A wonderful past life artist came to our church many years ago.  Her name was J. Lee Hall and she offered past life drawings to members of the congregation who were interested.  I stepped forward and sat in the chair facing J. Lee.   The moment I sat down I saw clearly a woman from ancient times walking slowly toward me with tears in her eyes.  I heard her say, “never die for a cause”.  I did not hear or feel anything more and soon J. Lee was showing me my drawing and explaining the people she had drawn.  I noticed there were dates underneath the drawings and asked what they represented.  She told me those were the dates that I had died.  Pointing to a young woman in the picture (the woman to the left right of the “scary man”) J lee said,” this is your last life”.  I did not say anything, but I was certain she must be mistaken as the date was my year of birth.  I had the belief system that we spent quite some time in the spirit world before returning to earth life and that date would have meant I was “back in an instant”.  In the years that followed I received several clues that supported J. Lees’ assessment of instant return to earth life.  
      J. Lee did many spirit drawings that day.  At the end of the day, she began to tell the relevance of those entities she had drawn from our other lives.   J. Lee told me that my man in red was a healer.  Sadly, I must confess I did not listen to much about him because his appearance was a little unnerving to me!  Fast forward many years and I and my husband are in Greece touring a healing center.  All healing centers are called Asclepions and dedicated to the god of healing Asclepius.  Our group sat in the center of the Asclepion in meditation.  I closed my eyes and to my dismay that “scary man” was right there.  I wrote: the scary man is here.  I do not know exactly what happened next, but “he” took my pen and drew a line through scary and replaced it with “gentle” man.  I was in a daze as down the hill we all went to board our bus.   Our driver was standing on the shore and I stood with him. I pointed across the small expanse of water to a mass of land and asked the driver: “what is that land?”   Turkey, he answered. I was downloaded with information.  That “scary” man was a healer and came across the water to study and to teach at the Asclepion.  What a revelation.  The scary man was indeed a gentle man and I had spent years resisting him.  I had “judged” this gentle healer based on appearance.  Today I love the portrait and feel no fear.  Perhaps it was our proximity to Turkey that allowed this gentle man  to manifest so clearly and to correct my error!
         As I close this message I am reminded of Anita Moorjani and her book Dying To Be Me.  Lisa Williams was kind enough to bring me a signed copy of Anita’s book ; the inscription said: “Emmy live your life fearlessly.“   I would add that Jesus and also the Psalms  lightly scold us when they ask?  Have ye forgotten ye are Gods?   May this year guide us to more and more awakenings til one day we awaken and remember who we are!  Then we shall indeed live life fearlessly.
Namaste! 
emmy chetkin
 

      A wonderful past life artist came to our church many years ago.  Her name was J. Lee Hall and she offered past life drawings to members of the congregation who were interested.  I stepped forward and sat in the chair facing J. Lee.   The moment I sat down I saw clearly a woman from ancient times walking slowly toward me with tears in her eyes.  I heard her say, “never die for a cause”.  I did not hear or feel anything more and soon J. Lee was showing me my drawing and explaining the people she had drawn.  I noticed there were dates underneath the drawings and asked what they represented.  She told me those were the dates that I had died.  Pointing to a young woman in the picture (the woman to the left right of the “scary man”) J lee said,” this is your last life”.  I did not say anything, but I was certain she must be mistaken as the date was my year of birth.  I had the belief system that we spent quite some time in the spirit world before returning to earth life and that date would have meant I was “back in an instant”.  In the years that followed I received several clues that supported J. Lees’ assessment of instant return to earth life.  
      J. Lee did many spirit drawings that day.  At the end of the day, she began to tell the relevance of those entities she had drawn from our other lives.   J. Lee told me that my man in red was a healer.  Sadly, I must confess I did not listen to much about him because his appearance was a little unnerving to me!  Fast forward many years and I and my husband are in Greece touring a healing center.  All healing centers are called Asclepions and dedicated to the god of healing Asclepius.  Our group sat in the center of the Asclepion in meditation.  I closed my eyes and to my dismay that “scary man” was right there.  I wrote: the scary man is here.  I do not know exactly what happened next, but “he” took my pen and drew a line through scary and replaced it with “gentle” man.  I was in a daze as down the hill we all went to board our bus.   Our driver was standing on the shore and I stood with him. I pointed across the small expanse of water to a mass of land and asked the driver: “what is that land?”   Turkey, he answered. I was downloaded with information.  That “scary” man was a healer and came across the water to study and to teach at the Asclepion.  What a revelation.  The scary man was indeed a gentle man and I had spent years resisting him.  I had “judged” this gentle healer based on appearance.  Today I love the portrait and feel no fear.  Perhaps it was our proximity to Turkey that allowed this gentle man  to manifest so clearly and to correct my error!
         As I close this message I am reminded of Anita Moorjani and her book Dying To Be Me.  Lisa Williams was kind enough to bring me a signed copy of Anita’s book ; the inscription said: “Emmy live your life fearlessly.“   I would add that Jesus and also the Psalms  lightly scold us when they ask?  Have ye forgotten ye are Gods?   May this year guide us to more and more awakenings til one day we awaken and remember who we are!  Then we shall indeed live life fearlessly.
Namaste! 
​emmy chetkin

