Words of Comfort for the Elderly, the Sick and the Dying + Practical Resources: Symptoms of Grief in the Dying and the Bereaved

  
    I have lost track of the number of people I know who are dealing with sudden illnesses and loss of family, friends and loved ones, or who are taking care of elderly parents these days. Regardless of their spiritual beliefs, a common thread that ties everyone together is what to say when their loved ones express their fears or concerns about what happens after they pass--and, even what to say to themselves during such stressful times.  

    Many, of course, have great faith and no doubt in their hearts that they will be going to heaven to be with Jesus and/or their family members who have gone before them; or to a place of peace and rest. 

    But, not everyone is so sure.  Even folks who have studied the teachings of the Ascended Masters for years might have moments of panic, fear or doubt:

 ~What if they don't ascend?
 ~What if they don't see the angels when they come?
 ~What about the spouse and loved ones they leave behind?
 ~What if they have to reincarnate?

     These are all legitimate questions and deserve comforting, truthful answers. Wondering exactly what a minister would recommend in such situations, I contacted a friend of mine who is a minister and counselor with years of experience. Here are some of the highlights of what she shared with me:

  You can tell a person that "He/she is in God's hands and that God has everything mapped out for them and their spouse. God has it all planned out. And, if they're familiar with the Hail Mary*, it is also a comforting prayer."

    Simple and comforting words---yet, something that might not come to your mind when you are in the middle of such a situation. It takes the guesswork out of it for the family member/caretaker and puts the person right back where they came from--the heart and hands of the Lord.

    With that inspired advise in mind, below are several affirmations that might be helpful to print on a regular 3x5 blank index card and offer--or have available--for family members, friends, or even yourself in times of need. Just reading through the cards several times a day may be most comforting, and strengthen the one-on-one connection of the heart and soul of those in need with the heart and Spirit of the Creator:

• I AM in God's hands. 
• ____ and I are in God's hands. 
• I AM grateful! 
• God has everything mapped out for me. 
• God has everything mapped out for ____ and me. 
• The Will of God is good. 

Many thanks to my minister friend for her advice!



*Traditional Hail Mary or:

    Hail, Mary, full of grace.  The Lord is with thee.  Blessed art thou among women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.  Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sons and daughters of God, now and at the hour of our victory over sin, disease and death. (How to Work with Angels, page 77).



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[Updated:  1.4.2020]



PART II: RESOURCES:  Updated 1.5.2020 from April 30, 2015 post:

   
      If you or a family member are dying or are bereaved, consider checking out a few of the links below for articles, books and websites about the symptoms of different kinds of grief, including anticipatory grief and prolonged grief, and grief resources for adults, children and families.

Excellent Article:

Help Guide: Coping with Grief and Loss, (1.5.2020):


From Hospice Education Institute, 4.30.2015 (now closed):
   

“Dying involves the gradual adjusting to a whole series of losses and disappointments. Each loss causes grief. Very often the earlier losses are harder to cope with than dying itself.” (Colin Murray Parkes)

 “The loss of a loved person is one of the most intensely painful experiences any human being can suffer.” (John Bowlby)

*One good memory can replace years of bad memories.

*The events around the time of the death will affect the family in their grief and in future life crises.
*The tasks of grieving.
*Grief and the family.
*Grief and children

~From Recover-from-Grief.com

*Signs and symptoms of grief:  Physical signs and symptoms:  "I'm exhausted!"
*Normal effects of bereavement:  Emotional effects of bereavement:  "Are you sure I'm not going crazy?"
*Social changes:  "Where are all my friends?"
*Effects of bereavement:  "So, where was God in all of this?"
*Weird and unusual grief experiences:  "Is this bizarre, or what?" (Thinking you hear, smell or feel someone; developing his or her mannerisms or behavior.)
*When to get help:  "Do I need help?"  
*Warning signs:  Get help if this describes you!


~From WebMD

*Short list of symptoms of grief and grieving in children under age 7; in children between the ages of 7 and 12; teens and adults.


