stages in North America, the new Babylon. In fact, given the economic crisis, and world wide humiliations that the United States have endured in just these past couple of years, it may already have started.

The main event, though, I believe, will be triggered by something catastrophic happening in North America. My best guess is an earthquake of unprecedented magnitude in the area of Southern California, more volcanic activity and so on. Natural events, so to speak. In fact, the sequence I saw was one of natural disaster followed very quickly by economic collapse, followed by a nuclear attack! And I was further shown that the attack would be precipitated by some action of the Pentagon. That was even alluded to in the writings of Nostradamus from the 1500's.

In August of 1979, I received a message, through a medium, that was so astounding I didn't want to face it. I was told that the period of tribulation that would start with the destruction of America, would end with the passing of a comet, such that the earth would in effect be sterilized by fire. That all life, except that which was sort of divinely protected, would be extinguished. To tell the truth, I'd been told about the comet in 1976, and I hadn't wanted to face it then either. So I blotted it out of my mind.

I was in an occult bookstore in Vancouver (British Columbia, Canada) one afternoon, just browsing around. In fact, I had felt rather compelled to go there. Anyway, not long after I was there, a strange looking fellow approached me and said he had something to tell me, and that we should step outside.

When we'd left the store he told me about the comet. That it would be sort of the exclamation point at the end of the age. He said, This will be the sign that the comet is coming. He said, "when there is a civil war in Iran, strange things will happen. A man with a funny name starting with "K" will come to power through this disruption. He'll be like a crazy man.... and that will be your sign that the comet is on its way."

It was so stark, so ominous, that I told Sharon about the encounter, then promptly shoved it out of my mind. Then, what was it, four years later we sat and watched as the news programs reported the arrival from France of the Ayatollah Khomeine, to take charge after the flight of the Shah! Sharon asked, "What did that guy tell you in 1976?" Well, it all came back with a bang!

At the time of the encounter in 1976, Iran was the west's keystone of defense in the Middle East. There was no country more stable, or so it appeared, than Iran. To talk about a revolution there was ludicrous, right?


*********
....we refer to the last verse of Luke, Chapter 17;
"And they answered and said unto him, where to Lord? And he said unto them, Wheresoever the body is, thither will the eagles be gathered together."

Do you know what the eagle is? It's a very high symbol. No matter what the culture, or where you come form, the eagle is always the highest symbol, excludng of course those cultures where the eagle didn't live.

In nature the eagle is the highest flying bird, the only creature in nature that can look directly into the sun and not destroy its eyes. From that you can draw the analogy to these certain people who are like eagles, spiritual eagles. They can look into the light of God, euphemistically, the sun, without being destroyed. You know, that analogy to the eagles has come time and time again when referring to the likes of you, to whom I'm speaking. THE CODE WORD IS EAGLES! And the eagles are being gathered together.


HOME!
High on a mountain
overlooking the valleys,
two men stand looking down
upon the place of refuge.

One of them,
the younger of the two asks
"Are the eagles all here?
are they all safe?"

The older one with weather beaten features
in farmer's clothes
raises his right arm and makes
a wave-like motion towards the sky.

The air is suddenly filled
with a multitude of shining figures
some so bright
they seem next to invisible.

Beams of rainbow colored lights
flash to the older one
and then he says

"Yes, my son
the Eagles are all safe
the Eagles are home
for the night.

My main role is with those eagles. Waking them up, making them aware. The 'body' of believers will remain totally unaware until after the event. Then it becomes the job of the Eagles to explain what has happened.

Again too, I'd like to stress that this discussion of the 'Christ' is of a spiritual, not religious nature. There are no boundaries here as far as religious dogma, one does not have it over the other, one isn't better than the other. For these purposes, those that have it, so to speak, over the others, are those that have achieved the Christ Consciousness regardless of whether or not they're labelled it as such.

Speaking of waking them up, the Eagles that is, very strange things will occur preceding the holocaust. There will be a light that will be seen around the world simultaneously. It will be visible to the naked eye, everybody will see it, and it will occur right before the action. It is the sign of the start It's really so hard to believe, but it's the sign that the final tribulations are about to start.... WITH A BANG! This is believed to be the vision that was given to those girls at Fatima. They passed on the information to the Roman Catholic Church in Rome and it was viewed only by Pope John XXIII, who is said to have paled when he read it, not revealing to the world its contents. Officially at any rate.

Fatima, however, wasn't the only place where this was revealed. Nostradamus writes of it. John the Revelator in Revelations saw it. The beginning of Chapter 18;

"I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power. And the Earth was lighted by his glory."

Then he goes on to talk about the destruction of Babylon, the U.S. many believe, about this most affluent place being destroyed by fire in one hour.

"... Babylon the great is fallen..."
(then verse 8) "therefore shall her plaques come in one day. Daeth, mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire; for strong is the God who judgeth her."
"... for in one hour such great riches is come to naught."

So there it is. At the beginning of that chapter of Revelations John saw an angel having great authority come and light the world with his splendor. And it will be unnatural because we can't conceive of the whole globe being hit at the same time.

