A Thanksgiving Post - "You're lucky to be alive"

I was having a dream the other night - and heard the phrase "You're lucky to be alive."

I have some pretty odd dreams to be sure, and since doing this flipside research for the past ten years, filming people under hypnosis, without hypnosis, talking to mediums about the afterlife - having a weekly podcast with Jennifer Shaffer - I often have "conversational dreams."

That is, opposed to the usual "travel" dreams I have, or "hotel dreams" I have.  Often I'm on my way somewhere, dealing with all the ramifications of travel, or sometimes I'm in some grand hotel somewhere participating in, or being on the outside of some grand event. Those dreams I dismiss upon waking up.

But since doing this research, I've had more conversational dreams.  Sometimes it's with someone I don't know - as was reported in the example of a conversation with a "Guardian of the Galaxy" at MartiniZone.  (See below)

In that case, someone who self identified as an "angel" answered my questions while I was asleep, reminded me of the conversation prior to waking up, enough so that I could turn it into a conversation with Jennifer Shaffer.

But this message last night was simply "You're lucky to be alive."

We hear that comment when people are "pulled out of the water" or "rescued from a ledge" and their lives were saved.  Or even after a hard night of partying where they wake up not knowing where or why or who they are. "Geeze, you're lucky to still be here."

But this wasn't related to rescue. This comment was related to choice. That is the choice to incarnate. That is that we all choose to come here, and the ones who do are "lucky to be here."

To recap for folks just arriving at this page - I have been researching the topic for over a decade. For the science of reincarnation, I refer folks to UVA.EDU where DOPS has been researching reincarnation for decades via Ian Stevenson and Dr. Jim Tucker (Return to Life) along with another former student Carol Bowman (Children's Past Lives.) There are 1500 cases under review at UVA, and Dr. Tucker does the historical research to show how accurate they are.

I also have been filming people talking about the afterlife - both under hypnosis and not - for a decade. What these 100 sessions report (half without hypnosis, as detailed in "Architecture of the Afterlife") is the same as what the clinical case studies from Dr. Helen Wambach showed in her 2750 clinical case studies, or the thousands from Michael Newton and the Newton Institute. (That we choose to be here.)  

In Dr. Wambach's case studies, she noted a number of people "complained" about being here, as if they were "cajoled" or "forced" to return by their loved ones, guides or teachers who "talked them into it."  (To me that's like the kids who volunteer for dodgeball but then hate it when they get bounced out of the game.  ("Sorry. You did raise your hand."))

I maintain a forum on Quora called "Hacking the Afterlife" where I answer questions or encourage people to report things that have occurred to them that is related to the research.  I don't encourage posts that are about fear based ideas, or new age concepts that aren't in the research - I just focus on the research and those experiences people have that reflect the research.

Today a woman posted a comment that she once heard someone say something to her - she asked why she could "hear" from the flipside and asked "Why is this happening to me?" and she heard a voice say "This is part of your story."

I noted that the sentence is filled with flipside research. First that our journey here on the planet is a story - and like all stories it's crafted, constructed by someone who understands stories.

As I have lived my life I've noticed that things that occurred to me were like novels - the same kind of structure. People showing up in the first act, returning later to pay off some story point. At first I thought I was imagining this - that my life could not be so ordered, as that would imply some "creator" sitting around crafting everyone's life stories - which didn't make any logical sense.

However the research shows that we craft our stories.  We choose who we are going to be, what we are going to do - and because of free will, we have people who sign up to participate who sometimes don't do what they said they were going to do, or we fail at the task given us, or free will makes us realize that the best laid plans of mice and men oft go astray.  Many a drop twixt cup and lip.

But the fact that it is a story is worth noting.  It is her story. She crafted it. Her guides or guide knows she crafted it, and her guide saying to her "this is your story that you created" was as profound a sentence as any human could ever hear. Only she had no context for it. 

I wrote to one person on Quora who was mourning the loss of her mom: "But she knows she still exists… and is fine now. So speak to her, ask her questions you don’t know the answer to. Ask how she’s doing. Who greeted her when she crossed over. What are the lottery numbers (always gets a laugh). Just strike up a conversation, she’s standing by to communicate directly with you."

She replied:

Thanks, that's how I've gotten through this far actually. I still ask her how to cook! Lol…😊I was trying to figure out her dressing recipe for the holidays. I just started thinking about what she would say. She has shown up in a dream. She was walking down a dirt road and she was smiling all the way down the road. I never seen that smile on her; she looked so happy. I said, "Well what do you do now?" She said, "Anything I want to do." 

My reply:

"Thanks for sharing. It’s always fascinating to hear when people hear from their loved ones, and it’s always very profound what they have to say, even if it sounds incredibly simple. “Anything I want to do.” Think about that for a second. It’s true. Anything she wants to!

Another poster wrote in reply to a comment about "speaking to our guides" directly and how a guide might prevent us from "accessing this information" if it would "upset our path" :

"Interesting you mention possibly a guide preventing you and that "Not all of us signed up to know the end of the play." I can channel, I get messages loud and clear and I once asked “Why me?” And the answer I got was “because that’s part of your story”, I never really gave it much thought until I read your comment."