~For those who have lost a parent, family member or friend during infancy, childhood or youth, I highly recommend Never the Same, Coming to Terms with the Death of a Parent, by Donna Schuurman, Executive Director of the Dougy Center, the National Center for Grieving Children and Families, whose website offers excellent resources for grieving children and families, with Tip Sheets, podcasts (Grieving through Mother's Day), support groups, etc. fir those suffering from the loss of parents, family members or friends.

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Original post 5/8/2012

Updated: 10/25/20

Witness to the Ascension of Rev. E. Gene Vosseler, a True Friend of Freedom

     On this 4th of July, 2020, I would like to witness to the ascension of the late Rev. E. Gene Vosseler, who passed away on December 31, 2017 and who, I believe, as I witnessed, ascended on January 4, 2018, during a service held for him in Bozeman, MT.

     One can only witness to such events and share them when the need arises and for the benefit of those who may not have known Rev. Vosseler, who embraced the path of personal freedom, personal Christhood as taught by the Ascended Masters of the Great White Brotherhood through their Messengers Mark L. Prophet and Elizabeth Clare Prophet.

     Today, I will share a synopsis of my experience:

      On January 4, 2018, I was sitting in a soda shop style waiting room for parents at a ballet studio, about 1,700 miles away from Bozeman, MT and completely unaware that Gene Vosseler had passed away on New Year's Eve.  

   

      I was reading an eBook by Elizabeth Clare Prophet, when, seemingly out of nowhere, sparkling white light began to pour down upon me in such brightness and intensity that, at first, I could not figure out what was going on, or what the reason for the outpouring of light was.  I soon realized that someone must be making their ascension right then, and that, for whatever reason, I was blessed to witness it on the inner, and, what was practically in the physical. 

      The pouring down of light lasted for an incredibly long time, even as parents and students came and went during class drop-off time.  I lost track of time while waiting for my daughter's class to end, and when I got back home, I said some prayers in gratitude for the experience and for the soul who had been victorious in their ascension.

      Two months later, I was talking with a friend who was living in Montana, and I asked her if she knew how Gene Vosseler was doing.  She said, "Oh, Gene passed away on New Year's Eve! They had a service for him around 1:00 pm on January 4th in Bozeman,"  thus confirming the ascension of a great soul, known to many as a true defender of freedom, and someone whom I had known personally.  I was not shocked by my experience, once I found out who had passed on, and ever since then, I have included his name ("Ascended Master Gene Vosseler") as I knew him, in my prayers when asking for help for America.

     Today is one of those days when I included (Ascended Master) Rev. E. Gene Vosseler in my prayers on behalf of our great nation in these most difficult times.

      I highly recommend the only book that Gene authored solo, Wind of the Spirit, A Spiritual Freedom Odyssey.

Attribution: The Spirit of '76

Darshan with an Embodied Guru: A True Treasure

          In previous posts, there has been a lot of mention of the Darshan DVD series from 1996-1997 with the late Elizabeth Clare Prophet, Messenger of the Great White Brotherhoodand embodied Guru. They are now (October 2024) available online: Darshan with the Messenger.

          As noted earlier, these sessions offer a unique experience for chelas and aspiring chelas of the ascended masters, because they are darshans—encounters—with an embodied Guru who is overshadowed by her Guru, the Ascended Master El Morya.  The sessions are unparalleled—there is nothing else like them on the market and they are relatively affordable for individuals and groups. 

          Here is a list of the Darshans for anyone who might be interested in checking them out--they are truly "Treasures of the World."

Available online:

1. Your Sacred Labor
2. The Way to the Master
3. The Evolution of Life
4. Chelaship
5. Answering the Master’s Call
6. Becoming an Accepted Chela
7. Walking the Path of the Buddha
8. Overcoming Negative Habits
9. The Way to the Great White Brotherhood
10. The Power of Sound
11. Initiation and the One Initiator
12. Outpouring Spirit into Matter
13. The Path that Leads to Adeptship
14. The Higher Initiations
15. The Work of the Adepts and Teachings on the Seven Rays
16. The Guru-Chela Relationship.

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Original post 8/7/2019

         

"Climb the Highest Mountain" a Chapter at a Time...

What would I recommend that people read and become familiar with, in this, the very beginning of the Aquarian Age?