Then it goes on to talk about the sleeping souls being taken out just before all hell breaks loose. In verse four John says;

"and I heard a voice from heaven saying, come out of her my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plaques."

Then comes the destruction, while the world watches;

"And the kings of the Earth who have committed fornication and lived deliciously with her, shall bewail her and lament her, when they shall see the smoke of her burning. Standing afar off for the fear of her torment saying, 'Alas, alas, that great city Babylon, that mighty city! For in one hour is thy judgement come."

Now, what does that describe? What is the wealthiest most affluent place on the globe right now? The Babylon of modern times? I would say that's a pretty vivid picture of North America.

As I've said before, my concern is with the counter-action that will happen with the 'seeds of time', the 'seeds of the future'. The positive people. When they are taken out of an area, that area will collapse on itself. It's as if these people are the keystones of the society of which they are a part. When every positive person is taken from Vancouver (Canada) that city will die. The negativity will just kill it. And that's why the reference to Noah and Lot. As soon as they'd departed.. the roof fell in. I think this shows that the world will continue as usual until those keystones are removed.

PART ONE - Epilogue

We are still on the case, Sharon, the boys, and I. We live by spiritual guidance every day. Many times since we "stepped out into space" in January of 1978, we found ourselves in positions where we truly didn't know how our needs would be met, from the next meal to the next roof over our heads.

Everytime we found ourselves in that position though, something miraculous would occur, and we'd be okay for another period. Our needs would be met. Neither had we had to live in conditions of poverty. It seems that we've had to walk the line but we've always been put on the right side of it. It's as if the Spirit of God wanted to lead us into situations where we couldn't humanly provide for ourselves, protect ourselves, fend for ourselves.

This has led to more than a few struggles within, as well as between, ourselves. We live in a very materialistic and security conscious society where it's what you have, what you can get and how, or who you are, that counts.

Many of the values of what you become in service to others, and what you give rather than what you take from life, have been lost. Not for long I expect.

Our struggle is between the lower self, and the higher self, and it's a struggle waged in the mind, not at the office, or at the bank, or with the bill collector. It's as if the spirit within is speaking to us saying, "Just because it appears that you are helpless, doesn't mean that the situation is hopeless."

The lessons leraned by us to reveal to others, such as you, are lessons of positivity, the value of the good thought, the good word, or the positive action, instead of the bad or the negative.

The lesson of acceptance, the loss of the almost innate human necessity to judge others in our terms, when we can only judge ourselves by our terms. And most of all, the lesson of Faith. Having the faith to do what's required, and know that in doing the job, the material needs will be met. It's perhaps the hardest lesson to learn, and even harder to live. But these last ten years have given rise to ever increasing levels of Faith.

PART ONE Chapter Nine

IT'S NO SHAME TO BE POOR, BUT IT'S NO GREAT HONOR EITHER!
- Tevye

When we got back from Europe, we didn't have a cent. We spent what we had fulfilling the inspiration that we received. But there we were, staying at a motel in Richmond, near the Vancouver airport, wondering how we'd pay the bill at the end of the week.

We knew some people who had money, and who'd told us to come and see them if we needed a hand. I was thinking about taking them up on their offers, when I got a flash that said, "Be prepared for a surprise." Nothing more, just that!

Soon after, I contacted a friend of ours who wanted to talk to me. She was on a disability pension at the time. While we were talking in a restaurant, right out of the blue she says, "I've got a feeling I've got to give this to you. I just got a little inheritance from Ireland. It's not much, but it's two hundred and fifty dollars. It's for you. You need this for some reason." I was astonished. She didn't know about our financial condition, and she was barely making it herself.

I was shocked. And I guess my ego was involved somewhat as well. How could I take her money? But the inspiration had warned me to be prepared for a shock. But I didn't want to accept it; that's a pretty humbling thing you know.

It's sort of like being on the street with a cup in your hand, and the rich folks that have the means pass you by, while the ones who barely scratch out enough for themselves are the ones contributing. It was all she had, and she was offering it to me.

"No, don't worry," she said. "you need it."

Well, she was right about that! I did take the money, and that's what got us going again during our first week back from Europe.

A year and a half later, at that same restaurant, at the same table in fact, the manager of the shoe store I referred to earlier in the book, and I were having coffee, when all of a sudden he pulls out a cheque book and writes me a cheque for two hundread and fifth dollars.

"Hey, I've got a feeling I've got to do this," he said.

Usually money only comes like that when it's needed and I couldn't figure out why he was writing the cheque. Then it dawned on me. It was needed, but not by me. It was for the woman who'd helped us out of a jam earlier.

So I took the money to her, and she did need it at that time. She was crying, she was so surprised. Who says someone isn't keeping track?

PART ONE Chapter Eight

IF IT'S TUESDAY, THIS MUST BE HOLLAND

On March 15th, 1978, we took off for Europe. We'd sold our house, realizing about ten thousand dollars after all the bills were paid. The money I'd received from the sale of my business had been eaten up by the travel to that point.

We travelled very fast, and sometimes very expensively. It wasn't for the luxury though I can assure you. It was so that we could be in the right places at the right time to make the contacts. We weren't tourists by any stretch of the imagination. In fact, when we left we thought the trip would be a month, at least. In three weeks it was all over. And so was the money.

