An Introduction to Abraham

“She speaks with spirits!” our friends said. “She’ll be here next week, and you can make an appointment with her and ask her anything you like!”

That’s about the last thing on this earth that I would ever want to do, I thought, but at the same time I heard Jerry, my husband, saying, “We really would like to make an appointment. How do we go about doing that?”

That was 1984, and in the four years that we’d been married, we’d never had an argument or even exchanged cross words. We were two joyous people, living happily ever after with each other, and compatible on nearly every subject that came up. The only discomfort that I ever felt was when Jerry would entertain friends with one of his stories from 20 years earlier, relating his experiences with the Ouija board. If we were at a restaurant or some other public place when I sensed one of those stories coming on, I would politely (or sometimes not so politely), excuse myself and retreat to the ladies’ room, sit in the bar, or take a walk to the car until I believed that sufficient time had passed and the account would be over. Happily,

Ask and It Is Given

Jerry eventually stopped telling those stories when I was around.

I wasn’t what you’d call a religious girl, but I’d attended enough Sunday-School classes to develop a very strong fear of evil and the devil. Thinking back, I’m not really sure if our Sunday-School teachers had actually devoted a greater proportion of our classes to teaching us to fear the devil or if that’s simply what stood out in my mind. But that is, for the most part, what I remember from those years.

So, as I’d been taught, I carefully avoided anything that could possibly have any connection to the devil. One time when I was a young woman, I was sitting in a drive-in theater and happened to look out the back window of the car at the other movie screen and saw a horrible scene from The Exorcist (a movie that I’d purposely avoided seeing), and what I saw, without hearing the sound, affected me so strongly that I had nightmares for weeks.

“Her name is Sheila,” our friend told Jerry. “I’ll make the appointment for you and let you know.”

Jerry spent the next few days writing down his questions. He said he had some that he’d saved up since he was a small child. I didn’t make a list. Instead, I struggled with the idea of going at all.

As we pulled into the driveway of a beautiful house in the heart of Phoenix, Arizona, I remember thinking, What am I getting myself into? We walked up to the front door, and a very nice woman greeted us and showed us into a lovely living room where we could wait for our scheduled appointment.

The house was large, simple but beautifully furnished, and very quiet. I remember feeling a sort of reverence, like being in a church.

Then a big door opened, and two pretty women dressed in fresh, brightly colored cotton blouses and skirts entered the room. Apparently we were the first appointment after lunch; both women looked happy and refreshed. I felt myself relax a little bit. Maybe this wasn’t going to be so weird after all.

Soon we were invited into a lovely bedroom where 3 chairs were situated near the foot of the bed. Sheila was sitting on the edge of the bed, and her assistant sat in one of the chairs with a small tape recorder on the table beside her. Jerry and I sat in the other two chairs, and I braced myself for whatever was about to happen.

The assistant explained that Sheila was going to relax and release her consciousness, and then Theo, a Non-Physical entity, would address us. When that happened, we’d be free to talk about anything we desired.

Sheila lay across the end of the bed, only a few feet from where we were seated, and breathed deeply. Soon, an unusual-sounding voice abruptly said, “It is the beginning, is it not? You have questions?”

I looked at Jerry, hoping that he was ready to start, because I knew that I was not ready to talk with whoever was now speaking to us. Jerry leaned forward; he was eager to ask his first question.

I relaxed as Theo’s words slowly came out of Sheila’s mouth. And while I knew that it was Sheila’s voice we were hearing, I somehow also knew that something far different from Sheila was the source of these marvelous answers.

Jerry said he’d been saving his questions up since he was five years old, and he asked them as rapidly as he could. Our 30 minutes passed so quickly, but during that time, somehow, without my speaking a word, my fear of this strange experience lifted, and I was filled with a feeling of well-being that surpassed anything that I’d ever felt before.

Once back inside our car, I told Jerry, “I’d really like to come back tomorrow. There are some things I would now like to ask.”

