Heaven’s Here in Our Hearts

I am a Mystic. That is to say, I commune with the Divine every day, sometimes every waking moment of every day. My great Grandma Gladys opened this door for me a long time ago.  

When I was a little girl, I loved staying with my great Grandma Gladys in a small town just east of Boulder, Colorado. She was always so fun and spontaneous. She played the piano and we sang and I danced. Or she sent me out to buy our favorite ice cream, cherry vanilla. I walked a block up the alley and told the grocer who I was and what I wanted. He put the ice cream in a bag and sent me on my way with a wave and a smile. I skipped all the way back. Grandma and I ate our ice cream outside on her front porch, told each other stories and laughed. 

An Evening of Magical Enchantment

On one warm summer night, after a dinner of boiled potatoes and meatloaf and helping her with the dishes, Grandma lit candles and set them around the room and on the dining room table. She got out the Ouija board and I knew the fun was about to begin.

Her neighbor, Claudia, a young woman who lived across the street, knocked on the door. She entered with a flare, her long full skirt swirling around her legs and her long brown hair flowing behind. I loved these two women, they had a mysterious air about them, like they knew secrets and magic.

Those who do not believe in magic will never find it.

Unknown

First Grandma made tea for the two of them and a large glass of milk for me. They sipped their tea and chatted as they set up the table, moving the Ouija board to the center, placing candles on each side. Grandma and Claudia sat across from each other with the board in the middle. Grandma positioned me on the side, in the center so I could see everything. She asked me if I was afraid to which I quickly replied, “No, not at all.” 

Then she reminded me, “Stay as quiet as possible.” 

I felt so special, as if I was privy to some very secret knowledge. I felt tingles of great excitement. This night when they spoke to the spirits was the most magical, enchanted evening of my life.

They closed the curtains and dimmed the lights. The room smelled of roses and candle wax and held a soft golden glow. Both women looked into each other’s eyes and placed their hands on the planchette. The session started.

Grandma took a long deep breath, closed her eyes and asked, “Is anyone there?” Her answer came quickly as the planchette moved smoothly to yes and then swiftly to letters as both women spoke out loud: T-H-O-M-A-S. 

There was a pause, and I heard Grandma chuckle softly. Both women were smiling. Thomas was Grandma’s husband, my great grandfather. He had died a few years prior.

Messages from Beyond

The evening went on for some time. Both women asked questions, the pointer whizzed around as if it had its own agenda. When the board signaled that it was over, they lifted their hands and sat in silence, both smiling. 

Slowly they got up and blew out the candles and put the board away and turned on the living room lights. Then we moved into the living room where the two women chatted about all the information that had come to them that night. Their excitement was contagious and exhausting.

I fell asleep in the chair next to Grandma. I don’t remember how I got to bed but when I woke up, I was immersed in the warm, magical memories.

Later, when I asked about what it was like, Grandma told me that the pointer did indeed have its own agenda. She shared some of what they discovered as they spoke to Great Grandpa and then to others who had left their bodies. I was in awe.

My parents were atheists. My stepfather was extremely vocal about his beliefs. He openly condemned and often tried to humiliate anyone who believed in any kind of god. My mother’s family were holy rollers, southern Baptists who strongly believed in a Christian God, hell and damnation. 

And then there was my great grandmother, Gladys, who believed in the spirit world and communicated with that world on a regular basis. She explained how there really wasn’t a hell. For her, heaven was here in our hearts.

Great Grandpa’s Shenanigans

One morning when I woke up, Grandma Gladys was still sleeping, her bedroom door closed. Later over breakfast, I asked her why she slept so late. She told me that my great grandfather kept her awake most of the night. She said that when he was still alive he thought she nagged him too much. He told her that she needed to stop or he’d come back from the grave and haunt her. And that is exactly what he did.

Grandma said the lights would be out and she would almost be asleep. Grandpa would be sitting on the end of her bed and start nagging. She said he was relentless, saying the same thing over and over, “Don’t forget to pick the grapes soon or they’ll all go to the birds! Did you check the cellar door?” And, “You need to get someone over to haul that grass away.” 

I stared, my mouth hanging open, not knowing what to say. Finally, in my little girl’s attempt to help, I stomped my foot and, with hands on hips, demanded that Grandpa go away and leave Grandma alone! She laughed and told me, “He meant no harm, it was all in good fun.”

After that, I always slowed just a tad when I walked by her bedroom, leaning in to see if I could see him. I never did.

I learned a lot during the summer weeks with her. We went for walks in the yard and she pointed out the different flowers and vegetables in the garden. Sometimes we ate lunch outside under the grape arbor: with oh-so yummy open-faced peanut butter sandwiches with sugar sprinkled on top and glasses of homemade lemonade. When the grapes were ready, I helped pick them and Grandma showed me how to make grape jelly.

Beyond the Veil

The gift I received from these magical times was an awe inspiring sense of the world beyond our eyes. Grandma told me about spirits, how to channel them and talk to them. She read me stories about the world beyond the veil. 

The most valuable gift came in my knowing and trusting my guides and angels. 

All my life I’ve heard the guidance from beyond. I can’t explain exactly how, there were no voices that spoke but rather a gentle but firm knowing what to do next. I can be in a car and getting ready to turn left when the knowing will suggest going straight. Or I can be questioning a decision to attend a certain event and the knowing will reply quickly and immediately to go ahead and attend. 

It’s never a command, just a gentle knowing from within. And when I follow that knowing, it always leads to good or great things. And when I ignore that voice, it always leads to regret.

All of us humans have mystic, empathic and psychic abilities. Some of us choose to embrace these qualities and work with them. Others do not. Neither good or bad nor right or wrong, these abilities are just tools offered to us by the Divine. We can use them or not, always our choice.

It took me years to believe in myself enough to come out and publicly embrace and share these qualities, this vision. Like many, I kept waiting for the right time, the right signal, some external approval. The lights were green all along but my self-doubt got in the way and fogged my vision.

A Practice For Connection with the Divine

Here is a practice that helps me stay connected and grounded in my own Divinity. This practice can help you too.

• Breath-work: Two of my favorite methods routines
  —Inhale to the count of four, hold for one count and exhale to the count of eight
  —Inhale deeply and slowly from the bottom of your spine, imagine the breath moving up to the top of your head, hold (notice the tension) and when you exhale, blow it out hard
• Body awareness meditation: A technique that helps me to know when my nervous system and emotional body are out of balance
• Walking: Doing a slow meditative walk in nature, noticing the trees, birds, breeze, whatever is around–this also brings me into presence
• Journaling: An excellent way to inquire into what is going on for me emotionally

Theologians may quarrel, but the mystics speak the same language.

Meister Eckhart