What we were being shown was that the money wasn't important, the mission was. And if it took it all, then so be it. After all, it was only money. But for the trip. that money put us into areas to make the connections, and boy, did we make connections.

London turned out to be a major stop along the way. We were guided to about ten individuals during the four days we were there.

One afternoon we were walking down a street near Victoria Station. It was just a little street off to the side, you know, off the beaten path. As we were walking along a young woman came up to us and just mentioned something about Belgrade Square. I'm not sure what else she said, but she had clearly mentioned Belgrade Square. Then she walked on up ahead of us. We followed along behind because we were going the same direction.

Well, she reached the corner before us, of course, and when she got there she turned onto another street. When we reached the same corner a moment later, she was gone. It wasn't as if she'd disappeared into a crowd, because there was no crowd. The street was empty, and she was no where to be seen.

Later on that evening, I felt like going for a walk by myself. I walked for hours and hours through London by myself, sort of walking in a big circle. Finally I found myself in a large square. A big open area with a road around it, with a small grassy park-like area in the middle. All around the area were buildings that looked like embassies. In fact, that's what they were.

As I stood there taking it all in, a man got out of a red car and asked if he could be of any help to me. So I asked him where I was.

He replied, "You're in Belgrade Square."

There it was. The disappearing lady from earlier in the afternoon had said it, now, here I was.

Then the guy asks, "Are you doing anything in particular?"

I told him no and he suggested I go with him. He says, "I'd like to show you the best little pub in England."

It was right off of the square in an alley, and he took me in there. It's funny that I should do that anyway because I don't drink, but here's me going into a pub.

He took me to a round table where there were three others sitting, and introduced me around. This fellow that brought me in said he was an actor on the London stage, and his two sons, one was a student, the other an actor as well. And when I was introduced to the third man, you could have knocked me over with a feather.

Here at the table was the very man who had been named by my contact on the train from Ottawa to Toronto. His name was David so in so. The name was right, and he was a writer in the theatre.

Imagine, a stranger on a train in Canada names a writer in London and says I must talk to him and two months later in a city of ten million people, while I'm walking aimlessly around London, or so it seemed, I'm taken directly to the man.

This to the average person would seem incredible. Yet it happened not just the once, but many many times. And I mention this to underline that I've gone out on a limb time after time, and I mean way out, but never have I been stranded. It's all been done on faith, and each time it's held up. I've never been left dangling! The guidance has been solid all the way through.

We connected with people from all over Europe. All nationalities, all races. On April 14th, Sharon and the boys flew home, and left me to wrap things up with a final high speed sweep.

I went to Paris, spent eight hours there and never saw the Eiffel Tower, or the Arc de Triomphe. I just rendezvous'd with a fellow, an American black writer in fact, laid the trip on him, and stayed over at his apartment. The next day he drove me to the railway station and I was off again. Stuttgart, West Germany, was the next stop. Overnighted there, then the next morning I was off to Cologne, from there to Berlin, and back again all in a matter of hours. All the time connecting, connecting, connecting!

The trip to Berlin was nothing short of incredible. I never ceased to be astounded at the inter-plays. When I was in the Cologne station, I was standing in front of the train board waiting for inspiration to strike. It's a big board too, not like here. There were maybe a hundred and fifty or more trains coming and going. Anyway, as I was scanning it, the Paris-Warsaw Express just seemed to jump out at me, with Berlin as one of the destinations. That's the one, I thought. So I decided that I'd be going to Berlin.

Now I had a couple of hours to kill, and for some strange reason I felt compelled to exchange my money. So I went to the exchange booth which they have in the stations over there, and exchanged my Swiss francs and German marks, converting them all into pounds sterling.

Now for one in the middle of Germany, and going further in, this may appear as a rather silly thing to do. I didn't think anything of it though, and off I went on the train to Berlin.

When I boarded the train I asked the conductor whether or not my Eurail Pass would be good for the trip to Berlin. He said it was. Something kept bothering me about it though, so I asked him again a little later, and again he assured me that it was fine. As a result I never bought a ticket.

When the train crosses the border into East Germany, as it must to get to Berlin, the train crew changes. All of them, engineers, porters, conductors, the works, change off with an East German crew. Then with the change made, off they go again through a rather intimidating barbed wire corridor.

Shortly after we'd left the border at Helmstead, the new conductor came through the train collecting tickets. Wouldn't you know, he told me that the Eurail pass is no good for the section into Berlin, that I must buy a ticket.

"You need a ticket, you must buy a ticket. I'll sell you a ticket now."

All I had to offer were my English pounds and American Express travellers cheques.

"No good," he said, it must be marks, German marks."

Naturally they'll accept West German marks and convert them on the spot, but nothing else.

"You go to second class. " he said, just like a reprimand, as if he's really saying,'you bad boy, you go to second class for punishment'.

So I gathered up my stuff and went back to the second class section, wondering what was going to happen next, would I get kicked off the train, or what?

I found a compartment that had one other man in it, and soon we got to talking. Now, I don't speak any of the European languages except a tiny bit of German. However, I found out that the fellow was a Greek businessman involved in pipelines, and he was on his way to Berlin. All this accomplished despite the fact we have no common language. Somehow we were communicating! Somehow I managed to get the message across as well, and I had my connection.

