Catch me as a guest on Christiana's Psychic Cafe with host Christiana Gaudet as we discuss tarot, angel cards, spirit and more! Great insight on angel card reading by Christiana, as well :)

UPDATE: This interview took place during my New Age phase where I'd temporarily renamed the blog The New Age Review. I went back to The Mystic Review about a year later. But it is true that my 3AM (video) encounter with Eckhart Tolle was the original impetus for the blog.

Name: Reginald

Age of Passing: 54

Cause of Death:  Trauma, violent, crushing lower jaw.  Alone or not at home when he passed.  Not killed in a battle but may have been attacked.  Grief at not being with family.

Description: Tall, strong, shaggy reddish hair.  Beard, belt, tunic, sword.  High-boned face.  Colors bright orange-red and green.  Strong sense of a powerful, very upright presence.

Mental Makeup: Stern, sharp mind, strong, loyal, bright, exacting, curious, considered, serious.

Home: Second floor or higher tower room: scrolls, maps, stars, observing sky directly.  This where he studied what he described to me as "ancient wisdom, even then."  Also a large open room on first floor, exposed timber, plain.  Big hearth /fireplace, stone.

Closest Relative: Children and wife (who was blond). He loved her deeply.

Friends: Strong, rough men.  In some ways he did not really have much in common with them.  Also brothers.  He was loyal even when loyalty was not deserved.

Greatest Challenge on Earth:  Not especially challenged.  He felt up for any challenge.  Being loyal to those who did not deserve loyalty was really not an issue for him - honor is on you, not them.  Only real conflict was that his interest in learning and study was not really part of his station in life - something he could not share widely or devote himself to entirely.

Political or Humanitarian Figure Most Admired:  A King or Duke.  Wallace.  An older teacher or tutor (very wise)

I had seen his face with photographic clarity (which is unusual for me) and heard the word king but I had the sense he was a leader but not the actual king (perhaps this was a clue to his name).

It seemed to me that Wallace might be William Wallace.  I wasn't sure about that as Reginald, however, which was not, to my ears, a Scottish name. There was something about stirling too, but I failed to write down how that came up.

Anyway, I decided I should research the info I received.

What follows it the short version of my research. A longer, and to my mind more interesting, annotated version exists but is way too long to share here. I hit upon the name almost immediately after googling Reginald, Scotland, Knight.

Name: Sir Reginald Crauford, Knight

Born: Abt 1248

Place: Loudoun, Ayrshire, Scotland

Died: 1297  (apx age 49)

Married: 1275 to Cecelia (most likely) nee Swaine of Dannish descent (blond?)

Children: Sir Reginald Crauford, Knight (1296 to 1307)

Office: Sheriff of Ayr

Ethnicity: The name Crauford is of Norman origin

Extended Family: Reginald did have at least one brother.  His sister Margaret was the mother of Sir William Wallace, the famous patriot.  The Craufords rallied with Sir Wallace in his fight against the English.

Contemporaries:  Sir Reginald was a "firm friend of King Robert the Bruce."

Manner of Passing: Sir Reginald Crauford, Sheriff of Ayre, was murdered by the English at the Black Parliament of Ayr c. 1297.  (The Scottish nobles murdered at Ayre were lured to a meeting then hung. This event did not happen when Wallace was a child a la Braveheart but when he was an adult.  Wallace was apparently warned of what was happening at Ayre, avoided Sir Reginald's fate and later avenged his death, along with many others.)

Colors: Pic of a historical reproduction of the Crauford tartan follows (stated colors red and green).  (Note I did not see Sir Reginald wearing these colors but rather as an association.)

Home: Fireplace consistent with the time, Tower is historically correct

Stirling Connection: There was a battle of Stirling fought in 1297 which Wallace led.  I am not sure if this was before or after Ayr or if Sir Reginald was present.

What was of great interest to me in this reading was that all pieces of information fit a real historical figure with several significant life events accurately represented. Details such as the Crauford colors, home, fireplace (a relatively new but very popular advancement in Sir Reginald's time) and clothing seem to be consistent as well.  While I like history, I have never read anything about Scottish history and certainly wasn't familar with Reginald Crauford.

This is my first historical reading and I found it very validating!

Please check out the following images:

Wiliiam Wallace (the clothing of the day)

Norman Fireplace Popular in Sir Reginald's Time

This month, just a couple of weeks short of its third birthday, The New Age Review broke 100,000 all time page views.  And, while I know there are blogs out there getting this many page views in a week or even a day, I consider 100,000 (100,222 as of this morning) a milestone.

I remember checking my stats in the early days of the blog, and seeing that no one had visited the blog. I remember how exciting it was when even one or two people read an entry and the sense of validation and purpose I felt when those numbers, oh so slowly, began to grow.

I wrote those early posts because I needed a place to talk about what I was learning and because I believed that somebody out there might need to be led to the books and resources that had helped me so much.   When people commented and emailed me to say that something I had shared helped them, I was ecstatic.

In spite of that however, The New Age Review isn't really about reviewing the material I write about. It's about experiencing it.

Put another way - my reviews, or the best of them at any rate, are largely experiential.  

I made a decision very early on about the way I would review things.  I decided that while I would acknowledge material not resonant for me, I would not write pointedly negative reviews focusing largely on criticism. 

Not everyone understands when I can't (or won't) do a review.  And luckily I can usually tell if something is going to work for me or not.  But even when I can't I stick to my process because it fits my review style.

Working and applying the material in order to report back on that process only works if that material resonates.  Taken this idea a step further, I think that experiential reviews provide a clear picture of how a given resource works.  And why.

