This story was originally posted back in 2009, when our blog barely a month old. It’s a wonderful example of the trickster and involved Trish’s father. At the time it occurred, in 2002, he was living in an assisted living facility, had been widowed for two years, and was certainly not happy about the state of his life. But even he recognized this situation as, well, unusual. We’ve added some additional material.
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The Trickster is a Jungian archetype. One of the best examples is the sneaky, lurking Gollum character in Lord of the Rings, orginally named Smeagol. He usually had an agenda of one kind or another that prompted him to mislead the hobbits on numerous occasions and to trick them into believing he could be trusted. The Joker in the Batman movies is another example. But when we encounter a trickster synchronicity, it’s as if the universe is playing a joke on us.
When my dad, Tony, a retired accountant, was in his late eighties, he moved into an assisted living facility in Georgia, where my sister was director of nursing. A short time later, a high school classmate from Illinois – from more than seventy years earlier – moved in across the hall from him. When I marveled at the synchronicity, he remarked, “The universe has a twisted sense of humor. I don’t like her any more now than I did back then.”
But in a sense, the trickster had brought his life full circle.
It turned out that my dad outlived his classmate. He outlived most of the people he knew, clinging tenaciously to life until he could figure things out sufficiently to let go. He was never a religious man. During the three years he lived with us after my mother entered an Alzheimer’s facility, we supplied him with a steady supply of books on reincarnation. He loved Carol Bowman’s Children’s Past Lives and was especially taken with Looking for Carroll Beckwith, about a detective’s search for a particular past life he’d had. He wanted to believe that death wasn’t the end, but wasn’t convinced. And I knew that until he was convinced, he would continue to hold onto life, even when it meant confinement to a wheelchair with Parkinson’s and a world so diminished that he slept most of the time.
In June of 2005, during one of my frequent visits to the assisted living facility in Georgia, I brought a DVD to show him that Carol Bowman had sent me. It was from an ABC primetime piece about James Leininger, a young boy who seemed to recall a past life as a World War II Navy fighter pilot. The boy’s mother had contacted Carol and the ABC piece started with Carol’s visit to the Leininger home. Rob and I had watched this powerful piece and I felt it might be exactly what my dad needed to see in order to believe.
He and I watched the show together and by the end of it, tears filled his pale blue eyes. “That’s the most convincing thing I’ve ever seen or read that reincarnation is valid, Trish.”
I knew then that he had his answer.
Less than four months later, in September 2005, he had a stroke and died just three weeks shy of his 92nd birthday.
Oh and minor synchro with the picture – just read an EW magazine last night about the actor guy who is the model for the character expressions.
This post and the comments sparked so many thoughts, I don’t know where to start. Firstly, I love the story about your dad. I never thought about the idea of reincarnation being a comfort at end of life. Shoot, get me to heaven to relax first! The ABC special was really good. Ian Stevenson is a researcher who has worked to use the scientific method to analyze past life cases and has a lot of good material out there who like ‘evidence’. My grandmother supplied the entire family with information about their past lives except for me. She said she could not read me, thus my idea for my blog name, “anewsoul”. I don’t really think I am one, but that is where it comes from. I had a longing to do regressions for a long time, but I have gotten past that. I have read that the reason we cannot remember is that it changes the focus from what we need to do. We already are set up in this life with the lessons that we need to learn. That provided a bit of reassurance and I have since taken more to analyzing the patterns in my present life than to pursue the past life analysis. That being said, if Brian Weiss was offering a regression, I would snap it up! Finally, on Amazon there are several early 20th century reincarnation books on Kindle that are free that I really enjoyed… I thought I would pass that on. I especially enjoyed the one which examined the concept of reincarnation across religions. Thank you Trish and Rob for bringing up the topic… I obviously don’t get to talk about my thoughts on the matter often enough. Love you guys!
I didn’t know about those freebies from amazon! I always wondered about the name of your blog. Was your grandmother psychic? Is that how she supplied the info??
I am glad for your Dad’s peace through through little J.L’ s story, it really was profound.