My reply: 

"Great quote. Thanks for sharing it. Allow me to repeat it: “Because that’s part of your story.” So much inside that sentence… the idea that it’s your story - the idea that it is a story… a long time ago, I started to notice that my life was like a book or a novel. People who showed up randomly in chapter two would have a profound impact on chapter seven. Little small bits of observations would come to fruition later on. 

At first I thought “Well who the hell is writing this novel?” Could it be “the Universe?” It was too specific, (and often clever) for it to be that someone was writing “everyone’s stories.” And then years later, when I started this research, I was hearing it, observing it over and over that we write the story. 

That about two thirds of our conscious energy is always “back home” - that we have crafted an improvised story - because of free will people don’t always live up to “their end of the bargain” or “follow the script” - but if people have complaints about the structure of their story, they know who to complain to."

So a couple of things about "Thanksgiving."

Try to give thanks. I mean literally. 

Speak of the departed in present tense. Tell that what you think about them. If it's love, speak in those terms. Toast them at Thanksgiving. If it's not love, then say "I know you still exist, I'm not sure why I had such a hard time with you, but I'm toasting you now, because why not?" Speak of them in present tense.  "Here's to you dad, mom, grandpa, grandma, brother, sister..."  

In the research people report that "We can hear you. We know when you're thinking of us. No we don't hover around you at all times. But when you take out our photograph, say our name, or tell one of our stories, we are there enjoying that story."  So allow that's possible. At Thanksgiving - even if it's on a Zoom or Skype call - just say "Thanks to mom and dad we are able to be here." And see them in one's mind's eye.  Toast them.

Jennifer and I have three books:
"Backstage Pass to the Flipside"

And think over the title of this post. "You're lucky to be alive."

What that refers to is the legions of people who want to come back here. I know that there are many on the planet who cry foul when I report this - "My life has sucked. I hate it here. I wish I wasn't here." (Sounds like George Bailey's "I wish I'd never been born.")  We can't see the lives we've effected, the people we've helped in our limited awareness. 

 

In an expanded awareness (a life review from a near death event, while under hypnosis, or not, during a guided meditation, etc) we can become aware of how many people we have helped by being here.

But it's important to realize that we volunteered. We took someone's spot who would have preferred we "bowed out" or said "no thanks" to the suggestion of a lifetime. People report that there are "lines around the planet" of people who want to come back here, to experience what it's like here. And not everyone gets to come. I know that's problematic for some to hear - but they know what it means to be here, they know why it's fun to be here, they even know how traumatic it can be to be here.

"You can learn more spiritually from one day of tragedy on Earth than 500 years on some boring planet."  

That's a quote from a filmed session in "Flipside."  

We come here because we ask to. We volunteer.  Our guides suggest, cajole, ask us to learn difficult lessons because it helps us - it helps everyone in the universe because every difficult lesson we learn here helps someone somewhere else. It's hard to see, impossible to see really - the great wheel of life isn't just about "getting off the reincarnation wheel" - but it's realizing that we are on the wheel by choice - and the actions of our lifetime affect and help (or harm) others down the line, or on the other side of the wheel.

So this Thanksgiving - take some time to reflect on it. Between gobbles, gobble up the idea that you chose to be here.

My grandparents center photo, thinking about
how this photo in 1939 would wind up on my blog.

Nothing much better to do. But reflect on the gift we've been given. Reflect on the idea that thousands and millions and a hell of a lot of folks who aren't here would be happy to take our place in a heartbeat.. (And eventually will.)  But that while we are here, we can give thanks to those around us - and to those who came before us.

Give thanks to those no longer here, for being here, for paving the way, for fighting the good fight, for giving us the ability to read this missive on a cellphone, a laptop or a computer. Thanks. It's easy to give, and something no one can take from us.

My two cents.

Since Jennifer and I took the week off, here's a previous session that reflects this sentiment. PS: will be appearing on COAST TO COAST AM on Friday Dec. 4th at 10 pm, talking about the "Architecture of the Afterlife."

Enjoy! And Happy ThanksGiving.

Thanksgiving with the two Billys, Paxton and Meyer, Luana and friends

Empty clipboard, we asked Luana for whomever she wanted to bring forward. 

This was a Thanksgiving episode - in advance - without or idea that it might be. Luana knew both Billys.  

 She met Paxton when he and I rewrote my script "You Can't Hurry Love" together and he supplied the title track from his band Martini Ranch.  

However, fate intervened, and our budding romance turned into his skyrocketing career.  

I made a film about three mediums talking to Bill, it's on Gaia, ("Talking to Bill Paxton") but in this instance he stopped by to talk a bit about the process of greeting others on the flipside. 

Billy Meyer was a lifelong friend, he stopped by to talk about someone we both knew, as well as to give his thanks for doing this kind of research Jennifer and I are doing. 

 

Finally Luana Anders had some comments about our cat, and then we talked a bit about the animal realm and the flipside.