      My husband had many regrets regarding his life.  One night he appeared to me excited and eager for me to look at a key he was holding.  He kept saying “look at it”!  I was so surprised to see him that I took my time before looking at the key. (this only agitated him!)  He kept saying, “look at it”!  So, I looked.  On the key was engraved his past birth date. Within myself there was no thought of what or why.  I knew immediately that he had the key and could return to this life.  I knew he welcomed the opportunity to revisit actions, and non-actions taken.  He knew he could see now with a fresh perspective.  We all have this gift.  All of life already is and all of life is the karmic wheel, turning endlessly through time.  Time does not move.  We move through time.  And this world is always present to us if we choose to explore.  This is “the game of life”.  Maybe we would like a chance to up our game!  In fact, Neil DeGrasse and other scientists have begun to speculate that this world is a simulation.  This theory reminds us that this world is the Maya, or the illusion, taught by many eastern religions.  This belief that we are separate is one of the illusions we have accepted without question.  Albert Einstein calls this belief of separate a delusion of consciousness.  We “see” duality, so we accept duality.  Duality is another illusion.  Duality is a like a carrot.  A carrot tempting us to enter in and enjoy the world.  And this is fun but like many temptations we are soon ensnared.  I call this condition, addicted.  In this deep sleep of Adam, we can awaken more and more.  We can enjoy duality!  We can own duality but not let duality own us.  We forget we are one and that this is the illusion, the delusion.  We have apparent deaths, apparent hurts, all manner of illusions to keep us in “hell”.  We are in truth ONE.  We are saved by the One!  The One appearing as many so that we may more easily know ourselves.  We are mirrors to self!  “Know thyself and you will know God.  The world was created and declared good!  My daughter Sara channeled a teaching years ago that I will paraphrase here: Once we really understand the idea that there is nowhere else to go except to go within your mind.  To know that you are always, no matter what the experience, experiencing yourself.  When this knowing awakens, the idea of responsibility, or attraction falls away.  Attraction, responsibility, and other similar ideas imply that there is something, or someone else; as in an-other.   Know that you are always observing yourself, and you are always within your own mind.  So, when we say,” I attract this, I attract that“.  Where are those things coming from?  A void that is separate from you?  You are not separate; it is all you!