Yesterday, I was having a dream where Noah was a little girl named Maria and was playing with a match. I said “Don’t do that Maria, you know what happened last time!”
Maria/ Noah answered “Yes, Mama I died in the fire.” WTF???
Hmm, Nat. Maybe ask Noah about it!
I went to The ABC website to check the news headlines and saw this scary clip;
“Governor ‘good hair’ Perry eyes White House”
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-08-12/governor-good-hair-perry-eyes-white-house/2835908
Then I finished reading the rest of the Trickster chapter and read about the UFO incident over PERRY airport.
Let’s just hope nothing happens in this story as well,and that no contact is made with the White-house .-)
“Perry looks Scary”,may make a good bumper sticker.
I get visions of Slim Pickens riding that nuke to oblivion in “Dr Strangelove” when I look at Perry.
Perry, Bachman, Gingrich: all of these wackos are grounds for moving to another ground if any of them win the white house. Right ow, we have a governor in Florida who is a crook and should be in jail. His health are clinics defrauded Medicare. Instead of going to jail, he becomes governor. He ran against “Obamacare” – which is, frankly, not such great health care, certainly not universal health care. You know what this jerk governor pays for health care? 8 bucks a month, for a program available only to top officials in the state system. Funded by tax payers.
There are times, Darren, when learning about past lives can have an extremely positive impact on the current life. I had critical need-to-know questions for certain events in my life, and the essential answers came to me thru a very deep regression. These were life and death issues. I daresay I wouldn’t be here today, certainly wouldn’t be where I am today, if I hadn’t experienced that very relevant, valid regression. It gave me explicit purpose behind the “now” events and allowed me to keep on keeping on with the involved karmic lessons. We must live in the here and now, but occasionally we may need to look backwards as a means of learning how to effectively cope with current circumstances. I wouldn’t recommend it as a “hobby”, but as a tool for learning and growing when situations overwhelm us and we can’t work thru them, absolutely. Once I learned the “WHY” of my situation, I was able to determine how to cope with it.
Right with you, math!
I was just reading page 177 of “Synchronicity and the Other Side”
the chapter called “Spirit of the Trickster”,so it is quite appropriate to this post.
You mention Ann from Sweden and her story and her quote;
“The synchronicities of the world can be really cruel.Is it possible to transform such a horrible experience to something good,and start trusting the universe again?”
That’s when I thought about Sandy MacGregor (Sandy lost his three teenage daughters and their friend when they were shot dead about 23 years ago in their Sydney home), and I wondered if he was still around,as I hadn’t heard anything about him for a while.
But I found his site and a recent YouTube he posted…so recent in fact that I was only the 3 rd person to view it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Et0DmbjryM
I highly x 10 (is that a high enough recommendation?-) recommend anybody watching this YouTube of Sandy telling his heartbreaking story and the good that has come out of such a very traumatic event.It would take me 100 more lifetimes to be as strong as Sandy,and whilst I have not met Sandy in person,he definitely is one of my living heroes.
I listened to a few of his tapes years ago and read a book he wrote called “Switch On” which was very good.He has a web site here;
https://www.calm.com.au/sandy_story.php
And you can read the transcript of a television interview done in 2001 where he talks about meeting his daughter’s killer and forgiving him by clicking on this link;
https://www.abc.net.au/austory/transcripts/s329667.htm
To quote one of his mates in the ABC interview;
“CHARLIE: The death of Sandy’s daughters set him off on a journey which he’s still on. He became more interested in how the mind works, and how it can work for you. He has written books about this. He gives lectures all over the country, and in other countries, in fact. I think it’s been the thing that’s kept him together.”
P.S.
Talking about the trickster,how funny is it to have an army buddy you fought with in Vietnam called Charlie? Would he have had extra baggage coming home from a war where all you would ever hear from the side you were on is,”Let’s kill Charlie!” ? -)
More links! Will check them out. When I was reading your comment, Daz, I was suddenly taken back: Sandy MacGregor….the last name, of course…but also because Rob’s sister is named Sandy. This guy Sandy sounds extraordinary!