Here's Billy in our backyard with the Red Maple he bought to bury some of our pal Paul Tracey's ashes.

 

                        Billy, Sherry, Olivia, Anthy and Mark

 

 

Enjoy.

 

Hacking the Afterlife with Jennifer Shaffer, Fred Trump Sr and Jr and Beau Biden

It popped into my head last night as I was going to sleep. 

However, as noted, this morning I didn't think it was a good idea and abandoned it. But when our session began, my friend on the flipside Luana Anders said "Don't be afraid of inviting the two people that you were planning on inviting."

First I invited the father of Mary Trump, Fred Jr. He had a contentious relationship with his father, but Jennifer did not know who we were speaking to.  At one point, I think I referred to him as Robert, Mary's uncle - but this was Fred Jr. in the chair, father of Mary Trump who wrote the book excoriating her uncle.

Because Jennifer had no idea who we were talking to, this is an unadulterated exploration of a father who had dementia, and a son who had a rocky lifetime - but both reconciled on the flipside. Once Jennifer realizes who they are, she gives some insight into their opinion of their son and brother. No other way to put it.

The other person I invited was Beau Biden - at first Jennifer didn't realize who Beau was (I know a few myself) but ultimately gives a poignant reading with him - what it was like to cross over and be with his mother again.  He offers insight into his father, and repeats some of the themes that Joe has said in the past - waking up each day as if it's a "new day" and the quote he gave the other night about "keeping the faith" (and adding "spread the faith."  Jennifer might be aware of it - but as it happens live on camera, I doubt she's aware that's exactly what Joe said in his acceptance speech.

Everything works out in the end. We all are just walking each other home.

Hacking the Afterlife with Jennifer Shaffer, Maverick, JFK and Sargent Shriver

Here's the "Election Edition" that we did last week.  

As noted, we did not "invite" anyone to this session.  Sometimes I get the feeling or impression "someone wants to speak to us."  In this case, I was tied up, busy up to the moment we went on air - and just left it open to Luana, our friend on the flipside, to bring to the class whomever wanted to speak.

Maverick

She begins with "Maverick."  He showed up to discuss the election. Said he felt "bitter sweet" and Jennifer said it "felt like" he was saying "sweet revenge." (Or I did. I forget). Bittersweet (revenge).

We call him Maverick, because as noted in "Backstage Pass to the Flipside" John came forward to chat with us, Jennifer couldn't think of his name, but heard the word. 

As a point of order, I was not a fan of his politics, I had met his chief of staff while researching my film "Three For the Road" with Charlie Sheen, and I remember him as a political creature created of the era. I knew his life story, and in the book we go over his impressions of the flipside.

But I had the impression he showed up in my apt. as I heard his voice say "I understand you're the person I need to speak with to give my family a message."  I was startled - for a number of reasons. I'd never heard a stranger's voice before in my home speaking to me, I was wondering why I was hearing it in my place, and I'm not the guy he needs to go to. So I said to him aloud "No. I'm not the guy. However, I know the person you should speak to, and ask Luana to put you on the list for this Thursday's session."

I mean - as wacky as that sounds - it mollified him.  And the following Thursday, when I showed up at Jennifer's office, she said "John McCain is here."

Just like that. On camera. 

I take no credit for this information - again, I'm being specific. Someone "shows up" in my consciousness, and I tell them "It's not me you want to speak with, it's Luana and Jennifer."  And the following session, just prior to arrival, I say their name aloud again - like "you're up. This is your cue."

As noted, John was eloquent, poignant in the book about his path and journey - and we spoke to some of the folks who were victims of his during the war, as well as friends of his who he suffered in POW camp.  He's still a funny, witty guy - and that has not altered a bit.

In this session, he reiterated some things we'd already discussed. However, as demonstrated, I ask people on the flipside if they "know someone else" on the flipside. In this case, Sargent Shriver.

Sargent Shriver

I must point out - I was wrong about the day I saw Sargent Shriver in church. He was standing up in St Monica's on father's day because he had a dozen grandchildren (at the time, he has 19 now) - and not a dozen children. But I had that in my head, as my aunt and uncle had 11 kids.  

So when I talk about "how many kids he had" it is inaccurate. He had five. No more, no less. An example of bias - I thought he had a bunch of kids but he did not. Jennifer said she got the impression of him saying "9" - but that could be "19" (grandchildren) or 9 in "spirit." (We may include miscarriages or others because on the flipside, everyone is there to greet us.)

The inlaws

He talks about being first greeted on the flipside by a "child who drowned."  I have no way of knowing if anyone in his family drowned, or if he's referring to someone else (could have been in a previous lifetime.) I ask "Who was there to greet you?" and two people came to Jennifer's mind. A "child who drowned" and "someone involved with the war."  

On one hand, it's a convenient way to "get off the flipside bus." Because if one knows that he "had no children who drowned" then they can "stop listening" or "get a refund."  Mediums can mistranslate ideas of what they're "getting" "seeing" or "hearing."  Sometimes it requires "returning to the comment" later to understand it. I've been with Jennifer where someone walks up to her and says "You remember that thing I said did not happen? After our session, I learned it did happen!" Or, "I said I was not going away, the next day I was invited there."