Jerry was delighted to make another appointment because he had more questions on his list as well.

About halfway through our allotted time on the following day, Jerry reluctantly relinquished the remaining minutes to me, and I asked Theo, “How can we more effectively achieve our goals?”

The answer came back: “Meditation and affirmations.”

The idea of meditation didn’t appeal to me at all, and I wasn’t aware of anyone who practiced it. In fact, when I thought of the word, it brought to mind people lying on beds of nails, walking on hot coals, standing on one foot for years, or begging for donations at the airport. So I asked, “What do you mean by meditation?”

The answer was short, and the words felt good as I heard them: “Sit in a quiet room. Wear comfortable clothing, and focus on your breathing. As your mind wanders, and it will, release the thought and focus on your breathing. It would be good for you to do it together. It will be more powerful.”

“Could you give us an affirmation that would be of value for us to use?” we asked.

“I [say your name] see and draw to me, through divine love, those Beings who seek enlightenment through my process. The sharing will elevate us both now.”

As the words flowed from Sheila/Theo, I felt them penetrate to the core of my being. A feeling of love flowed to me and through me like nothing I’d ever felt before. My fear was gone. Jerry and I both felt wonderful.

“Should we bring my daughter, Tracy, to meet you?” I asked.

“If it is her asking, but it is not necessary, for you, too (Jerry and Esther), are channels.”

That statement made no sense to me at all. I couldn’t believe that I could be this old (in my 30s), and not already know something like that, if it were true.

The tape recorder clicked off, and we both felt mild disappointment that our extraordinary experience was finished. Sheila’s assistant asked us if we had one last question. “Would you like to know the name of your spiritual guide?” she asked.

I would never have asked that, for I had never heard the term spiritual guide, but it sounded like a good question. I liked the idea of guardian angels. So I said, “Yes, please, could you tell me the name of my spiritual guide?”

Theo said, “We are told it will be given to you directly. You will have a clairaudient experience, and you will know.”

What is a clairaudient experience? I wondered, but before I could ask my question, Theo said with a tone of finality, “God’s love unto you!” and Sheila opened her eyes and sat up. Our extraordinary conversation with Theo had ended.

After Jerry and I left the house, we drove to a lookout point on the side of one of the Phoenix mountains and leaned against the car, staring off into the distance watching the sunset. We had no idea of the transformation that had taken place within us that day. We only knew that we felt wonderful.

When we returned home, I had two powerful new intentions: I was going to meditate, whatever in the world that meant, and I was going to find out the name of my spiritual guide.

So, we changed into our robes, closed the curtains in the living room, and sat in two large wingback chairs, with an étagère between us. We’d been encouraged to do this together, but it felt odd, and the étagère helped to mask the strangeness for some reason.

I remembered Theo’s instructions: Sit in a quiet room, wear comfortable clothing, and focus on your breathing. So we set a timer for 15 minutes, and I closed my eyes and began to breathe consciously. In my mind, I asked the question: Who is my spiritual guide? and then I counted my breath, in and out, in and out. Right away, my entire body felt numb. I couldn’t distinguish my nose from my toes. It was a strange but comforting sensation, and I enjoyed it. It felt as if my body was slowly spinning even though I knew that I was sitting in a chair. The timer rang and startled us, and I said, “Let’s do it again.”

Once more, I closed my eyes, counted my breaths, and felt numb from head to toe. Again, the timer rang and startled us. “Let’s do it again,” I said.

So we set the timer for another 15 minutes, and again I felt numbness overtake my entire body. But this time, something, or someone, began to “breathe my body.” From my vantage point, it felt like rapturous love, moving from deep inside my body outward. What a glorious sensation! Jerry heard my soft sounds of pleasure and later said that, to him, I appeared to be writhing in ecstasy.

When the timer went off and I came out of the meditation, my teeth chattered like never before. Buzzed would be a better word for the experience. For nearly an hour, my teeth buzzed as I tried to …