Namaste! emmy chetkin
“When you wake up, you will find that this whole world above and below is nothing more than a regarding of oneself.”  Hakuin...zen master (1686-1769)
​

     The first time we do something it can be the beginning of a habit.  In the story of Adam and Eve this teaching is so true.  That first act of the ego, and the curiosity it stirred within us, became imprinted in our DNA. This original awakening and birth of the ego becomes the first of many earthly desires that keep us tied to the physical; seemingly unable to return to the God state and the bliss of paradise.  Did we drink from the River Lethe?  Have we as Jesus suggests forgotten who we are?  Forgotten that this life is finite and only spirit is infinite.  We are not our finite bodies; we are infinite spirit and consciousness is our natural state of being.  We only lose it when we identify with our thoughts, emotions and our bodies.  We have accepted duality even as we preach, we are one.  We created duality by our presence of Adam and Eve in the garden.  All religions have a creation story and all creations stories are written and brought to life by the participants.  Rumi tells us;” You are one.  Everything in the universe is within you, and it is all from yourself”. All from yourself!  Our relationship with the “others” is our relationship with ourselves. There are no others. There is only one.  There are no other places, nor are there any other times.  There is only here and now.
      And all these desires for more, more, and even more came from the bite of an apple! “The road to excess leads to the palace of wisdom.  For we never know what is enough until we have had more than enough” William Blake  Let us walk our road joyfully hand in hand with our Infinite Self!
                                                                                         Namaste! emmy chetkin

       The identification with the body, and its subsequent belief that we are our bodies and human, is why Jesus scolds the apostles when they are in fear.  Jesus asks them, “have ye forgotten ye are gods”?  Have we forgotten we are gods?  We volunteered to come to this earth.  We came to serve one another on this amazing journey; to love one another; to experience the physical and all the senses; the good and the not so good.  We kept hidden from this physical vehicle the truth.  The truth that we are spiritual beings having a physical experience.  But hidden is not lost.  The knowledge is always available to us.  The knowledge is hidden in the deep dream of Adams sleep from which we will all awaken.  This dream, this sleep, is a necessary component in the game of life.  Without it we would not feel the urgency of situations, or the desire to participate in finding solutions.  We are not now nor will we ever be physical.  It is only our attachment, or our identification with the body, and this physical world that allows it to feel “real”.  Our body is created like the avatar we use in video games.  Created is finite.  Ashes to ashes!  Dust to dust.  We are spirit. Infinite and eternal.  We shall move on to ever more experiences eternally!  I remember a teacher who said that as we enter the gates of heaven, we leave our baggage at the gate; only to pick it up again when we return to the physical.  As we step time and time again into the physical, we step into the energy trails of our other incarnations.  We use that information to build our new body.  Cora Richmond calls these many incarnations embodiments; taking on a body.  We are not the body!  WE are spirit, eternal and infinite!    Namaste! emmy chetkin

  Time does not move ......we move through time!  And now is the time for us to enter the season of bounty and light.  This season has been waiting and preparing for us all year and we know there will be challenges as well as magical moments.  This segment of our world that we are now passing through is a wondrous place of feelings.  And in the holidays, feelings can run the highest of high and the lowest of low.  Our “teachers” in the form of family and friends and situations are up front and personal and the obvious presence of plenty and lack expose duality to us in ways we cannot help but see.   It is in this time (and in all time) that we must stay in balance and not become attached to how we want it to be; not become attached to how it should be!  It is what it is!  Hold that thought for a moment ......meditate on it.  It is what it is!  We cannot change it til we accept it.  Go within and listen!   Accept life as it is.  Without acceptance we have resistance, and what we resist will persist!  Our acceptance (love) releases the judgement and sets the situation free to be as Creator meant it to be.  Our judgement can become a prison from which we cannot escape.  Our judgement creates separation and the duality that keeps us from the oneness we are.  It is our judgement, our interference, that creates the suffering and gives those who are experiencing anger the ability to feed off our negatives.  The Buddha has taught that attachment is the cause of our sorrows.  Attachment to how we want “it” to be prevents us from enjoying life in all its many faces.  Do we want to be right or do we want it to work!  Not being attached does not mean we cannot own things.  Not being attached does not mean we cannot enjoy all the senses of physical life.  Not being attached does mean we must not let things, or situations, or events own us.  When anything owns you, it is addiction!  When ideas or events or things own us we become like Narada and blinded by the senses; we forget our purpose!  We are here to create heaven on earth and to bring the duality to oneness.  When we can do this free from the judgement of duality we will be in a state of paradise.  In the meantime, we have plenty of opportunities to practice the love that the season in all its glory invites and entices us to give. This love of life is the humblest of gifts, and at the same time the most powerful healer.  Remember that God is life manifesting as life through life!  Love life!      
  If we are able to release judgement on all fronts.   If we are able to trust Creator to have created a wonderful world and realize it is only our judgement and interference that creates our misery.  If we can do this and not lose sight of who we truly are we will expand and allow the acceptance of the gifts of spirit in full measure.  We are truly blessed.  Let us give thanks and celebrate the holidays free from judgement.         
  Namaste!  emmy chetkin ​