Now - if we were going to spend an hour discussing this with him, we could dig deeper. "What uniform was the serviceman wearing?" etc. Or "was this son from this life or another one?" Or... Is this your son, or someone you considered your son? Or... Is this someone who was a son in a previous lifetime, who was a relative in this lifetime who drowned?"  There are many variations of that information...

In "Backstage Pass to the Flipside 3" we ask George Bush Sr. about who greeted him, and at first Jennifer said "Was he in prison?" I asked why she asked that. She said "I'm seeing him in a prison."  I said "Look carefully at the guards. Who are they?" She said "They're Japanese." I knew that when George was shot down in World War II, the fellow pilots who were shot down were taken to a POW camp in the Marshalls and abused horribly. I asked if those were the fellows who "greeted him?"  Jennifer said that was why she "saw those prisoners of war." (Transcript is in the book.) 

What happens in mediumship often is the medium says "did you have a relative who drowned?" and the person says "No." And there's a disconnect. The medium is getting a no, the person is getting a no - which only means the person on the other side is not imparting the information in a way so that the medium can understand it. No one is at fault. It's a game of "telephone" but using Dixie cups on strings to communicate between one realm and the next.  Having worked with Jennifer for half a dozen years, having seen the kind of work she's done with law enforcement, I know how accurate she can be.

But we aren't here to prove something to anyone. Just reporting as best we can, based on the information gathered.

So that goes for the other reports as well. JFK coming forward to agree that LBJ was indeed behind his passing, but that "every President makes mistakes" and that "it takes a large amount of people to plan something of that magnitude" - meaning no one individual is "guilty" or to blame.  When we spoke to LBJ (in the book "Backstage Pass to the Flipside 3") - he confirmed that... said he "knew it was happening and did nothing to stop it" or "the individuals involved."

So that too is subject to interpretation. 

First it's a "oh my God, what did he just say?" moment - I'm old enough to be thrown by it - and then it's a "how does this fit into the research over all about us not dying, and continuing to exist on the other side?" Etc. It is mind bending, but I do my best to report and not judge what we are hearing.

https://www.amazon.com/Backstage-Pass-Flipside-3-Book/dp/B08BCR4N66

We also have a visit from someone we spoke with a week prior - John Shaner - and he came forward with a message for his pal Robert Towne (who just called me as I wrote this, so I know there's a connection) - to tell him that "he's with his dog Hira, and he didn't like dogs" - a way of confirming to Robert he still exists.

That won't confirm it for anyone else but Robert. 

That's pretty much how this kind of research goes. None of this will prove anything to anyone else but the family or individuals mentioned. And then - atop that - the family themselves may doubt the source of the information.

Recently I forwarded one of our sessions where we spoke to someone on the flipside to their daughter (as per this person's request) and the daughter replied "I wish that I could speak to my father. But please refrain from sending me something where I can't believe that it is him."

So what can I do other than to tell the father on the flipside? "Hey, don't bothering asking me to pass along information. I did, and they didn't want to hear it. You are going to have to try some alternate method to get them information, because I am not the guy."

I often refer them to someone like Jennifer. 

JenniferShaffer.com

You don't need to hear it from me - I'm not speaking to them, I'm not the one doing the communicating - I'm just the person filming or recording the session and passing it along. Take your parent's advice or don't - it has nothing to do with me.  

But it does have everything to do with "learning how to communicate to someone on the other side."  Instead of the usual "denial" that people go through - this is a forum or method of showing people how simple, easy it is for them to "speak with" or communicate with loved ones no longer on the planet. To get "new information" that cannot be cryptomnesia from their loved ones - that has zero to do with talking to me or reading a book, or otherwise tying up their minds in knots.  Take the time to learn. They took the time to have us, raise us, nurture us - take the time to learn how to continue the conversation. 

People ask me how to do that - there are three methods I have filmed that are effective.

1. Hypnotherapy. People working with a hypnotherapist (I recommend those trained by the Newton Institute as I've filmed many and they have a searchable database) can speak directly to loved ones on the flipside.

2. Mediumship. I work with mediums like Jennifer who works with law enforcement agencies nationwide on missing person cases. I know how effective she can be, so find a medium who is highly recommended.  That's a second hand way to communicate - as you are asking someone else to be the "cell phone."

3. Guided meditation. Med means "measure" in Latin. Measuring one's thoughts can open up doors. I've filmed 50 people doing a version of that - opening up doors without any hypnosis required. What makes it so unusual ("Architecture of the Afterlife") is that people say the same things that people under hypnosis say about the journey.  If they were "making it up" one would assume what they made up would follow their expressed belief system - but it does not.

So get to work. 

Learn how to communicate with loved ones no longer on the planet. Plenty to learn from them.

Anyways, here it is:  Hacking the Afterlife with Jennifer Shaffer, Maverick, JFK and Sargent Shriver

My two cents.

Coincidence and the Flipside, talking to John, Jesus and Harry Dean

 Ever wonder why you know who's on the phone when the phone rings?

