Florida - October 24, 2013

In attendance: Astrid, Jackie, Jeff, Nelson and Santiago

 

As the group transitioned from the living room to the table, Jackie noticed troops of marching soldiers lined up in formation facing the table.  Jackie also felt the presence of Gloria in her usual seat at the table, connected to the group by some sort of spiritual strings.

 

Once the group was seated at the table, Nelson sensed the presence of a spirit who wanted to speak at our table once before (when both Gloria and her son were present).  This spirit remained silent because he did not want his message to be interpreted as hurtful, but now the spirit was unable to forgive himself for missing his opportunity.  His sadness at not communicating earlier led him to implore the group to "look at each other, and say what is inside."  His message was that every family has a "Pandora's Box" of secrets, tightly compressed, and ready to burst.  The only way to take away the power that these secrets have is for the truth to be told.

 

(Note: Pandora's Box was an artifact from Greek mythology.  The "box" was actually a large jar which contained all of the evils of the world.  When Pandora opened the jar, all of the evils flew out, leaving only "hope" inside once she closed the jar again.  Today the phrase "to open Pandora's box" means to perform an action that may seem small or innocent, but could turn out to have severely detrimental and far-reaching negative consequences.)

 

This spirit was speaking while standing behind Nelson, asking questions about the family of Gloria's husband.  The questions were difficult for the table to answer without Gloria being present. 

 

Spirit 1 (via Nelson):  As the spirit passed into Nelson, he told the group that the parents of Gloria's husband had asked the grandparents (it was not clear if he was referring to the maternal or paternal grandparents, and if this decision was related to the soldiers that Jackie saw) to raise their child.  The spirit explained that two tiny, short spirits were standing with him, and they were the real parents.  Gloria's brother, Santiago had seen photographs of the father of Gloria's husband, and he was very tall.  The spirit insisted that the real parents were with him, and they were short.  The spirit believed that this was a family secret that Gloria's husband never knew.  The spirit began to cry over the meaningless secrets that are so often kept by families for unimportant reasons. 

 

"Enough...enough suffering," the spirit sobbed, "For how long?  How long do we have to continue?  How long...?".  Jackie gently told him that the secrets kept by families will continue, until someone decided to break the pattern.  "It's time to cut it," the spirit replied.  Astrid reminded the spirit that we all have free will to confide in others or remain quiet.  Looking around the table at each participant, the spirit said, "If we do not break those chains, we will never be happy.  I am going to break those chains."  As he started to weep again, he explained that he once believed that keeping secrets protected families from getting hurt, and now he realized that not knowing the truth was hurting them instead of helping them. 

 

The spiritual presence realized that the spirits who had brought him to our table were translating his words into English.  He wanted to speak in "Tagalog" (a Filipino language), but he knew that we would not understand him.  He wanted his grandchildren and our group to find "Gumballou" (which the table understood to mean "happiness" in Tagalog).  He repeated this word several times. 

 

(Note: "Gumballou" is what the word sounded like, and the spirit seemed to indicate that it meant "Happiness".  After researching the word online with various spellings, I could not find anything similar in Tagalog.  It may have been a slang term unique to his era or even something specific to his location.  There is a similar Tagalog word, "Kulambo" which means "outside of the mosquito net" and usually refers to a husband sleeping away from his wife for the night.) 

The spirit continued: "The truth has been held back for so long, nobody knows the reality.  Find gumballou!  Happiness depends not only on tangible things, but more essentially on the intangibles."  The spirit decided to leave with the others who brought him to our table, and he agreed to take his memories, the chains he referred to earlier, and the key to his box of secrets with him.  As he left, he told the group that he was tired and exhausted, and that happiness (Gumballou) will liberate us from all that he suffered for so many years.

Jackie noticed that the soldiers who marched in earlier before he arrived had also left with him.  Nelson was sweating, yet his arms were icy cold to the touch at the same time, and he was experiencing the exhaustion that this spirit said he had endured over the years.  Nelson's spirit guide had arrived to refresh and cleanse him.

"There is still much more to do," Nelson's spirit guide told the table.  "Don't forget that we still make mistakes as humans."  With so much spiritual baggage removed, Nelson's spirit guide believed that Gloria would start to feel better.  "We cannot put being a mother above being a spiritualist," he said, adding that in many ways, Astrid was similar, but she was stronger because of Santiago.  Nelson's guide asked Astrid about her daughter in Puerto Rico.  Astrid had wondered why her daughter felt the urge to see her biological father and she hoped that her daughter had not "bitten off more than she could chew" with this trip.  The guide encouraged Astrid to continue talking, so that the paternal spirit could be liberated.  Nelson, his guide and Astrid would work together to accomplish this task without an actual spirit sitting through Nelson - as he was too exhausted from the previous spirit. 

Spirit 2 (via Nelson's Guide):  The father of the daughter (Astrid's first husband) was unconscious, but he needed to know that he was forgiven.  Astrid said that she had forgiven him a few days ago.  It was important for Astrid's other daughter to know that one day she will understand why we sometimes need to experience passages and sufferings in order to move on to the next level.  It is OK not to understand it all now, but do not judge.  Nelson's guide said that it is very difficult not to judge, as we put all of our purpose into the material body, even when the body cannot tolerate that spirit level anymore.  There is a spirit of an aborted child (from a second wife) with the unconscious father, and this entity is present for the same reason that the daughter felt compelled to go: Her spirit needed it.  Nelson and Astrid both saw the father floating alone, unable to let go and pass.  As he looked at his daughter, he said, "Look at me, don't end up the way I did." (which may have been a comment about the material body or about spiritual awareness).

Spirit 3 (via Nelson):  Nelson sensed an interesting group of spirits observing our table, and they promised be present again during the next session.  This group thought they all had a material body, and they enjoyed drinking, dancing, drugs - it was like a continuous non-stop party for them.  As they looked at our table, one of them said, "What is this, a nursing home?  When we talk, others listen.  You should see what I just made someone do at the last party..." and the spirit faded away.

Spirit 4 (via Jackie):  Jackie saw Edgar again, and she believed that he has been trying to help Gloria, but the issues were too heavy for him.  Now that some things have been lifted, he will try again.  Nelson asked Jackie about her friend (Rafael), and she said that he does not answer her calls.  Nelson believed that Jackie was doing the right thing by not feeling guilty.  Jackie mentioned another friend of hers who was also suffering (Donna).  Nelson and his guide assured her that we have the ability to help others remotely. 

Jackie closed with a prayer.