He is.
There is not too many people living in Australia who would not have heard about Sandy’s daughter’s being killed so tragically
(it was all over the media at the time) ,but few would probably be aware of the wonderful work he is doing to change other peoples lives for the better.
And for Ann,I can’t think of a better answer to this question;
“The synchronicities of the world can be really cruel.Is it possible to transform such a horrible experience to something good,and start trusting the universe again?”
than to watch Sandy’s YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Et0DmbjryM
(it does go for an hour,but it may be one of the best hours you will spend in a while)
It won’t take the sting out of the tragedy,but it will show how our lives and the lives of total strangers can be transformed by a tragedy.
Here is a 10 min radio interview from 2010 on Sydney radio 2GB with Sandy talking about his life;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-G68xqUiSs&feature=related
for those that want the condensed version of his life events.
Cheers
The P.S. comment above I meant from Charlie’s point of view,not Sandy’s.
I thought how scary would it be having the name “Charlie” and fighting over there amongst people that wanted to kill Charlie ?-)
I love this story. I love that your father got his answer.
Thanks, Debra! Me, too.
You are right, Mike. One of my oldest and dearest friends has so many letters after his name it’s difficult to list them all. He’s an MD, an astrophysicist, an aeronautical engineer, an astrophysiologist….endless. He invented the breathable suits for NASA astronauts. He just passed his 90th BD and is still going like a 40 year old. He firmly holds that the death of the body is the end. Blackness. Nothingness. Yet he has contributed so much in his life, has saved literally thousands of lives with his medical devices, especially premature infants, and is a loving husband, father, grandfather, friend. But he has no belief in any God or any kind of continuity of life. I tease him and tell him he’s in for a surprise. He just chuckles and responds, “We’ll see, won’t we?” Can’t wait!!! I know I’ll see him somewhere along the way on The Other Side. I tend to think if he had been a spiritual person, he might not have been able to accomplish all that he has accomplished, if that makes any sense. I think it may have interfered and distracted him, somehow. His life has been dedicated to LIFE in the here and now. A unique and inspiring individual, and a compelling enigma.
As our lives may well be lessons it’s interesting how sometimes people cling to life until, like in your dad’s experience, the final lesson has been realised.
But we find answers and meaning in differing ways. I have a friend who doesn’t accept the idea of reincarnation or life after death – but he nevertheless is a good man filled with love and honesty for his family, friends and community. He has no doubt learned many things to make him the way he is. this shows how we should never force our beliefs and ways of life on others – if only the likes of Blair, Bush etc could realise this.
I kind of wonder if politicians are simply deaf when it comes to alternative views!
I agree with what you’re saying Mike.I believe in reincarnation,to me it’s the only plausible explanation why some people have everything land on their plate and others have tragic lives.For any lessons to be learned down here there would have to be multiple lives lived.
Having said that,our goal in this life is to focus on this life.
That’s why the memories of former lives are hidden to most of us.I have no wish to peruse any past lives
(well not at the moment,anyway) even though on some level I am curious about them,it becomes a case of once you remove the lid on those memories,if you don’t like what comes out,it’s too late to put them back in the box.
Some things are better left alone.If we really need to know about them I’m sure they will come to the surface.
Until then like your friend,it’s best to keep our eyes on the road that we are presently driving on.
i’ve not had a regression yet – but i really really must – and i know it must give such a deeper understanding of us in the now – several of my most vivid/intense dreams have felt as if they were part of another life in another time – remember the dream where i was walking a rural dirt road, trish, wearing long skirts in what seemed to be a previous time somewhere in what i thought might be romania – and went past a military checkpoint of some sort – and then came upon a man with whom i continued the walk toward the next village – the man with a walking stick – and then next day or so found the same road and a guy with the walking stick in the blog photograph of my blogfriend, marius – in his photograph in romania? anyway, that dream in particular, is haunting as one of those in the possible past life categories –
You dream your past lives, then write about them!