Well, I'd recommend the Climb the Highest Mountain series also known as the Everlasting Gospel. These foundational spiritual teachings for the Aquarian Age began with the writings of Mark L. Prophet and continued with Elizabeth Clare Prophet and are found in 10 volumes, which include that extremely interesting book, The Masters and Their Retreats. That's it. Nothing more. Nothing less.

Now, granted, it would definitely take more than "a month of Sundays" to peruse and digest the teachings in just one of the books--more like a year of Sundays. But, what a great way that would be to start your week, for say, the next 10 years or so!

Here's a list of the available books included in the series:

1. The Path of the Higher Self
2. The Path of Self Transformation
3. The Masters and the Spiritual Path
4. The Path of Brotherhood
5. The Path of the Universal Christ
6. Paths of Light and Darkness
7. The Path to Immortality
8. The Path of Christ or Antichrist
9. The Path to Attainment
10. The Masters and Their Retreats

How much value did Mark Prophet place on these specific teachings? In his own words:

"The concepts are advanced and progressive. They will give you a new lease on life. You’ll want that book by your bedside to read morning, noon and night as long as you live, and I’m not exaggerating.”

So, how would one go about studying these teachings of the Ascended Masters for the New Millennium? Well, I'd recommend just a chapter at a time!

*Mark L. Prophet and Elizabeth Clare Prophet, The Path of the Higher Self, (Summit University Press, Corwin Springs, Montana, 2003), p. xxi.



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[Updated: 1.4.2020]

Original post 10/8/2011

Nicholas Roerich Museum NYC Tour: 7 min. Video

Since the art of Nicholas Roerich graces the cover of each of the books in the Climb the Highest Mountain Series, I thought you might enjoy a 7 minute video I just found that takes you on a tour of the Nicholas Roerich Museum in New York City.

A great way to enjoy a cup of tea and meditate on beauty and art on a Sunday morning--or any hour or day of the week!

There are two hardcover books available on Nicholas Roerich and his life and art, both by Jacqueline Decter:  Nicholas Roerich: The Life & Art of a Russian Master  (1989), and The Visionary Art of Nicholas Roerich: A Messenger of Beauty, with a foreward by Gary Lachman, (2023).

Updated: 12/18/2025

Original post 1/29/2012



Song of Shambhala, Nicholas Roerich, 1943.

On Maitreya, Mesmerism and Astrology

On Maitreya, Mesmerism and Astrology

I was recently reminded of how important it is for students of the ascended masters to be aware of their astrology and their psychology, after reading a 1985 Pearl of Wisdom by Lord Maitreya entitled Teachings from the Mystery School, Astrology for Twin Flames and an excerpt from Annice Booth’s book, Secrets of Prosperity.

Such information is timely for many reasons, among them, the incredible acceleration of the return of karma—both “good” and “bad”—that many people seem to be experiencing around the world.   It is impossible to not be concerned about one’s self and family and friends and one’s nation and the planet these days.  I live about 15 minutes away from the Oregon District where the mass shooting took place in Dayton a few weeks ago, and, I can tell you that the impact of such a horrific event has not been insignificant.  Everyone I know either knows someone who was in the area during the shooting, who works at the bar or lives in the area, or, worse, people who had to walk over the bodies to get out of the bar after it was over.  There has been an incredible pall over the city ever since, almost physical in nature. People are wondering what is going on with all the violence these days; people are trying to process it all as they go about their daily lives.

I have friends who are dealing with extremely difficult health conditions—their own or a family member’s—and quite a few who are trying to figure out how to disentangle themselves from toxic relationships with other people and from groups and organizations to which they have been tied for a long time.  Several friends have discussed how they are “done” with the Catholic church due to their disgust with the continued exposure of abuse by members of church hierarchy for decades.  Others are in the process of disentangling from organizations that they believe have been involved in unethical business practices for years.

Family Mesmerism

But, betrayal by hierarchies is just one example of the challenges people are facing.  Consider family mesmerism, as explained in Paths of Light and Darkness, (eBook page 134-135), (you can replace “family” with “organization” or “group”) and you get an idea of just how big the problem of disentangling oneself from unhealthy, toxic or unlawful relationships can be:

 “Family mesmerism is one manifestation of animal magnetism; it involves the exertion of unwholesome control of one individual over another in the name of family ties.  This name is often given to hypnotic ties whereby we allow ourselves to be open to energy of negativity coming from members of our families.  We are open to them because we love them and because we have mutual responsibilities. 