As if on cue, as soon as I had accomplished that, the conductor showed up.

"Now I sell you ticket," he says. "Go to dining car and change your money there, then come back and buy ticket."

The strange thing about it all was what if I hadn't changed my money in Cologne, I would have been able to buy a ticket from the conductor in the first place, and would have ridden into Berlin by myself. The first class car was virtually empty except for me.

I spent the night in Berlin, without making a contact, then on the train out the next day I connected with a priest and a school teacher.

Fifty hours it took me to travel from Berlin across Europe, back across the channel to London, then grab a Laker to New York, another flight to Chicago, from there to San Fransisco, then on home to Vancouver.

Around the world in eighty days? Would you believe eighty hours?

Another aspect of it all was language. I'm no linguist as I've already mentioned, yet somehow the communication occurs. It's as if the vibrations carry the message and are more important than the crude symbology of the words. Here's one example of how it seemed to work, even though it didn't occur in Europe.

In the fall of 1977, before I went to Europe, I was speaking with some people in a Katimavik group. I was talking with one young man from Montreal. Just sitting quietly in a corner talking to him at a normal rate of speed, when another young man from the group came over and joined us. He said that he knew the fellow I was talking with, and cautioned me that if I wanted to be understood, I would have to speak much more slowly because he knew very little English.

As soon as this was said the French-Canadian fellow chimed in, "No, no, no, him I understand," he said pointing at me, "You", he told the other fellow, "I don't understand!"

All the way along the difference in languages hasn't seemed to affect the communication. It takes place anyway and the message seems to be received in good order.

PART ONE Chapter Seven

CHANGE OF LIFE

January first, 1978, was like stepping off into space. I sold my business for six thousand dollars, then waited for the guidance to tell me what I was supposed to do.

It wasn't long in coming. Every night until the eighth, I had dreams that showed me people, faces like, Japanese, Spanish, Black, and so on, many nationalities. I was shown destinations such as, Chicago, Winnipeg, and so on. Then, during the day, I spent my time getting ready to travel, cleaning up loose ends, buying suitcases, and the like.

January 8, 1978, the command came through. I was told, "Tomorrow morning, you go to the airport and get the flight that routes through Calgary and then to Chicago." So the next morning Sharon drove me to the airport and dropped me off. I told her I didn't know what was going to happen but that I'd phone here whenever I landed.

The clerk at the Air Canada counter told me that the flight I wanted had been booked since the previous Wednesday, with a waitlist. She said, "You're crazy. This is ‘the' connecting flight for people coming home from hawaii, or wherever, and going on back east after the Christmas holiday.

Not only that, but it was the favorite for businessmen as well because it was the morning plane to Calgary. Anyway, I said I'd go standby, put my luggage on and waited. Sure enough, after all the regular passengers had boarded, they call my name and on the plane I go. It seemed impossible, particularly to some I talked to who'd been waitlisted for a week. But it was supposed to be.... and it was.

I made the trip to Chicago as the dreams had shown and I made my connections with the very people I'd seen in those dreams.

From Chicago, I went to Ottawa where I visited my brother Jake, and his wife Ellen, and told them the story. Then I met Ray Hudson and his wife Edna, and told them as well. Incidently, Edna and Ellen are sisters.

The next stop after Ottawa was to be Toronto and it was on the train trip there that I had one of the most remarkable connections occur. Before I left Ottawa, my brother and I tried to get me a roommate because it's an overnight trip. Nothing doing. They told us that there were none available. So I ended up with a lower berth instead.

The next morning they got me up fairly early and the porter told me that he wanted to make the berth up into the normal seat for day use.

In order to do this, he took me along the car and put me into an empty roomette. He said he'd come and get me when he was finished.

Now, I'm not your most alert morning person, but it didn't take me too long to realize where I was. In a roomette... an empty roomette. And last night in Ottawa they'd told us that there were no roomettes available. Then I sort of had a hunch to check out the rest of the roomettes, and sure enough, most of them were empty as well.

How come? I'm figuring now that there must be a good reason for all this. But it wasn't apparent yet.

I was puzzled about it all when the porter came back and took me to my seat. Then within a few minutes he brought another fellow over to the empty seat across from me. He told him to wait there while his berth was being made up.

Then I started to add it all up. They tell me no roomettes on a train that's virtually empty. They put me in an empty one to make up my berth, but not so with the fellow across from me.

BANG! CONTACT! I realized, this fellow had been set up for me to make this connection. After all, if I'd had a roomette, it's not likely the porter would have knocked on the door of the roomette and asked to put someone else in with me while his berth was being made up. So, here it is. The connection.

I started to talk with the guy. I was just starting to open up to him when he interrupted me.

"I know," he said. "I know what you're doing. Now, Here's what you'll be doing in Toronto. You go to the Sheraton Center when you get to Toronto. Then move over to the Windsor Arms, and you'll meet your people."

