On  the left you see a picture of my next book cover! Just looking at it sends chills down my spine. The story behind that cover is even more spine-tingling!

We will soon enter the glorious month of October and with that, our focus often shifts to all things supernatural, paranormal, macabre and Gothic. This story has it all. I’m pretty proud of it but more than that, it intrigues me every single time I read it. And believe me, as its author, I’ve read it about fifty times…and that’s no joke! I am constantly tweaking it, editing it, clarifying it. But soon, SOON I will be done with that process and I will send it out into the world.

The main premise of the story is based on reincarnation. I got the idea when I read about a group of people who lived in the same small town and discovered they shared a “past life” experience. This discovery was done through a particular field of hypnosis better known as “past life regression”. Through the process of hypnosis, many people are able to dredge up recollections of their past lives. This is possible because hypnosis puts the conscious mind at rest, allowing the subconscious mind to recall the memory. Because we can’t have our past lives interfering with our present one, those memories are buried in the nether regions of your memory banks. I believe those nether regions are within your very Soul…that part of you that knows all there is to know about YOU.

Many believe (as do I) that we have several layers to our individual existence. We have our physical body, our astral body (similar to the physical body but without physical substance…also called the Spirit body), and our Soul body (the true essence of who we really are). All memories of every experience we have, to include our past lives, reside within the Soul body (which resides deep within our subconscious). Another great aspect of our Soul body is that it never loses its connection to the spiritual realm. In fact, the Soul exists in the Spirit Realm and in the Physical one at the same time!

I also believe we are multi-dimensional and are much more complex than anything we can possibly imagine. Unfortunately, we are limited not only by our way of thinking and what we believe but also in what we can imagine. These limitations are placed on us by our own Ego (they CAN be overruled however…just so you know). Speaking of our Ego, it is one of the biggest obstacles we must learn to overcome in order to end our reincarnation cycle (I like to believe that we eventually move on to other activities). It is a major part of our Personality, the person we are when inhabiting a physical body. The Ego is what I consider a necessary evil. We need it to help us function  within the confines of physical existence. In order to do this…live in the physical world and not long for our life in the Spiritual Realm…we are enshrouded with an Ego at birth. During the enshrouding, we forget much of what our Soul self knows. Our personality develops from this Ego and we become who we are as we grow and learn and discover. Basically, we spend the rest of our lives dealing with a very stubborn, very restrictive Ego bondage. And quite honestly, seeking the truth will set you free from it!

Meditation is one way to calm the Ego (which strongly controls the conscious mind) and set it aside. Meditation lulls the Ego into a relaxed state (sort of like a “sleep”). With the Ego out of the way and not in control, you can gain access to your Soul body and thus the memories contained there! In fact, you can even get access to the spiritual realm. Deep prayer is also a form of meditation and that’s why it works. Prayer is focused thought (like meditation) and offers a powerful connection to our Soul which gives us access to the higher echelons of the spiritual realm where limitless power is available. For it is there…in the highest spiritual realms…where infinite power exists.

I do believe there are dark places within the spiritual realms where spirits (Astral bodies) roam in confusion and where dark (evil) intentions take root and grow. These are the lower realms of the Spiritual world and it is there where you find what we call “spirits” (people who are in their Astral body unable, for whatever reason, to move on). My belief is that when our physical body dies, our Astral body separates from it. Now, the Astral body should carry you off to wherever it is you need to go to merge with your Soul (many people probably think of this place as Heaven). BUT, sometimes people don’t move on and merge with their souls. They get stuck in the lower parts of the Spiritual Realm, and what can be really bad about this is that part of their Ego (which isn’t always good) may still be influencing them! The ones who cannot see the light of God (where our Soul resides and where the merger with it takes place) are considered lost souls (though really they are Astral bodies existing in ignorance, negativity and confusion!). Many people think these lost souls are evil. Some are not good, that’s for sure, but some of them are! This is the “place” (sphere of existence) where ghosts dwell. Many people think only evil can exist in the lower realms. But the fact remains they (the evil doers) have a Soul which exists in the higher realms. That’s what I believe anyway. God (spiritualists prefer to call “him Infinite Intelligence) does not create evil Soul bodies and since everyone has a Soul, then none of them, not a single one, are evil. So, the spirits roaming the lower Spiritual regions, they may be bad because of their Egos but that doesn’t mean they aren’t worth saving.