The key to dealing with this energy is to maintain a very strong heart tie through the Christ Self to one’s family members.  You are in control of this tie and through it you can give a great deal of love to them.  However, if you allow yourself to be tied at untransmuted levels of your being—the solar plexus, the emotional level, the astral body—and if you have a great deal of sympathy for family members, you do open your chakras to them and open your beings to them, and they have access to you and to your Light and energy at will.

Sentimentality and nostalgia are forms of sympathetic animal magnetism.  Jesus’ statement, ‘Whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother,’ should be remembered when choosing companions or breaking spiritually unprofitable ties.”

So, how would a student of the ascended masters know how or where to begin to disentangle from such difficult situations and head any others off at the pass?  Two possibilities come to mind:  work on the resolution of one’s psychology (which can be part of the reason for such karmic entanglements) and become aware of your astrology for the next 18 months (as recommended by Elizabeth Clare Prophet in one of the Darshans with the Messenger). 

Kuthumi’s Dispensation to Help Us with Our Psychology

Mrs. Booth addresses both astrology and psychology in her book, Secrets of Prosperity, along with Kuthumi’s dispensation:

     “Maitreya says we can cut through the whole coil [of negative habits].  We don’t have to unwind it level by level.  But we need to realize that we are dealing with momentum.  Where you know you have negative momentums in your life and negative momentums or pessimism in your astrology, that is the point to direct light.

    Say with the master Kuthumi, ‘I AM light, glowing light, radiating light, intensified light.  God consumes my darkness, transmuting it into light.’  When you say, ‘I AM light,’ visualize that light directed into your subconscious and unconscious mind, where these momentums lay that may not have been challenged for thousands of years.  Direct piercing light rays into this negative coil that has been wrapped around your being.” (eBook, page 105)

Mrs. Booth continues on, giving the complete prayer by Kuthumi, which can be given as a novena, 9 times for 9 days for help in specific situations.

Maitreya on Astrology

   In Lord Maitreya’s 1985 dictation, Teachings from the Mystery School, Astrology for Twin Flames, he tells his “students worldwide” about the importance of being aware of one’s astrology and transits and, specifically, how to place the ascended masters’ causal bodies over potentially problematic configurations:

“Remember, beloved ones, that until thy karma is ultimately and fully balanced, false astrology and the emanations of the lower spheres of the planets will have their effect upon you unless you insulate yourself by invoking your tube of light and calling to Archangel Michael to cut you free—unless you give your violet flame decrees and challenge the astral forces that enter your worlds through those negative astrological predictions.

 And therefore, you should always replace them by the call to the Masters to place their presence and their causal body on your chart and to seal off and bar from your life the astrological signs of those projected negative influences that are actually the harbingers of your returning negative karma.

Karma comes to your doorstep daily by the world’s astrology, the false astrology—false in the sense, therefore, that the Cosmic Christ teaches that you need not reap this karma but you may instead transmute it by the violet flame before it arrives at thy doorstep to the detriment of thy true life plan, deterring the true divine astrology of thy causal body from registering its great positive good in thy life, thereby causing all manner of problems.

If you invoke the tube of light and give your violet flame decrees without composing for yourself the dynamic decree whereby you challenge these momentums, you may find yourself free of the karma but burdened by the momentum of the astrology itself, even as human habit patterns endure beyond the karma which was causative in their being made in the first place.

 Thus, two actions must be taken: first you must challenge in the name of your Mighty I AM Presence the levels of your personal karma as these affect your life and then you must challenge—naming the positions and the degrees—the self-limiting matrix in the astrology of your natal and progressed chart and solar return which can be calculated.

Realize that the challenging of those momentums in the name of your Mighty I AM Presence is the key to the overcoming of trial and temptation. However, these charts that are calculated according to the worldly astrology must be done only by those astrologers who have the mind of Christ and who are not caught up in the worldly sense of believing in the influence and ultimate power of astrology over the lifestream.”

