Authors: Michael Newton
The front windows of his neighbors’ houses were lit, and he could see people inside as he drove slowly past before reaching the driveway of his own home. Although people in trance may use such words as “clumps” and “hives” to describe how their home spaces look from a distance, this view becomes more individualistic once they go into each cluster. Then the subjects’ spiritual surroundings are associated with towns, schools, and other living areas identified with earthly landmarks of security and pleasure.
Dr. N: Now that you are stationary, what are your impressions?
S: It’s … large … activity… there are a lot of people in the vicinity. Some are familiar to me, others are not.
Dr. N: Can we get a little closer to all of them?
S: (abruptly my subject raises her voice with indignation) You don’t understand! I don’t go over there. (points a finger toward my office wall)
Dr. N: What’s the problem?
S: I’m not supposed to. You can’t just go off anywhere.
Dr. N: But, you have reached your destination?
S: It doesn’t matter. I don’t go over there. (again points a finger at her mental picture)
Dr. N: Does this tie in with the messages you received about your father?
S: Yes, it does.
Dr. N: Are you saying to me your soul energy cannot arbitrarily float anywhere-such as outside your group?
S: (pointing outward) They are not in my group over there.
Dr. N: Define what you mean by over there?
S: (in a grave tone of voice) Those others nearby-that is their place. (points down to the floor) This is our place. We are here. (nods head to confirm her statement)
Dr. N: Who are they?
S: Well, the others, of course, people not in my group. (in a burst of nervous laughter) Oh, look! … my own people, it’s wonderful to see them again. They are coming toward me!
Dr. N: (I act as though I am hearing this information for the first time, to encourage spontaneous answers) Really? This does sound wonderful. Are these the same people who were involved with your past life?
S: More than one life, I can tell you. (with pride) These are my people!
Dr. N: These people are entities who are members of your own group?
S: Of course, yes, I have been with them for so long. Oh, it’s fun seeing them all again. (subject is overjoyed and I give her a few moments with this picture)
Dr. N: I see quite a change in your understanding in just the short time since we arrived here. Look off in the distance at the others around this space. What is it like where they live?
S: (agitated) I don’t want to know. That is their business. Can’t you see? I’m not attached to them. I’m too busy with the people I am supposed to be with here. People I know and love.
Dr. N: I do see, but a few minutes ago you were quite distressed at not being able to get close to your father.
S: I know now he has his own gathering place with people.
Dr. N: Why didn’t you know that when we arrived here?
S: I’m not sure. I admit it was a shock at first. Now I know the way things are. It’s all coming back to me.
Dr. N: Why wasn’t your guide around to explain all this to you before you saw your father?
S: (long pause) I don’t know.
Dr. N: Probably other people you have known and loved besides your father are also in these groups. Are you saying you have no contact with them now that you are in your proper place in the Spirit world?
S: (upset with me) No, I have contact with my mind. Why are you being so difficult? I am supposed to stay here.
Dr. N: (I prod the subject once more to gain additional information) And you don’t just drift over to those other groups for visits?
S: No! You don’t do that! You don’t go into their groups and interfere with their energy.
Dr. N: But mental contact offers no interference with their energy?
S: At the right time. When they are free to do this with me …
Dr. N: So, what you are telling me is that everyone here is located in their own group spaces and you don’t go wandering around visiting or making too much mental contact at the wrong times?
S: (calming down) Yes, they are in their own spaces with instruction going on. It’s the directors who move around mostly …
Dr. N: Thank you for clearing all this up for me. You want me to know that you and your group friends are especially careful about infringing upon others’ spaces?
S: That’s right. At least that’s the way things are around my space.
Dr. N: And you don’t feel confined by this custom?
S: Oh no, there are great expanses of space and such a sense of freedom here, as long as we pay attention to the rules.
Dr. N: And what if you don’t? Who decides what is the proper location for each group of souls?
S: (pause) The teachers help us, otherwise we would be lost.
Dr. N: It seemed to me you were lost when we first arrived here?
S: (with uncertainty) I didn’t connect … I wasn’t mentally in tune… I messed up … I don’t think you realize how big it is around here.
Dr. N: Look around you at all the occupied spaces. Isn’t the spirit world crowded with souls?
S: (laughs) Sometimes we do get lost-that’s our own fault-this place is big! That’s why it never gets crowded.
The two cases in this chapter represent different reactions from a beginner and a more advanced soul recalling the final phase of their return passages back to the spirit world. Every participant has their own interpretation of the panoramic view from the staging area to the terminus in their cluster group. Some of my subjects find the transition from the gateway to group placement to be so rapid that they need time to adjust upon arrival.
When recalling their memories between homecoming and placement, my subjects sometimes express concern that an important individual was not present in light form or did not communicate with them telepathically. Often this is a parent or spouse in the life just completed. By the end of the transition stage, the reason usually becomes evident. Frequently it has to do with embodiment.
We have seen how the average returning soul is overwhelmed by pleasure. Familiar beings are clustered together in undulating masses of bright light. On occasion, resonating musical sounds with specific chords guide the incoming traveler. One subject remarked, ‘As I come near my place, there is a monotone of many voices sounding the letter A, like Aaaaa, for my recognition, and I can see them all vibrating fast as warm, bright energy, and I know these are the disembodied ones right now.”
What this means is that those souls who are currently incarnated in one or more bodies at the moment may not be actively engaged with welcoming anybody back. Another subject explained, “It is as if they are sleeping on autopilot-we always know who is out and who is in:’ Those souls who are not totally discarnated radiate a dim light with low pulsating energy patterns and don’t seem to communicate much with anyone. Even so, these souls are able to greet the returning soul in a quiet fashion within the group setting.