Science will tell us that it's "likely" that you now who that is because you've scanned all the possible names in one's mind, and you answer the phone.

"I knew it was going to be you."

But that doesn't explain how it could be that you knew something would happen before it happened.

Some people claim it's because "there is no time" or "time doesn't exist on the flipside."  That's not in the research either. There is time, it just works relatively different than what we know of it.

For example, I've heard consistently in the research that "lifetimes are lived in a linear fashion, otherwise we wouldn't learn anything."  Just like going to college. You don't enter college, get the degree and then start the freshman classes.  No point in graduating if one hasn't learned anything, or argues "It's all happening at the same time, man. Just give me the frickin' degree because I already know I get it, okay?"

Don't work that way.

However, once we are out of school, off planet, out of the parking lot - looking back on it, it all blends together. Freshman, sophomore, senior year... wait a second, what happened to junior year? Was I stoned? No, I just skipped it... All of them, all together  - they feel, appear, seem to be simultaneous.

But from our vantage point outside the university grounds, we can see our fellow classmates "in class" struggling with their reality.  

So let's go over some coincidence from the perspective of the graduated student, shall we?

Example #1 "The Missing Bracelet."

We know our niece is looking for that bracelet that Granny left behind.  But we don't want her to see it just yet, so we craft a way to get her to think of Granny and then see it.  It's not hard to do - you just reach over to where the links in her mind are, and tap on the link that says "Here's where the bracelet is" and shut it off.

Then you know the bracelet is sitting in the drawer it's always been in, every since she put it there at your direction five months before. "Hey, put the bracelet in that drawer, why don't you?" But every time she opens that drawer, you put a "visual block" on her awareness of the bracelet.  Opens the drawer - doesn't see it.  Opens the drawer, could have seen it but didn't.

And now it's Granny's birthday. And we want to give our niece a surprise. And so we "remove the block" that we put in place, she opens the drawer and sees the bracelet, thinks of Granny, realizes its the very day that she passed away... and voila! Coincidence!

Example #2.  "Stairway to Heaven."

Mother is sad and upset that her son passed away young - before his time. She's have a hard time moving on, so son wants to "send her a message that he's okay" that it was "part of his life's plan" and that "everything is going to be find in the end, you'll see me eventually."  But he can't quite get that message to her in the form of a sentence. "I'm okay." She can't hear it. When she feels him around, she goes into sadness. Grief.

So he appears to her in a dream, and in the dream he's got the stereo on, is playing "Stairway to Heaven." It's his favorite song. He puts a dream of him as a little baby into her mind, when she wasn't worried about him - and then when she turns around, she sees him in the dream as a young man... and he's playing air guitar to "Stairway to Heaven."  She is bereft again - can't really hear the song, but he has put it in her mind.

Mom goes to a book talk where the fellow on stage is talking about "the flipside" and afterwards comes up to him and tells him the story about losing her son. He says, "Has he ever come to you?" She says "No." He says "Have you ever had a dream about him?" She says "Yes. He was dancing." The author says "What was the song?" She says "I can't remember it..." and the author says "What song pops into your mind when I ask "What song was he dancing to?" She says "Stairway to Heaven!" Author says "Well, that's a pretty on the nose metaphor isn't it?"

Moments later the mom gets in her car to drive to the "after book talk" cocktail hour, and when she turns on the car radio, "Stairway to Heaven" is on the radio.  When she gets to the event, she tells the author.

He says, "Think about the work involved to get that to happen." At the radio station, the playlist is preprogrammed. In order for that song to come on at "the exact moment" someone would have to know all the math involved. When she would be getting in the car, when she would be turning on the car - when the song is supposed to come on the radio. It's still the #1 rock song of all time, and is likely playing on a radio station as we speak - but there's a special kind of ability to do this kind of "coincidence" creation.

Because they're outside of time.

Getting the program director to "pop it onto the list" or even getting the song to be around at a particular time on a particular station isn't that hard if one knows how to do it. Getting mom into the car at the right time, getting her to come up to the author at the end of the talk - another mathematical puzzle.  But somehow - it all comes together and people on the planet say "Coinky dink!" and people on the flipside high five the son for pulling it off.

Which actually did happen.

Example #3. "Grandpa's cigar or Aunt Betty's Chanel #5." 

Getting people on the flipside to speak isn't harder than it sounds. They have to be able to tap into our memory of their voice - they cannot make sound waves for our ears, but they can tap into the communication system to speak sentences. (I've heard them, heard my father's voice after he passed giving me a laundry list of things to tell my mother and brothers. In her note it included everyone who greeted him, including names of 6 friends I didn't know. The next day when I told her she said "Oh, those are our friends who died in WWII." People whose names I'd never heard; so could not be cryptomnesia. "New information.")

But my father's voice was not "in my ear" - where the ear translates air to pulses that become "sound" - but "behind my head." About six inches behind my left ear. Different people report different places when they "hear something" or a voice... so it's possible, just not easy to explain how sound can be created without the mechanics of air and movement.