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Alice Bailey and Roberto Assagioli

   

       Just how far can false teachings penetrate into the hearts and minds and souls of men and women—into a society unaware? Quite far. Consider the subtle (or not so subtle) influence of

Alice Bailey on psychotherapy in the 20th and 21st centuries through the work of Roberto Assagioli, an Italian psychiatrist, who began developing his theory of psychosynthesis around 1910 and who, from 1930 on, was a close friend and student of Bailey’s.

     Assagioli, known within Bailey’s Arcane School as FCD, received channeled messages and assignments from “The Tibetan,” or "DK," a reference to the Master Djwal Kul, who originally sponsored Bailey, but who, according to the Ascended Master Kuthumi, soon removed his sponsorship due to Bailey’s “intellectual pride and brittleness” and failure to surrender to the will of God. (1)



     In Al Mankoff’s article, Roberto Assagioli, Psychosynthesis and the Esoteric Roots of Transpersonal Psychology, we read:  



 ...Perhaps the disciple of greatest world-wide fame of all 42 disciples was Doctor Roberto Assagioli, Italian psychotherapist, said to be the father of Psychology of the Soul, Psychosynthesis. He is shown in the volume as “FCD” or “Freedom from Ties, Chelaship and Detachment.” 

    Mankoff goes on to describe several of the messages and instructions Assagioli received from “The Tibetan” (DK) via Bailey regarding several projects and ideas regarding the field of psychology, stating that, “Here, then, was the spark that lit the flame of Psychosynthesis and Transpersonal Psychology.”



      In his book The Adventure of Self-Discovery:Dimensions of Consciousness and New Perspectives in Psychotherapy and Inner Exploration, psychiatrist Stanislav Grof mentions Assagioli and Bailey and The Tibetan in his section on Dimensions in Consciousness:



      An entity who called himself the Tibetan was acknowledged by Alice Bailey as the real author of a large series of her spiritual writings. Roberto Assagioli credited the same entity as the source of his psychological system of psychosynthesis. (2)



      And, in The Future of New Religious Movements, edited by David G. Bromley and Phillip E. Hammond, Assagioli is also mentioned in connection with Alice Bailey:



... Lesser known is Roberto Assagioli, an Italian psychiatrist who absorbed Theosophy and especially its revisionist presentation produced by Alice Bailey. His thought and the professionals who practice his system, psychosynthesis, have become thoroughly intertwined with Bailey’s Arcane School and its offshoots. (3)



      Just as the Ascended Master Kuthumi warns of the “false teachings subtly woven into the work of Alice Bailey,” Mankoff tells how deeply enmeshed Assagioli was with Bailey and The Tibetan; Grof ties Bailey and The Tibetan to Assagioli and psychosynthesis, and Bromley and Hammond, like Kuthumi, mention the interweaving—the intertwining—of psychosynthesis and Alice Bailey’s Arcane School (and her “Tibetan”).






1. Pearls of Wisdom, Vol. 19 No. 5—Kuthumi and the Brothers of the Golden Robe—February 1, 1976, The True Teacher and the False Teacher. (Pearls of Wisdom: 1958-1996, First Edition CD-ROM, (Corwin Springs, Montana: Church Universal and Triumphant, 1997) 

2. Stanislav Grof, The Adventure of Self-Discovery: Dimensions of Consciousness and New Perspectives in Psychotherapy and Inner Exploration, (SUNY Series in Transpersonal and Humanistic Psychology), (State University of New York, 1988), page 123. 

3. David G. Bromley and Phillip E. Hammond, The Future of New Religious Movements, (Mercer University Press, 1987), page 55. 

Babaji, Unascended Master of the Himalayas

     I recently came across an interesting passage on Babaji, the unascended master of the Himalayas in The Masters and Their Retreats, where he encourages his students to use the violet flame and to become more practical as they walk their spiritual path:


      Babaji speaks on behalf of the Brotherhood of the Himalayas, urging his students to take up the path of the violet flame. He also asks us to find the students trapped in the false paths and false teachings of India. Babaji tells his students to not remove themselves into nirvana but to "get over the desire to be the removed one, set apart and in meditation and in unreality when there is a victory to be won and a battle to enter."