Can you imagine my surprise when it dawned on me that he was contacting me. I wasn't contacting him. It was the other way around. Not only that, but in the process he told me that I would be going to London, England. Now, up to this time, I wasn't even aware that I'd go overseas with this thing, but what he said was to the contrary. He said, "When you're in London, England, you will be contacting a certain writer named David...." I'll leave his last name off. But he named the writer and said I'd be seeing him. Then we shook hands and the contact left. He seemed to disappear from the train.

Now, I had an extra element to deal with. Obviously I was goingh to go overseas, but that was a few months away yet.

In all of my travelling, as unbelievable as it may seem, every detail was taken care of. Every one.

A month after I'd hit the road, February, 1978, I got my orders to fly to Edmonton, on a day's notice. This time though the travel instructions included a dress code. Usually I travelled pretty casually, in denim, with a sheepskin jacket, very casually. But this time I was told, "You put on a suit; get 'X' Air Canada flight to Edmonton. But PUT ON A SUIT." Boy, was that emphasised.

I don't like wearing a suit and tie at the best of times, but I'm told to put on a suit, so okay, I'll put on a suit. That's all I was told, except that I would get the rest of the flight plan when I got to Edmonton.

Eleven o'clock at night, I was standing in front of the hotel board in Edmonton International Airport wondering where to spend the night. Just as I was making up my mind on one certain place, I heard a voice beside me.

"Are you thinking about trying (such in such) hotel?"

Just like he was reading my mind, because the one he named was the one I was thinking about. I looked at him, noticed he was wearing a beard, but otherwise dressed in a suit. When he asked me about the hotel, he just kept talking to answer his own question.

"Don't bother, they're full."

So I tried another. I picked up the receiver and pushed a button, but it wouldn't ring. Meanwhile he picked up another receiver beside mine, pushed a button, then handed it to me.

"Here," he said, "you're staying at the Edmonton Plaza."

They answered, and in a moment I was checked in. Then I turned to say something else to the fellow and he was gone. He didn't call a hotel for himself, just for me, after he's read my mind, and then poof, he was gone!

Now it's coming clear as to why I was ordered to dress in a suit. The Plaza is a pretty posh place, a little conservative, and they would'nt have been too fussy about me wandering in dressed as usual in jeans.

I spent the night there without further incident. But when I woke up in the morning I was feeling a little frustrated. I hadn't received anything as to what I should be doing, who I should see and so on. As the morning wore on I became even more agitated, so I decided to go for a walk, clear my mind out a bit. I wandered over to the library, just trying to relax. Still nothing was coming.

I walked through the main floor and then the second floor, and then...... wait a minute. Over in the corner was a fellow who looked a bit like a hobo.

"Hey, that looks like one of those guys, one of those guides." I thought. And right at that second, he turned and looked right at me, and he winked!

"No... it can't be! It's too cliche, it's too obvious!" Here I am again ignoring a sign. I walked to the other side of the library where they had some lounge chairs, and I sat down there to think.

Just like a flash, this guy is beside me. Ther's just no way that I could see, that he could come from the other side of the library that fast. But there he was just about ten feet from me, and he started thumbing through a magazine on a table.

"Is this Valentine's Day?" he asked the quetsion without looking up, or without interrupting his thumbing through the book. All very James Bondish!

"Yes," I said, "it's February fourteenth."

"I have a valentine for a person in Calgary," he said, "there's a person in Calgary you're supposed to see."

He still hasn't looked up at me. Then he said, "Here, this is for you." And he gave me a piece of paper. It was a little poem titled, "Change of Life".


"There's so much good in the worst of us,
So much bad in the best of us,
Sometimes it's hard to say which one of us,
Ought to reform the rest of us."
When I looked up from reading it, he was gone. But my reaction was, "Wow!" The fog just started to lift right there.

It made me laugh actually because it solved the dilemna I had since arriving. What I was being told in the note was that you can't look at people and judge who's in or who's out of this whole project. Just like he was saying to me, "It's not up to you to say, you're in, or you're out, or you're part of the future but you aren't."

Then I got a message that just said, "Relax, flow, we'll pick you up. Just pretend you're a tourist. Go back to the hotel, order up a hamburger or something. Act like a tourist!"

So I did just that, and it all started happening. 'Those people right there... that lady over there... this person.. now that person." And it was all flowing.

When I got to Calgary, I was guided to a young woman working as a waitress in the Calgary International Hotel. I wasn't staying there, but I got the feeling, "Go there" deliver the Valentine, so to speak.

After I told her the story, she comes back with the confirmation. She told me about a recurring dream that she is leading many people up into the mountains to safety. Far below the cities are burning, and above the sky is filled with lights that only she can see. She said that she was in communication with them and that they were helping her help the people. And here I was telling her that she would lead people in the future. That she would be a source for their safety and peace of mind.

You know, I've reflected on that note that I was given in Edmonton, quite a bit. And it sure fits the bill, "Change of Life". That's exactly what it's all about...... a big change!

PART ONE Chapter Six

THE SPORTSMAN CAFE

The frequency of the trips away from Vancouver built up through 1977, as did the number of contacts, both in and outside the city. It became very clear as to why I had the occupation I did. As a window cleaner, I could operate ‘undercover' very easily. I wasn't tied to regular hours. I could come and go wherever and whenever I wished. It literally opened doors for me since as a window cleaner I had a legitimate reason to be almost anywhere; from the homes of judges, to corporation executive's offices. I could infiltrate, so to speak, every level of society.