God, the great II (Infinite Intelligence), does not interfere with the choices we make (Free Will and all that) unless we ASK for help. Thus we get one of the greatest of all sayings, “ASK and you shall RECEIVE”. BUT (there’s always a “but” isn’t there?) the REST of that statement should be…”Through BELIEF it WILL be done!”

In my two paranormal mystery books BE STILL, MY LOVE and its sequel HIDDEN VOICES, my lead character Tess Schafer, a medium, believes that the Lord’s Prayer is quite powerful and she begins spiritual-contact scenarios (séances for instance) by saying this prayer. The real kicker about this powerful prayer is “Thy Kingdom Come, Thy Will be done, on Earth as it is in Heaven”. I mentioned earlier that infinite power resides within the higher spiritual realms (the lower realms are where Astral bodies reside until they go “to the light” and merge with their soul). The spiritual realm in this prayer is “the Kingdom”. When you ASK for something (your WILL  is being made known, “Thy Will be done”), the power of the Kingdom can then be used within the physical realm (Earth) as it is in Heaven (the Kingdom). Pretty cool, huh? I think it’s such an important message that I’ve also included it in NO MATTER WHAT. One of my main characters, Frannie, mentions it when discussing her beliefs (she’s into reincarnation and numerology among other things!).

I believe hauntings occur when a person crosses over (from physical to spiritual existence) and doesn’t “go into the light” (consciously merge with their Soul body). For whatever reason, they remain in their Astral body which is still influenced to a degree by the Ego. The thing about the Astral body is that it can interact with the Physical Realm (thus we have a haunting or contact with “the dead”, depending on the interaction taking place).

In NO MATTER WHAT, Lynn Michaels is the reincarnation of Clara Mallory. Clara haunts the Mallory Estate (where Lynn now lives and where Clara died) because her Astral body is trapped there. She is afraid to move on. Fear is one of the main issues we all must learn to conquer. Our Ego wraps fears around us in many clinging, persistent layers! Conquering fear will release us from the reincarnation cycle. We won’t have to endure life after life getting it all figured out once we do just that…figure it all out. And before you ask, NO, I don’t know what “it all” consists of. I know fear is part of it but it’s more than that. Or maybe it isn’t. See? Told you I didn’t know!

A couple of my “beta readers” (test readers who read my stories before I release them into the public forum) asked me how it was possible for Lynn to be the reincarnation of Clara if Clara still existed. Well, thats where the multi-dimensional part comes into play and the fact that the past, the present and the future actually coexist at the same time. Once something exists, it always exists and thus can be visited many times…time travel works using this premise. Psychics and Sensitives also work within this premise. Some people are born with a special ability (known as Psychic Ability) to recall events either forward or backward in time. Another important aspect of the Spiritual Realm is that there is no space…no distance. Thus, psychics and sensitives can “see” across the globe as easily as they can see right in front of their faces (this is also called Remote Viewing)!

Edgar Cayce had this ability. He was truly amazing. I think Cayce had pretty much learned what he needed to learn by the time he was born into his Edgar Cayce personality. His purpose for coming back to yet another physical life was to help others in their life journey. Every life lived should teach us something, for our Souls are on a mission to learn and experience! Some people are so committed to helping the “blind” (Ego led peeps whose minds are closed to Spiritual matters!) they come back (reincarnate) just to help them. Jesus did that. Lynn does that for herself. She comes back to help release Clara from the bonds of her fear. Is that a cool concept or what! The story just hit me in a flash one night and I tell you, I couldn’t write it down fast enough!

So, now that I’ve rambled on far more than I planned, I’ll just leave it at this for the time being. I’ll be writing more about the different aspects of the NO MATTER WHAT story as time goes on. So, what do you think of the cover? What do you think about when you see the picture? What feelings does it invoke? I really, truly want to know! So, pretty please comment and tell me. Thanks so much!!

Until next time, blessings to all and Peace Out!