Smells, scents are equally "files in our mind." So tapping into a file that retains "the smell of grandpa's smoke, or dad's cologne, or aunt betty's perfume" - those files we have, and they know we have them, and they are "tapping our memory" in order to get us to think of them. Could be something specific ("Find the will!") or it could be general ("Thinking of you on the day I crossed over.")  We spend so much time parsing the event ("How did I smell that?") that we often ignore the content.

Example #4.  Stranger's voice saves our life.

Bill Bennett made a film about it, someone today on Quora talked about it happening to them, Gary Schwartz PhD heard a voice save his life while he was at Harvard (or Yale, he went to both) and told him to "put on his seat belts" which saved him and his then wife moments later when they were re-ended."  People have multiple reports (the actress Lindsay Wagner reported the same) where suddenly a voice "out of nowhere" yells at them and saves their life.

Coincidence? 

Nah.  Just someone on the flipside called in from the bench who has the ability to make enough noise to wake a person up. (Some folks "had a feeling" they shouldn't go to work on 9/11. Doesn't mean the others didn't "hear the warning" but reportedly, people who agreed to participate were shown how in their next lifetime they would have victories or rewards based on their self sacrifice for this event.) I know that sounds bizarre, but I'm quoting. 

The truth of it is, as I've demonstrated in "Architecture of the Afterlife" there is no memory that cannot be accessed, either via hypnosis or from guided meditation. Just asking questions about it. "What's the first person that comes to mind when I say "Who yelled at you?" An image will appear - and one can spend the next 30 years trying to figure out why "Uncle Pete" saved them, or just head to a hypnotherapist (or medium who is talented) and ask "Can I ask Uncle Pete a question?"

I've been doing that for ten years now. 

Coincidence is not something mathematical from our realm. Coincidence is something mathematical from the realm beyond our realm. Because they're outside of time, they can manipulate (without ruining our path and journey that we signed up for ) things to make us think twice about something, or to remember them or perhaps why we chose to be on the planet in the first place.

For those confused how "math" works on the flipside, I point them to our interview with Junior Seau at MartiniZone.com where he points out how they create "football fields" and other sporting events on the flipside. They tap into the memories of anyone who wants to participate to create fields, crowds, all of it.  Anyone can play - and many do.  It includes constructs of "golf," "horse track and races" "formula One car races, pretty much any event one can think of here (or has experienced) they are able to tap into a recreate (with different outcomes) on a daily basis.

I say daily because it's fun too - we're outside of time, so we have access to quite a few arenas. We have access to quite a few folks over there who can help us to manipulate events that remind us that "life goes on." That despite people's strong belief systems that "life ends" - that's not accurate, and "coincidence" is evidence of the manipulation of consciousness that many folks on the flipside are adept at. 

Question might be - so why mention this? It's because I was asked do. I kind of "woke up" in the midst of a dream, not fully awake, but I was having a conversation with someone about "coincidence" and he/she said "Why don't you write about it on your blog?" And I said (as I always do) "How am I going to remember this when I wake up?" They said "You don't have to remember the content, just remember the word."

And on that note, here's an interview with the recently departed friend of a friend, someone everyone might recognize as "Jesus" and a bit of Harry Dean Stanton.

Enjoy.

My two cents.

Hacking the Afterlife with Jennifer Shaffer, Tom Petty, Amazing Randi, Regis and Paul Newman

Full house today.

                                    Paul swings by to say hello.

No other way to put it.  Prior to the session, I noted the time and date and the fact I was going to invite two folks to our session. I had no idea if Jennifer would be aware of it, as I hadn't spoken to her about who I was going to invite.

One was Tom Petty, in honor of his birthday,  the other "The Amazing Randi" who passed a couple of days earlier.

 For those aware of our connection to Tom, it's not that we knew him, or Luana Anders on the Flipside knew him - it was because, as noted in the video, he came forward soon after his passing in 2017 to visit us at our local restaurant where Jennifer and I used to meet before the Pandemic.

She remembered his name that day (and did not this day!) But as noted, he had a complaint for us about "having to wait in line to talk to Jennifer." He said "Your friend Luana has a clipboard, and it's like she's the backstage bouncer who has a list of who gets into the VIP lounge!"

As noted as well, he asked us to reach out to his family who were in the midst of a court battle. I did so, privately, reaching out to a family member who agreed to look at what I transcribed from our session.  As noted, I have no idea what they made of that information, nor did I ask. I did as requested and passed his messages verbatim.

A portion of that session is in the book "Backstage Pass to the Flipside."

But Tom's 70th birthday is being celebrated this week, and I took the time to celebrate him through an interview.

****

I invited the Amazing Randi because... It's funny. 

New York Times Photo of Randi

Like my old friend Harry Dean Stanton, Randi was a skeptic about the afterlife. 

Despite being a famous magician in his day (He beat the record held by Houdini for an underwater escape live on NBC back in the 50's) like Houdini, he went from a working magician to someone who debunked, or outed "fake psychics."  

Anyone familiar with my work knows that I focus on data, that I work with mediums who work with law enforcement agencies nationwide... when they're skeptics I refer them to Bill Bratton former NYPD commissioner who was helped by Jennifer Shaffer.  If she's good enough for Bill, she's good enough for me.