        Nancy Lombardo is a multi-tasking, dedicated, knowledgeable and beautiful soul of devotion and strength! We are grateful Nancy accepted the presidency and we know the church will thrive with her strong and competent leadership along with our hard-working board and beautiful members. Thank you, Nancy!                                                                                                                                    
          Lovingly and consciously I pondered for over a year about stepping down from the presidency of our wonderful Church of the Living Spirit.  I had no worries regarding our continued vibrancy.  Nor did I worry about the dedication of our board of directors.  My thoughts (sadly and much to my embarrassment) were of my own emotions and how I personally would fare.  Thank goodness I was able to overcome those “pity party” thoughts and move to a slightly higher plane, and the well-being of our church!  Life was easier once I ended the pity party, and today Nancy Lombardo, our newly installed president, gave me a wonderful gift…  Nancy invited me to continue with writings for the newsletter.  Thank you, Nancy!  This column is yours when you so choose!                                                                                                           
          As I sat in meditation this morning my thoughts turned to Cora Richmond.  I was never very attracted to Cora Richmond.  However, one day I picked up a book by Cora entitled: My Experiences While Out of My Body and My Return After Many Days.  I was intrigued by Cora and her opinions on thought.  Opinions that also gave me a new perspective on the word perception.  A viewpoint I had not come across.  This understanding, that Cora experienced and learned in the spirit world, showed spirits dropping the thought process as they experienced knowing.  This process of knowing is true perception and requires no thought.  Entities are downloaded with what is and what can be.  This process is also mentioned many times in the bible with the eating of the scrolls (i.e. Ezekiel and many more) and we know from our own experiences that a download comes spontaneously from within.  It comes without notification; filling us with a knowing ……a knowing that we need not ponder nor question nor fear; it just is!  Perception is a dropping away of space and time and a knowing that is not shaken by prior conditioning.  This unfolds in the spirit world just as it unfolds for us when we experience the same phenomena here on earth.  From this understanding Cora and our pioneers urged the necessity of going within.  Meditation!  This sensory world is a virtual reality created for our own enjoyment and like all organic material this body and this earth will pass away.  Cora is quick to point out that we will receive a new body for our earthly or other world expressions!  We will not pass away nor are we harmed by the experiences of the body.  We are spirit now and forever.   All else is illusion.               
   Namaste! emmy chetkin                                                                                