  

 

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El Morya on Community, Part 7: Gautama Buddha and the Importance of Truth

…Indeed, you know that ignorance is not cured by leafing through books, but by the synthesis of containment. ~New Era Community, 193.


   We’re probably all familiar with the phrases “discussed to death” and “death by committee.” Is it possible, within a spiritual community, to over-study and over-discuss the teachings and our personal interpretations of them and over-think problematic situations and possible solutions? Definitely. Especially when non-action is the result.

   The exposure of ignorance in any of its various manifestations within a spiritual community requires immediate and right action in order to stop it from spreading. How can this be accomplished? One way available to all is to make the call to Gautama Buddha for the dispelling of all that is false, so that people can “receive the Truth when they hear it” (1) or when they read it or gaze upon it.

   According to Gautama Buddha, truth is paramount:

   And I say, bring the gentleness, the compassion, but bring the sudden thrust of Truth. For sometimes when Truth is least expected it makes its mark and drives deep into the psyche and remains there for many days and many miles until it can no longer be denied.

   Do you know, beloved ones, that when you plant Truth in the heart and the being of an individual, at that moment it becomes a focus for more of the momentum of Truth to gather? It becomes as a lodestone. And therefore everywhere he goes, that one who has heard the Truth spoken by you does bump into that Truth in another form, in another manifestation, in odd places and from unusual people.

   So it is, beloved, that a great truth is confirmed. It is confirmed by all elemental life and all of the stars and all of the great beings of Light. But most of all it is confirmed by the soul who is listening, who is listening to the Holy Christ Self. (2)


Notes Pearls of Wisdom, Vol. 35 No. 41, Beloved Gautama Buddha. October 7, 1992. Copyright © 1992, 2002 Church Universal and Triumphant. All rights reserved.

OM MANI PADME HUM

According to Elizabeth Clare Prophet, in The Buddhic Essence, Ten Stages to Becoming a Buddha, page 131, the mantra Om Mani Padme Hum, which means "Hail to the jewel in the Lotus," is the "geometric formula, or mandala, that locks us in to the heart of Kuan Yin," the Goddess of Mercy and Compassion. For a brief explanation of how you can lock in to the heart of Kuan Yin with your favorite mantra, watch the following video:

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Thank you, Mrs. Booth!

                                         

Annice Booth, author of many of the books I’ve recommended, left this world for the higher octaves of light on April 6, 2011. She would have been 91 years old this May.

While I’m not quite sure how things are done up there, my guess is that all in heaven are celebrating her arrival!

Mrs. Booth accomplished quite a bit in her lifetime and had many interesting and unique spiritual experiences as she followed the Path of Personal Christhood outlined by the Great White Brotherhood through their messengers Mark and Elizabeth Prophet.

Author of several books, including Memories of Mark: My Life with Mark Prophet; The Path to Your Ascension: Rediscovering Life’s Ultimate Purpose and Secrets of Prosperity, Abundance in the 21st Century, Mrs. Booth also edited the Climb the Highest Mountain series and compiled and edited The Masters and Their Retreats.

Of all the books by Mrs. Booth that I've read, my favorite is The Path to Your Ascension. The deep faith, hope, charity and gratitude that filled her soul, directed her life and shone through her bright blue eyes are expressed in the very first lines of the Preface:

As I sit here in my home in Montana and gaze upon the mountains covered with snow, my meditations are upon the soul’s ascent to God.

I am reminded of the song of the Psalmist, “I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help. My help cometh from the Lord which made heaven and earth.” And all I can do is cry from a heart full of love and gratitude, “O God, you are so magnificent!”

I shall always remember the day I met Mark and Elizabeth Prophet--truly a milestone in my life. I came from a Christian Fundamentalist background and later studied the teachings of Unity. But not until I discovered the teachings of the ascended masters given through their messengers did I realize that after hundreds, perhaps thousands, of lifetimes on this earth, at long last I was offered the chance to return Home to God in the ascension at the close of this embodiment or at least in the next.

While all of Mrs. Booth's books are enjoyable and easy to read--and The Masters and their Retreats makes for great bedtime reading--it is The Path to Your Ascension that I highly recommend to anyone who is interested in discovering the higher purpose of their life and learning how to attain it in a most practical way.

Thank you, Mrs. Booth!



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