I’m so happy your Dad found some peace and was able to finally let go. I agree with
Lauren: most of us seem to have normal ordinary lives. I experienced a very deep, powerful regression in which I was just a simple girl born on a rural farm in Tennessee prior to the Civil War and died at the hands of Union soldiers at age 18. The very special thing about that past life is that the physician who is now my cardiologist and close friend, was born on an adjoining farm on the very same day; we were delivered by the same mid-wife, were best friends from the crib until we both died hours apart on the same day. A plain and simple life of poverty and work, but so impacting in this one!!
Wonderful story, math!
I have to agree most heartily with Nicolas……….what a bleak existence, to believe that this is all there is, and life has no greater continuity or particpation.
In the 80’s I did a fair number of regressions, with groups and individually. What was convincing to me was how very mundane most of the regressions were. A hypnotic regression to a brief lifetime as a 18 year old foot soldier somewhere in the middle east was typical. When asked what my happiest time was in that lifetime, it had something to do with drinking beer in a common room with other soldiers. A simple pleasure indeed! He didn’t really get to experience anything before he died in a battle. After that I kind of realized how great it was to be “be here now”, and stopped pursuing it. But I’m glad I did, as it also gave me a sense of continuity of consciousness.
I agree that most past life regressions are pretty mundane. In spite of the common misrepresentation that most people, when regressed, see themselves as famous figures from the past, usually the lives viewed are far less glorious. But there’s often a lesson to learn, a linking between lives. That’s why the subject goes back to that particular life.
Years ago, shortly after I met Trish, I took a course in hypnosis and began regressing people. Trish was a very easy subject. I remember one particular regression when she saw herself in another world, one with two suns. Often times, she would go so deep that she consciously remembered very little. Later, I would read my notes to her and it was as if she were hearing about the life story for the first time. Interestingly, she is now writing a novel that takes place largely on a world with twin suns. So there’s the link between two lives!
beautiful story, cj – i remember – how wonderful it must be to know to be sure in some instances particularly –
You should have heard the guest on Coast to Coast AM, I think on Sunday night. He wrote a book about God being a gene that most people have that makes them believe in the supernatural. He claimed it was all a mental construct and denied everything we on this site tend to believe in. It was sad hearing him dismiss things like NDEs, synchronicities, coincidences, out of body experiences, etc. Whenever I hear materialist-minded folks claim that this is all we have, I always feel very sad for them. What an empty, meaningless life.
Glad we missed that one! I didn’t realize coast to coast had those kinds of guests.
As they explain on the show, the purpose of Coast to Coast AM is to give voice to ideas that is shunned by the mainstream media. Having guests on does not mean they endorse or believe such views. They’ve had on everyone from fundamentalist Christians to Satanists, New Age spiritualists, people who believe in vampires, alien abductees, NDEs, and hard core atheists / materialists.
The way I see it, when an outer event matches your inner thoughts or desires, and it happens on a regular basis, how can that be so casually dismissed as “just a coincidence” with no real meaning? Funny, though, an atheist de-friended me on Facebook because he could no longer “tolerate” my spiritual view of the world.
I have always been fascinated by people who want to explore their past lives. I don’t think I want to know about mine, although I do believe we have many. For me, NDE’s were what aleviated the fear of death. I am happy your father found his way before he died.
I think that when he embraced the possibility, he was able to let go.
I’m still reading the book,but what I’ve read and seen on YouTube looks very convincing indeed.
Have you seen this one- “The boy who lived before”
It’s about a little Scottish boy who remembers a past life on a Scottish island that he apparently has never visited before in this life.
Here’s a link to part 1 of 5.You’ll be able to track the rest down on the YouTube links.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yIV8jKN4g6A&feature=related
I did hear about this little scottish kid. Thanks for the link, I’ll check it out!
wonderful he found his answer – no matter how long it took – and that it was from the voice of a child that his belief came, very fitting, isn’t it – i have always loved the leininger story and never tire of hearing it –
It really is the best case of reincarnation in the western world.
absolutely