One place I could usually be found regularly during this time was in the Sportman's Cafe on Dunsmuir in Vancouver. It's not the same place anymore, new owners, new decor, it's totally different. But I used to go there every morning to have breakfast and generally I'd be there until about ten. Now, that might sound like a long breakfast, but with all the people I saw in that place it's a wonder I got my breakfast at all.

I could write a book just on the contacts I made sitting in that booth near the back. Through most of 1977 the cafe became a clearing house, of sorts.

One morning I was sitting there eating breakfast and reading the paper when all of a sudden I was compelled to look up and check out the door. Right at that moment a woman about twenty-eight years old came in. As I watched her, the command came, "Her". Well, I shrugged it off. You know, you run the gambit of your human emotions and sometimes you wonder if it's just your imagination. Anyway, I tried to go back to the paper, but it just wasn't working. "Her, you go talk to her'> I was still hearing that command. So I said to myself, okay, I've got nothing to lose.

I walked up to her booth and said, "Excuse me, I've got a feeling about you right now. I can tell you something about your future. I'm not really psychic. I just get this with some people." So she invited me to sit down and tell her.

"You're going to find yourself in a certain valley. You'll be there, and some of your friends will be there with you. You'll be safe from harm there." When I finished the story she had something startling for me.

"Look", she said, "this is really strange. You couldn't really do this to anyone else in this restaurant. Last night I had a dream; in fact, just a few hours ago. In it, I was sitting in my living room in my house just talking with some friends. All of a sudden a ball of light just comes through the wall into the room and hovers right in front of us." As they were looking at it she said, they all conked out and when they came to, they were in a valley, green grass, mountains, it's all there. Her friends are there. Then she said that a woman came up to her and told her that everything was okay, that her and her husband were looking after things in the valley, that they'd be alright.

She said that she had the distinct impression that the ball of light had something to do with their getting to the mountains. It was like two parts coming together. She had just had the dream. Now, here I was with the rest of it.

One morning, toward the end of 1977, I had quite a conversation with the manager of a shoe store in the area. He'd been coming to the cafe for years to have coffee. I knew him to see him, but I'd never spoken with him before.

I was aware that somewhere down the road I would be speaking with him. But the fellow had an alcohol problem and hadn't been in the right frame of mind. Anyway, this morning he walked into the place and without hesitation walked to my booth, sat down, shaking his head and saying, "I can't believe it. I don't believe it." Then he pointed at me and said, "Last night, in the middle of the night, I had this dream, powerful dream. So powerful that I'm awake and I'm still seeing it."

"I saw all these people in the mountains, and there was a lot of confusion and chaos. And there were all these people and they didn't know what was happening. Like a big revolution had occurred or something, in the cities, and all these people were in the hills." He said, "I'm there", and then he pointed to me, "and you're there and you knew what was happening. And I don't believe it. I mean, you look just like a window cleaner." I was sitting there in my coveralls. He continued, "Do you know what happened? I helped to calm down all of those people and they settled down and you were helping me."

"Look", I said, "It's true. It will happen and you will help to bring about a sense of order out of all this confusion when everything seems to be disintegrating." I told him. "I was told about you and your involvement in these matters. During a trip into the mountains I was told about you and your role."

Now, at the time I had been told about him and his role he was nowhere near being able to accept the message or deal with any of this. For one thing, he had a drinking problem. Anyway, I told him that now that he was coming to me he was finally ready for the rest of the material to correlate with his dream. So I told him.

At that time he was going through a pretty rough period in his life and was heavy into alcohol. But shortly after this event had transpired, he had sort of the crowning touch to get him straightened around. He almost died. You know, one of those near death experiences, only in this case he had a repeat performance of the dream, only showing him in an even more vital role than he was first shown. Since that occurred he's gone on the wagon, cleaned up his act and got it all together.

Now, back to the restaurant. A few days later I was in there having my breakfast when this old man came in. He'd caught my attention a couple of weeks earlier and I'd found out that he was eighty-two years old. I was wondering if he was one I had to contact. Well, as if to answer the question I was just formulating in my mind, I got, "No, he will be one who leaves. He's one of the people that has laid the ground work, the foundation on which you are building. He's done his work. When the event occurs, he won't be lifted into the pockets. He'll be taken to other planes, but he won't have to go through the death experience." This is what I was told about this old man. He'll go in a manner similar to the way Elijah, in the Old Testament did. He won't die, he'll just leave.

The old man came into the restaurant one day, still early in November of 1977. As he came over to me, he said, "I've got to tell you about this thing I have just seen. It was like a dream vision. It happened last night.." He continued, "I was shown as being on my knees and there was an angel beside me kneeling and in front of us was a powerful light. A really strong light. And there was a lovely feeling coming off of the light." Then he said he thought the light was Jesus and just kept marveling at how wonderful it was. Then he said, "the angel turned to me and said, ‘you shall not be caught up from the grave'."