 The Amazing Jennifer

But that's a joke - Jennifer has proven her abilities for a long time, and I met her five short years ago.  And over and over and over again, she's proven access to the flipside - not always 100% as she notes, because she is interpreting information after all - but for the most part I ask her questions based on my knowledge about the person we're chatting with and I transcribe what she says verbatim and those sessions are in the books "Backstage Pass to the Flipside" 1, 2 and 3.

But for those who have a vested interest in "debunkery" I've heard often the old saw that "you haven't tried the Amazing Randi's million dollar prize" for someone who "proves there is an afterlife or the paranormal." 

The last time I replied to a fellow on Quora about that, I pointed out that knowing that we still exist is worth more than a million bucks, and further, I had no desire to play that game of "prove it to me."  As I point out, in the 100 cases of people under deep hypnosis, (half without hypnosis) all of them recall previous lifetimes, all recall the between lives arena. So that makes their recollections "normal" as a base number for data - and those who "disbelieve the data" are the ones who are "para" or "ab" normal.

Jennifer and I present these sessions as they occur. I edit them for time, as she may take a minute to answer one of my impertinent questions. So for the sake of continuity, I trim those before I post the sessions.

Randi has a lot to say about his journey and to his husband Jose. Let's leave it at that. Since Jennifer had no idea who he was, it makes it that much more amusing to watch what he has to say from the flipside.

****

Then Regis Philbin stopped by - I knew Regis through our mutual pal Charles Grodin (as noted in the session) and Regis correctly recalled the day he met me on the Charles Grodin show where live on the air made fun of my "mixed outfit."  (A tie and a striped shirt).  Not a clothes horse like Reg, but he noted I was a misfit or mismatched. 

Later, I had dinner with him and his wife Joy and Charles and his wife in Connecticut, and have had a few laughs with Regis.  Always a polite guy and he had a quick comment for Charles about "slowing down" (even though last I heard he was still recording the Charles Grodin minute for KCBS in NYC.) Either way, it's one old friend talking to another.

But it was sweet to hear from him.  He's a nice guy.

And then Jennifer mentioned that she saw Paul Newman "in the wings."  As noted, he was someone I had invited previously, but got the impression he "wasn't interested" in chatting with me (which turns out to be the case.) He was more than happy to chat with Jennifer and we may continue the conversation in the future if he so desires.

He was funny, wise, spoke eloquently about the need to help those less fortunate than us. He had a message of love for his wife, and a comic message for John Cusack.

John Cusack and Paul Newman were in "Fat Man and Little Boy" together, I detail I did not know until I searched their names together on the net. 

All I can say is that I ask questions that pop into my head. 

The books "Flipside" "It's a Wonderful Afterlife," "Hacking the Afterlife," "Architecture of the Afterlife" speak to how it can be that we can still speak to our loved ones, and the books "Backstage Pass to the Flipside" 1, 2 and 3 are transcripts of our sessions, as well as the first two books include a workbook on how anyone can do the same for themselves.

Finally we have to thank Luana Anders for her assistance. We wouldn't have had a title if it wasn't for Tom's comment, and the idea that he sees her as a bouncer at the VIP lounge of the afterlife, is hilarious. Not something I could ever have thought up, and certainly, as you'll see not something Jennifer would have invented.

Luana Anders from one of her 300 film and TV appearances.

The Amazing Randi has a message for his pals Penn and Teller, and Paul Newman had a message for John Cusack.  It's in the session, so I won't repeat it here.  But it's a message of love and light from friends who are no longer on the planet, who want their friends and loved ones to know they're still keeping an eye on them. As do yours.

Here's the clip on YouTube at MartiniZone.com

Thanks all for tuning in. Stay healthy, mask it up, and "Stay tuned."

My dos centavos.

Hacking the Afterlife with Jennifer Shaffer, Eddie and Bill Paxton

 Aside from being a film writer/director, I had a fun chance to be a music critic at Variety for a number of years.  My pal Bruce Haring was one of the editors at the time, moving over from Billboard, then leaving for more pristine pastures; he roped me into writing music reviews under the moniker "tini" during the early 90's, then under my own name during the late 90's.

I saw it as an opportunity to turn my 150 words into an experience for people. Filmmaking can take years - writing, casting, directing, putting it into theaters - I enjoyed being able to craft an experience, and have it published the "next day." (Search "Rich Martini Variety" for some examples). I also played in a band full of "rock critics" who played the House of Blues three times and various venues on the strip. 

If anything, I was chastised for not being "critical enough" - because I felt "If people paid this much money to see their favorite act and are standing on their seats" then my job was to translate that experience into words for people who couldn't see the show.  And I saw a lot of shows that people were wild about and I was amused by how much fun they were having. It I could translate that into a phrase, or a sensation, I was happy to do so.

(Plus I hated being reviewed negatively, still stinging from Siskel and Ebert giving me a "thumbs way down" for my film "Limit Up" - so likely I avoided putting my thumbs out there for anyone else's work.)