     As I breathe in, I am filled with inspiration, hope and healing.  My inbreath echoes and renews the first breath of life that began my journey in the physical.
     My out-breath releases to healing any negativity I may hold ……. this breath returns to me with life anew and I am once again filled with the joy of life……….
     Our breath is sacred!   It is our first and, one day our last action, in the physical as this body.
      In this life we knowingly or unknowingly hold beliefs born from fear and ignorance.  Knowingly or unknowingly we allow these beliefs to become our truth and it is these “truths” that often are the very blocks to our greater understanding and unfoldment.  These beliefs are sometimes formed in times of extreme distress or perhaps are the beliefs of others that we have blindly followed.  Bertrand Russel tells us “it is a healthy idea now and then to hang a question mark on things we have long taken for granted.”  Ask your question and then sit in silence and breathe. 
     Our pioneers of Spiritualism very wisely tell us to hold all belief open to restatement as growing thought and investigation reveal the transcendent truth.  The truth that goes beyond what we have believed.  New and expanded truth awaits our discovery.
     Consciousness is our natural state of being.  We only lose it by identifying with our thoughts, emotions, and body.  We are not our body; we are spirit.  Our body is finite.  We are infinite.  Consciousness is to be awake, but in this dream state we call life we are asleep.  This is why the Buddha declares “I am awake.”
      Our breath is the healer supporting and carrying us through this physical life; supporting us physically and spiritually.  We are not here to suffer; we are here to enjoy, to expand and to unfold within the physical the gifts we carry as spiritual beings.  Sadly, we often see breath as only a physical function.  Breath does not only give us physical life; it also can purify and lift us higher in vibration.  One day we will see breath as the sacred guide and healer it truly is.  We will consciously make every breath our prayer.  Breath recognized and acknowledged can help us to transcend our mis-takes.   I feel that Michelangelo portrayed this sacredness of breath on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.  It is true that Michelangelo painted an anthropomorphic God; but when I see that painting, I feel the breath is the important message.  Like the Dali Lama, most Spiritualists are nontheists.  Believing that God is not a being; God is a state of being.  As Spiritualists we preach the Immanence of God: that God is the everywhere present, impersonal power, manifesting as life through life; in and of itself conceived, whose knowledge does not depend on the knowledge of any other thing.  Infinite intelligence!  We are that life.  We are not separate from it.                                                        Namaste! emmy chetkin

“I am awake!” Gautama Buddha
 
     All of life says yes to spring!  Spring urges us to wake up!  Spring is the dawn that follows the stillness of winter.  The winter months encourage stillness and introspection; a preparation for what is to come.  Spring uses Mother Nature to get our attention.  Mother Nature is always our guide as the seasons bring to us the gifts that have been prepared for our pleasure.  Opportunities are everywhere and now is the time to recognize which opportunities are speaking to us.  We must do our part and learn to recognize the opportunities that speak to us.  We must dare to claim our gifts.  Do not listen to the naysayers.  Without realizing it well-meaning people often put their fears onto us.  They only want to protect us from the possibility of rejection, or so-called failure.  Every chance taken is not wasted but is a learning.  Joseph Campbell says we must say yes to life!   Listen to the birds and see them fly.  Watch the flowers push up through the earth.   Nature tells us that we too have within us an urge and the strength to bring forth the gifts of life that lie dormant within.
       Outside my door today my “for real garden” is blooming and I especially love the daffodils.  This year my neighbor Patricia was kind enough to notice the flowers and posted a picture on FB; thanking me for planting them.  A gesture that warmed my heart and triggered a memory of many years ago.  At home in Key West my husband and I had company.  Like Lily Dale, visitors are frequent in Key West.  Both places are islands and iconic destinations for tourists and seekers.  As we chatted with our company, I sensed a need to go into the bedroom and just lie down.  I did not want to go to sleep so just flopped on the bed and put my hands behind my head.
     Instantly I “noticed” a branch hanging from the vaulted ceiling!  What?  How did a branch get up there?  I was in for a beautiful reminder of spring.  Immediately the branch began to bud and spread until my entire bedroom was a 3D living world of daffodils!   Any semblance of my room was gone, and no thoughts intruded.  The scene began to unfold, and a large calendar appeared in the center of the daffodils and flew quickly through a few years, beginning with and ending with November.  The calendar moved aside, and a vision of a hillside appeared.  My husband was walking hand in hand with a little girl.  The girl looked over her shoulder at me and I knew she would one day be my daughter.  There was more to be seen, but as I often do, I refused to “see” and got up.  That little girl, my fifth child, was born a few years later in November.
       Do not refuse to see!   My teacher taught me to say, “I can see.  I can see all there is to see.  I am not afraid to see”.   What we see may momentarily scare us.  What we see may bring us much joy.  What we see may lead us to our heart’s desires.  Desires we did not even know were buried deep within our being.  Say yes to what is given and live all of your life.  I cannot count the times in my life fear and inattention to signs and opportunities has kept me from the urgings of my soul.  This is a season of open doors; dare to enter.   Fear begone!
                                                                                                                           Namaste! emmy chetkin