This is a literal thing that a great many people believe, those sort of biblical fundamentalists. They believe that those who will die before the rapture are like sleeping souls who are then called from the grave. Then there are these others who will be caught up from their body. Caught up alive, as it were, when the rapture happens, without going through death.

This old man thought that because of his age he would die like everyone else. But he said to me, "I always thought that this would happen after I'd died, that I'd be coming up out of the grave. But now I know differently. It's soon, it's going to happen soon.: He said, "I know because I haven't that far to go. And this angel is telling me that I'll be caught up from the body, not from the grave." He said, "and it will happen before I die."

As if to correlate the old man's experience, that very same week I received a letter from a man in the States with whom I'd been corresponding. I'll simply refer to him as an eminent leader of a foundation for the study of ESP.

I had written to him a couple of months before telling him of my experiences, and I asked him if he thought my experiences were coming from an objective source, or were they something I was conjuring up inside.

His reply came back that same week, the first week of November, and it said that I was right; that there was just too much negativity in the world to prevent what was going to happen. He said he was sure that what I was getting was from an objective source. He related that he'd had visions that were similar to mine. He'd been shown the ‘light that would shine around the world' when the event occurs.

This foundation leader is an old man as well, and in the letter he related a vision he's had when he was a boy back in 1912. His childhood was spent in peaceful surroundings both in his outside environment as well as in his home. There didn't seem to be any outside stimulus for the vision that he experienced.

In the dream he saw himself as an older white haired gentleman and the scene before him was one of horror. As far as he could see, the whole scene around him was of a landscape black and burned with just a few survivors picking around in the rubble. And all the time he felt like a young boy in an old man's body. He was really shaken by the dream, he cried for days after. He had the dream twice more. Once after World War One and again after World War Two, as if to tell him that the time of the vision was not yet. That it hadn't occurred yet. This man has spent his life as an advocate of positive thinking, but there he was telling me that it had gone too far. That the negativity was too great.

He is now eighty-three years old. He's not too active anymore, but now here he is, a white-haired old gentleman.

PART ONE Chapter Five

ON THE ROAD AGAIN

After I'd served my apprenticeship in Vancouver, the guides started moving me around the country. They weren't ones for giving me much notice either. Generally I'd get just a couple of hours warning.

One Thursday morning, for example, I was eating breakfast when the thought came, "You're going to the prairies." I didn't really know whether to believe it or not, but my confirmation came in the form of a horoscope, of all things. I seldom look at the horoscopes in the paper, but just for the heck of it, right after the thought about the prairies, I turned to the thing and there under Libra, it said, "Travel plans are known by those in high places. It's time you should know." I just said "Wow!". I mean, there was somebody talking to me. When I got home that evening, I told Sharon, "I get the feeling that I'm supposed to go to Saskatoon." She agreed with me, that my feeling was right, then surprised me by saying she felt I should go to Regina as well.

So the next morning she drove me to the airport just as if I was going on a business trip.

I walked into the ticket counter, and you know, I really shouldn't have been able to get on, on such short notice, but there I was, ticket in hand getting on the plane. Now, the people I was sitting beside told me that this was ‘the' flight to take, to get to Saskatoon. It had a meal and so on. Most people preferred this flight over the others.

"You're lucky to get on this flight," they said. And I agreed. I guess I got really lucky all right.

On the flight, I talked with a teacher from Saskatoon, and left her with the message. When I arrived I had a feeling that I should go get a car from Budget. So I walked up to the desk, thinking maybe I'd get one of those neat Monte Carlos. But a countering thought came in and told me to ask for a ‘Cutlass' instead. So I did, and was told they didn't have one. I asked her to check again, and sure enough they did have one. But she said it was going back to Regina, and besides, it was reserved. Then she asked, "Is your name Pauls?"

Well, there it was. And you know, I hadn't reserved it.

When I left the airport with the car, I just drove around for a while. Then I asked out loud, "Why do I have this car?" And right away the answer came.

"There are two hitch-hikers just outside of town. Pick them up." Well, I countered that thought and asked again why I had the car. I could have taken the train, or the bus, or even flown to Regina, so why the car? And again I clearly got, "two hitch-hikers, just outside of town. You are to pick them up."

So I checked into a motel for the night and the next morning I left for Regina. Just as I took the turn-off to Regina, there on the side of the road were my two hitch-hikers, pack sacks and all, and right on schedule.

They told me they were hitching across the country from Vancouver. One of them was from Nakusp, in the interior of British Columbia, and the other said he was from Montreal. They said that they hadn't planned to come to Saskatoon, but a ride the day before brought them northeast to Saskatoon, rather than straight east to Regina.

"Well, I was supposed to pick you guys up," I said. And we talked all the way to Regina and I told them the story. When I came to the Trans Canada highway in Regina we shook hands and parted company. End of mission, I was told, turn in the car and fly home.

These trips were like training flights. Sometimes there were contacts to be made; sometimes it would be a dry run in order to rehearse a new move, so to speak. Like I was being trained to accept direction as I went along. To go on faith without the whole itinerary layed out.

