Posted by Bruce Moen on August 28, 2001 at 10:54:08:

To All,

Cheryl, a participant at the recent Asheville, NC workshop, sent me the following account of her experience during the exercise called, Getting a Special Message.

In this exercise each particpant prints the name of a deceased person they know on a small slip of paper. Everyone then draws a slip of paper at random and their task in the exercise is to visit with the deceased person whose name they drew.

This exercise is structured as a "blind" exercise. That means that the participants don't know who printed the name on the slip of paper they draw, nor do they know the deceased person. The name is not revealed until the participant has finished describing their experience after the exercise. When the name is then revealed the person who submittted it comments on any "hits" they recognize regarding the deceased person.

Before any of the debriefing begins I explain that even though the intent of this exercise is to visit with the deceased person whose name was drawn, sometimes it doesn't happen that way. The account below appears to be an example of just such a visit. Cheryl had drawn the name, Sam Purcell, Jr. submitted, unbeknownst to her, by our workshop host, Marion.

******************** Cheryl's Account, with my comments:

Getting a Special Message, Aug 19, 2001

I received the name Sam Purcell, Jr. When I closed my eyes I once again saw my helper, Charlie, dressed in western garb as before. This time he took his lasso and roped a young man with blond hair and just about his height (just over 6 ft). Both Charlie and this young man looked SO GOOD! and also appeared to know each other.

(Bruce's comment: I ask participants to note how the deceased person is dressed)

The young man had on a medium brown shirt with shirt tails hanging out, faded blue jeans and black and white sneakers.

(Bruce's comment: I ask participants to note anything unusual in the scene they are perceiving)

He had a brown dog with him and he was carrying a basketball.

(Bruce's comment: participants ask the deceased person about a hobby or special interest)

He also was carrying a deck of playing cards and held them out for me to pick one. When I did, I saw that it was the Ace of Hearts. I returned it face down to the deck and he began shuffling them. But the next thing he did was to reach up behind my right ear and retrieve the card. One thing I definitely noticed about it is that the picture of the heart on the card was very large.

(Bruce's comment: participants ask the deceased to show a physical lifetime scene that contains himself/herself and the person who submitted their name that would be remembered by the submitter)

Next, there was a flash to a football game where the players had red and white uniforms -- it was cold, starting to snow and all the spectators were wearing winter coats.

(Bruce's comment: Participants ask the deceased for a special message that would prove to the person who submitted their name that the visit during the exercise was real)

Then he said something very strange about COOKIES! -- said they were terrible because the bottoms were burned.

(Bruce's comment: Participants ask the deceased to show, tell or give them something that would prove this afterlife contact was real.)

Then he showed me some student ID card with the year 1972? on it and the first letter of a name that started with "W"

Needless to say, my "hit" results with the group present were very disappointing. You recall that Marion W said that Sam Purcell (the name I had drawn) was her father and nothing I said matched? Well, it occurred to me later that that connection I had noticed between Charlie (my helper) and the young man was probably a very relevant clue.

I thought of my son Andre's best friend Jay, who had died suddenly almost 2 years ago now from an undetected cardiomyopathy (enlarged heart) condition. Andre' and Jay had been friends from when they were 5 years old -- his family lived just one block away from us in Maumee, OH. When I returned home Sunday evening, and asked Andre about Jay, he told me that Jay's favorite football team was the 49ers (red & white uniforms) and that the small brown dog was most likely Lucy, the dog Jay acquired after we had moved here to SC. Plus, Jay was fond of doing card tricks when he was younger and that big Ace of Hearts I saw probably related directly to what he had died from -- an enlarged heart.

Jay's mom, Barb, told me that Jay would never touch a cookie unless it was soft, so that comment about them being terrible if they were overdone was right on. Also the outfit I described is exactly one that Jay wore. Plus the student ID card with the "W" on it -- their last name is Webb.

I was sorry that I didn't get anything to confirm Marion's father but I also felt good knowing that Dave (Charlie) and Jay had found each other in the afterlife. It seems a natural pairing, knowing what a terrific father Dave always was to our sons and virtually every other kid in our old neighborhood.

End of Cheryl's Account
****************

In her account, the Helper she refers to as "Charlie" is Cheryl's deceased husband, Dave. Her account illustrates one of the outcomes of the Getting a Special Message Exercise that I've learned to recognize, that sometimes makes the results appear to have zero hits. Sometimes even though a name has been drawn a different deceased person seems to be able to kind of push that person out of the way to come through. This appears to be the case in Cheryl's account. Instead of visiting with Marion's father, Sam Purcell, Jr. it looks like Cheryl actually visited with the deceased son, Jay, of her friend and former neighbor, Barb.

Bruce More of Cheryl's Verifying Information:

BTW, I was talking to a friend of mine who lived a block from me back in Maumee, Oh and telling her about the young man I saw with my guide, Charlie (whom I am convinced, from that first meeting I had, is none other than my husband, Dave). Barb's son Jay passed suddenly almost 2 years ago -- he was only 19 and died suddenly from an enlarged heart which no one in the family, including him, ever knew that he had. He was my oldest son, Andre's best friend -- they had played and gone to school together since they were 5 years old.

To get back to what I saw, Barb told me that the clothing I described exactly fit what Jay used to wear, right down to the black and white tennis shoes he was wearing the day he died. He loved to play basketball and the dog was his dog Lucy. Even the card trick, with the Ace of Hearts fits -- the heart on the card really stood out because it was so big. Plus, the football team with the red and white jerseys -- that was his favorite team, the 49ers. And the remark about the cookies -- Barb said he would never touch them unless they were really soft, so it was unthinkable in his mind to eat something that was the least bit overdone. I really should have known, when I first saw Dave lasso him that way, that it was someone Dave was also close to. Jay was like our 3rd son -- he was over at our house so much. Barb used to say the same thing about our son, Andre. Oh, and their last name also begins with a "W" -- it's Webb -- remember the "W" I saw on the student ID card?

Well, Marion, I'm sorry I didn't get your father but it looks like all my guys (Dave, my dad and Jay) knew about my attending that workshop and took good advantage of their opportunity to make contact. :)) In fact, now I'm wondering whether or not they were the ones that prompted me to go checking Bruce's website for the first time in months. If I hadn't done that on the spur of the moment, I never would have seen the workshop notice to begin with.

Thanks again for the list and for hosting the event -- it was terrific!

Love and blessings,

Cheryl