I can pretty much say out of the dozens of shows I covered, only a handful got the "negativity" from me, and always for technical reasons, or the laziness of the artist who didn't show up at the tech rehearsal, or just lip synching their way through the set.  

I had the privilege to review and meet up with everyone from Sting to Prince, from Paul Simon to an impromptu set at Johnny Depp's club by Eddie Vedder. (Which I was fired over, because "no journalists" were allowed - and they didn't know I was invited as a filmmaker, by a filmmaker - and the agents were in a tizzy over my "sneaking in" to review the show.) That last review in in the "Variety" link above.

Be that as it may - I never had the chance to see or review Van Halen. 

I worked with the actress from "Hot for Teacher" who appeared in the short film "Video Valentino" that started my career - but never had the fortune to see Eddie, a virtuoso, play.

So when he passed this week, I did some due diligence, read up on his life and journey, put it in the context of the flipside research ("Who was there to greet you when you crossed over?") and other questions that people familiar with Jennifer and my sessions will recognize. I ask him the same questions I ask everyone who appears in our classroom (moderated by the person with the VIP clipboard, Luana Anders)

But I'm also a musician, mom was a concert pianist (AnthyMartini.com) and I spent much of my life in and out of concert halls, playing nightclubs with bands, solo (Les Deux Cafe in Hollywood on Saturdays for two years where people like Don Everly would sit in) or sitting in with some awesome acts.  

                                   with Mick and his dad.

I play my own version of "Chicago Blues" in the style of Otis Spann (at least in my imagination) and have played gigs that got me other adventures in my lifetime. (Including a four week gig on a yacht during the Millennium which had a bevy of stars aboard. "The Bob Shaye Millennium Cruise." Another post, another time.)

But music has always been part of my life, so when I dive into my interview with Eddie it's knowing how we communicate through "frequency," how musicians tend to incarnate as musicians (not always, sometimes) that he can speak about music on a deeper level.  I knew that Jennifer was not aware of who I was going to ask to speak with - nor did she know that he was the guitar solos on Michael Jackson's songs "Beat It" and "Thriller."

Jennifer knew he had died of cancer, as it was in all the news - but in particular she didn't know any of the details. Who was with him, how many were with him, what his cancer was about, the idea that he got it from guitar picks - something he floated for years, or that he favored his Gibson over other guitars.

This interview with him is no different than any other interview I do with folks on the flipside, and it is no different than an interview I might have done had I spent an hour with him on the planet.   Questions about music - where does it come from - how did you write music - what are your opinions about music?

He pointedly says (perhaps in jest) that he got "pennies" for working on "Thriller" (only Quincy will know if that's accurate, we interview Ray Charles and he talks about Q in "Backstage Pass to the Flipside") - and that his brother Alex should "focus on music residuals that he is due."  Being a member of BMI  (I've scored two of my 8 feature films), I know how important that is to report and get straight.  So this is a practical interview as well as a musical one.

Bill Paxton shows up because I knew Eddie supplied music for "Twister," and he weighs in on the "frequency" of creativity - how films are similar to music in that they contain the emotions of many - the writer, director, composer, the actors... all conspire to help humanity deal with particular issues. Whether it's fear, overcoming fear, or overcoming fear of death.  It's there as well.

I give you our interview with Eddie 

Here's the Billboard article I cite in the interview (which I had not posted, or referred to. But contains quite a few of the details behind my questions.)

https://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/rock/6605231/eddie-van-halen-addiction-david-lee-roth-touring

All of these questions are based on the five years I've been doing interviews with folks on the flipside via Jennifer, all of the context is based on the ten years of filming people under hypnosis or not under hypnosis (100 to date, half without) accessing the same information on the flipside. The same information about choosing our incarnations, and why we do so.

Finally, I send sincere condolences to his family and friends, his son, his wife, their dog, his ex wife. All who are suffering immeasurably at the loss of a loved one. I do this work because I can - not to sell books, not to sell myself, not to sell Jennifer - people who need to seek her out can find her, people who need to read the books will do so.  All I am doing is reporting.

I turn the camera on, I ask questions, I turn it off. People say the exact same things about the afterlife even though its contrary to every religious belief system, contrary to every scientific belief system. What they say is consistent and reproducible; two hallmarks of data.

I'm just the reporter here. Don't blame the piano player.

Enjoy.

LINK TO THE INTERVIEW AT MARTINIZONE.COM

For those who are familiar with the books "Backstage Pass to the Flipside" 1, 2 and 3 (as well as the book "Hacking the Afterlife" and the film "Flipside" - this is more of the same. More verification. 

I have been doing this for so long with her, know that she works with law enforcement agencies nationwide on missing person cases (ask Bill Bratton former NYPD commissioner about her), and two of our class pals stop by. 

Besides Bill Paxton's visit Anthony Bourdain stopped by to give me some health advice that is right on the money.  

No other way to put it.  If one wants to speak directly to loved ones on the flipside, there are three methods I can recommend; hypnotherapy, guided meditation and through a medium like Jennifer. 

My two cents.