The sense of a barrier between various groups, as experienced by Case 15, has different versions among my subjects, depending upon the age of the soul. I will have another perspective about mobility in the next case. The average soul with a great deal of basic work to do describes the separation of their group from others as similar to being in different classrooms in the Same schoolhouse. I have also had clients who felt they were entirely separated in their own schoolhouse. The analogy of spiritual schools directed by teacher-guides is used so often by people under hypnosis that it has become a habit for me to use the same terminology.
As I mentioned earlier, after souls arrive back into their soul groups, they are summoned to appear before a Council of Elders. While the Council is not prosecutorial, they do engage in direct examination of a soul’s activities before returning them to their groups. It is not unusual for my subjects to have some difficulty providing me with full details of what transpires at these hearings, and I am sure these blocks are intentional.
Here is a report from one case. “After I meet with my friends, my guide Veronica (subject’s younger teacher) takes me to another place to meet with my panel of Elders. She is at my side as an interpreter for what I don’t understand and to provide support for explanations of my conduct in the last life. At times, she speaks on my behalf as a kind of defense advocate but Quazel (subject’s senior guide who arrived before Veronica) carries the most weight with the panel. There are always the same six Elders in front of me who wear long white robes. Their faces are kindly, and they evaluate my perceptions of the life I have just lived and how I could have done better with my talents and what I did that was beneficial. I am freely allowed to express my frustrations and desires. All the Elders are familiar to me, especially two of them who address me more than the others and who look younger than the rest. I think I can distinguish appearances which are male or female. Each has a special aspect in the way they question me but they are honest and truthful, and I am always treated fairly. I can hide nothing from them, but sometimes I get lost when their thoughts are transmitted back and forth in the rapid communication between them. When it is more than I can handle, Veronica translates what they are saying about me, although I have the feeling she does not tell me everything. Before I return to Earth, they will want to see me a second time.”
Souls consider themselves having finally arrived home when they rejoin familiar classmates in group settings. Their attendance here with certain other souls does resemble an educational placement system in form and function. The criteria for group admission is based upon knowledge and a given developmental level. As in any classroom situation, some students connect well with teachers and others less so. The next chapter will examine the sorting-out process for soul groups and how souls view themselves in their respective spiritual locations.
MY impression of the people who believe we do have a soul is that they imagine all souls are probably mixed into one great congregation of space. Many of my subjects believe this too, before their sessions begin. After awakening, it is no wonder they express surprise with the knowledge that everyone has a designated place in the spirit world. When I began to study life in the spirit world with people under hypnosis, I was unprepared to hear about the existence of organized soul support groups. I had pictured spirits just floating around aimlessly by themselves after leaving Earth.
Group placement is determined by soul level. After physical death, a soul’s journey back home ends with debarkation into the space reserved for their own colony, as long as they are not a very young soul or isolated for other reasons as mentioned in Chapter Four. The souls represented in these cluster groups are intimate old friends who have about the same awareness level.
When people in trance speak of being part of a soul cluster group, they are talking about a small primary unit of entities who have direct and frequent contact, such as we would see in a human family. Peer members have a sensitivity to each other which is far beyond our conception on Earth.
Secondary groups of souls are arranged in the form of a community Support group which is much less intimate with one another. Larger secondary groups of entities are made up of giant sets of primary clusters as lily pads in one pond. Spiritual ponds appear to be endless. Within these ponds, I have never heard of a secondary group estimated at less than a thousand souls. The many primary group clusters which make up one secondary group seem to have sporadic relationships, or no contact at all between clusters. It is rare for me to find souls involved with each other in any meaningful way who are members of two different secondary groups, because the number of souls is so great it is not necessary.
The smaller subgroup primary clusters vary in number, containing anywhere from three to twenty-five souls. I am told the average assemblage is around fifteen, which is called the Inner Circle. Any working contact between members of different cluster groups is governed by the lessons to be learned during an incarnation. This may be due to a past life connection, or the particular identity trait of the souls involved. Soul acquaintanceships between members of different cluster groups usually involve peripheral roles in life on Earth. An example would be a high school classmate who was once a close friend, but who you now see only at class reunions.
Members of the same cluster group are closely united for all eternity. These tightly-knit clusters are often composed of like-minded souls with common objectives which they continually work out with each other. Usually they choose lives together as relatives and close friends during their incarnations on Earth.
It is much more common for me to find a subject’s brother or sister from former lives in the same cluster group rather than souls who have been their parents. Parents can meet us at the gateway to the spirit world after a death on Earth, but we may not see much of their souls in the spirit world. This circumstance exists not for reasons of maturity, since a parent soul could be less developed than their human offspring. Rather, it is more a question of social learning between siblings who are contemporary in one time frame. Although parents are a child’s primary identification figures for both good and bad karmic effects, it is frequently our relations with spouses, brothers, sisters, and selected close friends over a whole lifetime that most influences personal growth. This takes nothing away from the importance of parents, aunts, uncles, and grandparents who serve us in different ways from another generation.
Figures 1 and 2 (pages 89-90) represent a random spiritual setting of souls. In Figure 1, a soul in primary Group 1, located within the larger secondary Group A, would work closely with all other souls in Group 1. However, some souls in primary Groups 9 and 10 (detailed in Figure 2) could also work together. The younger souls within secondary Groups A, B, and C would probably have little or no contact with each other in the spirit world or on Earth. Close association between souls depends on their assigned proximity to one another in cluster groups, where there is a similarity 0f knowledge and affinity brought about by shared earthly experiences.