When we crossed the threshold and stood in the foyer, I suddenly felt I was surrounded by a powerful force. It felt like I was standing in the heart of a giant transformer in a power plant. The air seemed to crackle with electricity. But what was most bizarre about this sensation was that- I can’t explain this, but…I could tell that this energy was not inanimate- It was a person- a very powerful, invisible person. I experienced what we call a “paradigm shift,” that is, when everything you previously believed, now you realize is wrong. Atheism went completely out the window. I had unquestionably encountered the supernatural.
By the way, I could tell that this spirit was very powerful, but I could not tell if they were good or evil.
I tried to hide what was going on inside me, - keep a straight face while the greeters shook our hands and welcomed us. They gave us slips of paper to write a message to a dearly departed loved one, (you know, someone we were close to- not to Albert Einstein). We were to ask a question of someone in the spirit world- someone we knew, and who knew us.
All my thoughts and fears of God and the hell that awaited me because of my life of sin- thoughts I had buried in Atheism, now came rushing back. What would happen to me when I died? I had to know! I remembered Nana, my saintly grandmother. Surely she would know and would answer. I wanted to know if I had left God out of my life, and if I was going to hell.
So I wrote this message:
Nana,
Have I forgotten something that is important to me?
And I signed, Tel
Notice the way I was thinking. I couldn’t say, “Should I stop (a specific sin),” because if she said yes, I’d be committed! I wrote it in a general way so as to leave some room to bargain with myself.
According to the instructions of the greeter, I folded the paper in quarters to conceal the message inside, and I wrote my initials on the outside- “T”
John and I went into the main room where the meeting was about to start. There was a picture of Jesus in the front, and a man was playing the organ, leading Christian hymns. John and I sat down, and two baskets were passed around, one for the billets- the spirit messages, and the other for offerings. I gave a dollar. The powerful sensation of the spirit had faded somewhat, but was still present.
Before long, Wendy came out. I had been expecting a vampy gypsy lady with a black cat and crystal ball. Instead, Wendy was an nice, average looking lady in her 60’s, sort of like a kindly aunt who would serve you turkey on Thanksgiving Day. Wendy picked out two up-tempo hymns to warm up the crowd for her reading. She said a few words, welcoming everyone and hoping that the spirits would come through clearly that day and answer everyone’s questions.
Then Wendy went behind the podium and commenced her spirit reading. She would take a billet in her hand, and read the initials or number on the outside, (supposedly for anonymity- some of the billets were blank) then Wendy looked out across the room, not in an affected, trance-like expression, but as if she were listening very carefully. She would introduce each communication, saying, “When I come into the vibration of this message, I’m touching someone in the spirit world by the name of..” And she would name names of people, and quote words she heard spoken, and describe visions that were being revealed to her by the spirits. As Wendy gave the spirit message for each person in turn, though they could stay anonymous, if they wanted to, they all responded with gladness at what Wendy had revealed to them. All the people were happy and encouraged with what the spirits had to say through Wendy. Evidently this was a good day.
When Wendy came to John’s message, she said that he would be very successful in music. “And you’ve got to shake and everything, just like Elvis,” she said, and we all laughed. John had not written anything on his billet- he had only drawn an ornate picture of a cross. He had told me that he thought his music efforts were his cross to bear.
Forty five minutes into the reading, Wendy came to my billet.
“T- When I touch this message, I am touching someone in the spirit world by the name of Louise. And I’m touching another person in the spirit world by the name of Tom. When I touch this Tom, I sense that this person has been dead for many years.
“And there’s someone else in the spirit world- Okay, darlin’, Okay.
“Anyway to this Louise, and to the person who wrote this message. I get the impression that this person feels they have forgotten something, that they have left something out. The Spirit tells me, No, you haven’t forgotten anything, you haven’t left anything out
“…and I don’t know why I hear this, but I hear a voice saying, “Telaquapacky, you haven’t forgotten a single thing.”
By this time, my jaw was on the floor. Not only had Wendy got Nana’s name right- her name was Louise, She had also read and interpreted the message accurately without looking at it. But the clincher was the voice. When she said, “Telaquapacky, you haven’t forgotten a single thing,” it was not Nana’s voice- but the choice of words, the inflection, the cadence was just like Nana would have said it, as if Nana were there, and Wendy were imitating her.
Wendy paused. “Whose message is this?” she asked.
I answered, “Mine.”
“Do you know you’re very psychic?” She asked.
“Am I?”
“What sign are you- of the Zodiac?”
“Cancer,” I said.
“A moon child!” Well, so am I. We’re crazy, aren’t we? Oh, yes, you’re very psychic, you see, the reason You feel the way you do is because they’re getting through to you. Oh, yes, you’re very psychic- In fact, some day, you’ll write a book- in the metaphysical field, Some day, some way, you’ll write a book, and you’ll remember Wendy told you.”
My cassette recorder, under the chair got all of it. When I went home, I played the tape for my mother. She was thoroughly convinced that Nana had communicated with Wendy. But my mother did not know all the facts. She did not know all about my secret life.
I could not believe saintly Nana, who was never too shy to give a stern warning or a moral reproof when it was called for, who wanted nothing more for my sister and I that we would come to love and obey the Lord, and who prayed for us... I couldn’t believe that she would, knowing my life, say “Telaquapacky, you haven’t forgotten a single thing.” I knew I had forgotten God and left God out of my life.
I asked my mother who this Tom was who had died many years ago. My mom told me that Tom was one of Nana’s seven brothers and sisters. The one whom Nana was closest to when they were kids on their father’s farm in Kentucky. Tom had died 50 years to the day before Nana did.
Wendy had alluded to something in my family history that I knew nothing about. Unquestionably something supernatural had happened that I couldn’t explain. But in spite of the spirit encounter I had in the foyer, In spite of the mysteries revealed by Wendy, I knew that the spirit that had spoken to Wendy was not Nana, much as I wanted to believe otherwise, because I knew in my heart that what the spirit said was not true. I never went back to the Church of the Universal Master. And I never heard Wendy again.
I did not know what to make of it, nor did I have any immediate plans to change anything about the life I was enjoying, I decided to wait- and that someday I would understand
