People Who Don't Know They're Dead author: Gary Leon Hill Weiser Books 2005 ISBN #1-57863-297-8 This book holds your interest well, starting with the cover, a black and white illustration of what appears to be three siblings dressed in formal wear from what appears to be the thirties or forties. It is the story of Hill's Uncle Wally Johnston (who has a background in psychology, and training as a therapist and counselor), and Aunt Ruth Johnston(a psychiatric nurse, and director of psychiatric nursing at Wayne State University in Detroit, MI), who came to spend a great deal of their lives working together counseling dead spirits who had taken up residence in bodies that did not belong to them. Hill's own background is that of award winning playwright. I don't know if it is true of all playwrights, but judging by this book Hill qualifies as one of the most important people in any culture - that of Master Storyteller. From tapes that Wally and Ruth made of their work, and from his own notes and interactions with them, Hill follows a fascinating trail of spirits that, for whatever reason, don't know they are dead. They are all around us, and, when they can, they attach themselves to us and live through us. One of the first tales that we encounter is that of Wally and his wife Ardis, and their first meeting with Vic and Lorraine Darr, a couple that Wally will end up working with for several years. Vic has the ability to see the spirits, and Lorraine acts in the capacity of medium to bring them through to the physical world so that they can be talked to and helped to move on to the spirit plane. What happens on their first meeting is beyond comprehension - Vic sees a young spirit in a corner of the room, and Lorraine brings the boy through. He is Michael, Wally and Ardis's son, who was killed at the age of eight in a snow sledding accident. He has come through to tell his parents that he is fine - that his crossing was painless and that he is adjusting well. Michael will continue to come through for several more years, until he feels that it is his time to move on. Through story we see what the spirits around us are experiencing, and why they might be stuck in this plane. Some may not realize they are dead, some may simply want to stay. Many times they are in the same area that they lived in when they were alive. It is possible to have spirits from several different time periods, with different memories, existing in the same place. It is also possible for spirits to "nest". That is, when they die, they enter someone else's physical body. When that person dies, it is possible for both spirits to then enter a third physical body. Why is this important? When releasing spirits, the intent is to release all of the spirits present, and sometimes they each have to be "counseled" separately. Wally and Ruth had a very unique manner of determining if spirits were present, how many were present, and if they were willing to leave the physical body and move on to the spirit plane. Ruth used a pendulum! Having studied the use of the pendulum myself, I found this to be extremely interesting. Throughout the book Hill talks about what the prevailing thought of these times (the 70's, 80's and 90's) was as far as life after death, spirits, and communicating with spirits. There is very little "woo woo" here, and a lot of good common sense. There is also an intriguing theory put forth about a group of spirits from beyond working to send messages through to the physical plane. These are the spirits of people like Albert Einstein and Marie Curie, people who made a difference on the physical plane, and continue to do so on the spiritual plane. People Who Don't Know They're Dead is jam packed with story, interspersed with factual information about the people of theories of this time. The more we know about death, and life beyond death, the better prepared we are to make that move swiftly and cleanly. This book, written by a layman, contains great food for thought. One last thought of my own - with the mass casualties that we have experienced in our own lifetime, many of us do see the need for helping lost souls reach the light. A lost soul can come from a mass casualty, or from a one car accident. They are there, and they need our help. © June 2005 Bonnie Cehovet Personal Lifestyle Reading - I offer a Personal Lifestyle Reading using Tarot that looks at past, present and future influences in your life, at the energies that are currently available to help you along your path, and at those energies that are appearing as challanges. My goal is to offer you insight into your decision making process, as well as tools that you can use to both better understand your path and make conscious, choice centered decisions. Home Personal Empowerment links Personal Empowerment articles View My Guestbook Sign My Guestbook Graphics by Art for the web