One of these dry run trips took me to Prince George. In fact, I got only a couple of hours notice that I would be going, and I was blissfully unaware that I was heading into one of the busiest periods that Prince George had seen. I arrived right in the middle of the B.C. Winter Games when there are thousands of athletes there from all over the province. But that wasn't all. The federal Liberals were having a meeting of some sort there too and the Prime Minister and many of his cabinet colleagues were there. Now, add to that the corps from the media and you've got a pretty busy time.

When I got off the plane, I got a feeling to follow one group of people as they got on the airport bus. They got off at the Inn of the North, the major hotel there. So I joined the line up waiting to check in. As the line moved, I could hear people without reservations being turned away, told that the hotel was booked. I persisted anyway. After all, it wouldn't cost anything to ask for a room.

When it came to my turn I asked for a room and the reply came, ‘Do you have a reservation sir?" I said that I didn't, but instead of turning me away, she just looked at me for a moment, then walked back toward the office. After a few moments, she returned with a key and asked me to fill in the register. I had a room.

After I settled in, I came back to the lobby and it was even wilder than when I'd left it. And they were still turning away people, some of whom had reservations. It was rather an incredible scene, and into it all marched the Prime Minister's entourage complete with cabinet ministers, press corps and all their paraphernalia.

Despite all this high powered talent around me, I had no feeling to contact anyone. I was told that I was simply on a trip to learn not to doubt direction no matter how impossible the odds seemed. Anybody could have simply walked away from the line up after over hearing what I had about the lack of rooms. But I was shown that even the most apparently solid barriers can evaporate if something has to be accomplished. I was told that what I had to add to the mix was faith, that everything would work out.

Another question I had about it all concerned the reason for my being in the midst of the governing powers of the land, and nary a contact. The answer back was that, "What you were shown was the government of the past, the government that will have once been." In terms of what I was dealing with, it was the system of the old age. That in my terms it was no longer a power.

These guides of mine would go to some pretty startling lengths sometimes to keep me on track, despite what I wanted to do. It happened during one of those weekend, whirlwind trips around British Columbia.

I had taken the train, day coach, from Prince George to Terrace. Only the day coach ride was overnight so I didn't get much sleep on the trip. I arrived in Terrace early on a Sunday morning and decided I'd check into a hotel to catch a couple of hours sleep. Then I planned to take the evening flight back to Vancouver. I'd been traveling for a couple of days up to this point and I just wanted to get home.

Following that plan though, I thought I could do whatever it was I had to do in Terrace, then make it home that evening. I should have caught the clue when I tried to call the airline and book my flight, but I didn't. I called three times, and three times they answered. But each time they couldn't hear me. I just figured it was the phone system, because it worked on the next call I made to Vancouver, to Sharon, to tell her that I'd be home on the evening flight, about six.

Next I called my brother, Pete, who lives in Terrace and arranged to visit with him for the afternoon, and bring him up to date on what I'd been doing lately. Well, he picked me up after I'd had a few hours sleep, and we spent the afternoon talking about all of this stuff. Around four o'clock, I asked him to drive me to the airport. I told him about the problem with the phone and that I would just buy the ticket out there.

The plane was due to arrive at five o'clock. We got out there about ten after four, and after I got my ticket we spent the rest of the time talking. Just about the time the plane should have arrived, it was announced over the loudspeaker that because of a problem, the plane was unable to land at Terrace and had been directed over to Prince Rupert. The plan was, they announced, to bus everyone to Rupert where they could board the plane to Vancouver. That would add about three hours to the trip.

Just as the buses pulled up to the terminal I said to Pete, "I really feel bad about this. I feel like Jonah on that boat causing all that trouble for the other people because he wasn't where he was supposed to be. I think I'll cancel my flight. Change it over to tomorrow instead. I feel to blame for all of this." So I canceled my flight and Pete drove me back to his house for dinner. It was now about a quarter after five. At about five-thirty I called Sharon to tell her I wasn't coming. She told me that moments before my call she'd checked with the airline which told her that the flight would be delayed half an hour to forty-five minutes, that's all.

That's strange. So I told my brother, who then called the airport to find out what was going on. When he hung up he said, "Guess what, the plane is on the ground here, right now, loading up for Vancouver." They had told him that one of the navigation beacons they needed for an instrument approach had suddenly quit working at ten after four. Not only that, but just as abruptly, it had come back on again at five fifteen. It wasn't as if it had been fixed, because it was in a remote location up on a mountain somewhere. Since the beacon was working again they decided to bring the plane back rather that bus all the way to Rupert.

Well, you should have seen Pete's wife. She was astounded. She said, "Now I'll believe anything." After all, this sort of thing was what we'd been talking about all afternoon, and now it had come home.

I had my brother drive me back to the hotel and I checked in again. I just had the feeling that there were people to see. And staying at his house wouldn't facilitate that. And that's what happened. I made three connections that evening. Then the next day, I connected again on the flight home.

Here's how complex it gets. The flight the night before was a direct flight, Vancouver to Terrace and back to Vancouver. The flight I was now on made the more usual triangle route, Vancouver to Terrace to Prince Rupert, and then back to Vancouver. It was on the Prince Rupert leg that I connected with a businessman from that city. Talk about circles within circles within circles, eh?