Sometimes the resource works because it triggers a new idea or approach to something.  Sometimes, it is an agent of change or transformation.  Both of these are good.

Not everything I write here is review oriented however.  Over time, much of what I share is simply my experience as I attempt to evolve into somebody better.  

Lately, this had led me to think about changing the name of the blog but this morning I decided I wouldn't. And it occurs to me for the first time, that The New Age Review DOES review metaphysical resources very nearly exclusively.  Some of these resources just happen to be the direct influence of spirit and the lessons the universe so generously provides.

As my approach to spirituality becomes more and more experiential it's likely that my reviews will as well.  

Is there a difference between an OBE (out-of-body Experience) and a dream?

Yes and no.  

Not all dream experience occurs in an out of body state and not all OBEs happen when we're asleep. But they can overlap.  In my opinion.

Dream State OBEs

I believe that dreams can take us out of body. While some of my own suspected dream OBEs have been profound, others have been dark and unpleasant. 

Dreams of flying may be out of body experience. When I was a child I dreamt of flying so often that I developed my own technique (a little like the way a dolphin swims) for controlling my speed, altitude and direction.

OBEs in Meditation

Possible OBEs can also occur during meditation (or in the hypnogogic state immediately before sleep). When this happens to me I feel as my consciousness is traveling, or flying, over great expanses of shining water. 

To me, these journeys are something between spiritual experience and a true out of body state. By this I mean that, while I feel part of my consciousness may have projected, I don't think that a full energetic body-spirit separation is achieved.

Full Split OBEs

In 2015 I was given the opportunity to study with (and interview) astral projectionist and teacher Robert Bruce.  It was then (using the Hemi-Sync recording developed by OBE adept Robert Monroe) that I achieved my first partial body-spirit split (as described here).  

This experience was a revelation because it convinced me that the complete separation of our physical and energetic bodies really CAN be achieved. 

Unfortunately, I lacked the discipline necessary to go further - at that time. Now, thanks to the encouragement of a good friend (who shares my interest), I've decided that I'm going to begin to work with out of body states and lucid dreams again! 

I have always been sensitive to energy.  And by energy, I don't mean energy in the material sense (as in thermal or electrical) I mean the invisible spiritual essence of things - a quality more easily sensed than defined.

This kind of energy, while frequently subtle, is not always so.  Some people, I am sure, sense the energy of everything they approach, while others seems oblivious to the strongest of influences. I fall in between but well toward the sensitive end of the spectrum.  

I sense the energy of the living (and sometimes the dead) as well as most spaces to varying degrees.  Positive places such as forests, gardens, sanctuaries, libraries and certain homes affect me strongly.  Their resonant energies have a fine but palpable vibration which speaks to me spiritually, emotionally and even physically in a language which is not far removed from that of music.

Negative spaces and people affect me in a very different way.  Generally speaking I find that dirty, cluttered areas, large groups of people, some small groups, institutions, anger, resentments and general negativity cause variable but almost always unpleasant reactions in me.  And it seems that I am getting more instead of less sensitive to this type of dissonance.

Case in point, my trip to the New York and New Jersey on Sunday.  We traveled into the city, had lunch at a wonderful vegan Chinese restaurant and spent the rest of the afternoon enjoying the many beautiful medieval exhibits as The Cloisters Museum (pictured above and below).  There were a fair amount of people around all day but I held up well until the way back, when halfway through the city, the energy clobbered me.

All at once, I was exhausted.  Bone tired.   And more than a little demoralized.  Even though my daily at home to do list is far more demanding on multiple levels.  Today, back in Northeast PA, I got hit again as I spent the afternoon trying to work my way through the mess left behind after moving out of our old house.  By the time I got home, I felt nauseous, jangly and very discouraged.

I am disappointed in myself for not handling things better on a personal level but I also acknowledge how difficult all of this can be.  Something I did not do back when I was trying to be as oblivious to all of this as everyone else apparently was!

Dealing with all of the energies and pressures of everyday life can be overwhelming and is sometimes particularly so for those of us who are sensitive by nature.  Some can be avoided and I, for one, intend to think long and hard about any future trips to NYC. 

PMH Atwater is one of the original researchers into Near-Death Experience and a pioneer in the field. She is a noted authority on NDE, after-effects of NDE, reality shifts and transformations of consciousness. She has experienced three NDEs herself and interviewed over 4000 NDE experiencers. Her work has been sited in the respected medical journal The Lancet.

Atwater has authored numerous books on spirituality and NDE including "Children of the Fifth World," "Near-Death Experiences: The Rest of the Story," "The Big Book of Near-Death Experiences," "Beyond the Indigo Children" and many more.  What makes "We Live Forever" different is that it is Atwater's own story.  In she describes her own Near-Death experiences and the life events which shaped her research and philosophy.

Surprisingly, "We Live Forever" is the first PMH Atwater book I have read even though I have read more than a few books on NDE.  How I missed Atwater's I cannot say, except that perhaps "We Live Forever" was the book I was meant to start out with.

Atwater is a respected research writer but she is also a gifted, sometimes poetic and highly quotable story teller.  Her accounts of her personal psychic experiences, her grand daughter's Myriam death, and the events of Atwater's own death are both convincing and moving.  What I loved most about "We Live Forever" however was the wealth of spiritual information it contained.

Drawing from decades of Near-Death research as well as the direct experience of three NDE's, Atwater provides highly compelling and detailed information about spiritual realms, the soul, opportunities for soul growth, Near-Death events and their aftermath and the reason why we are here.  

Of particular interest to me, and something I intend to explore through Atwater's book "Future Memory," are Atwater's ideas about time.  

I have never, I believe, conceived of time as linear and even as a child I suspected that people think of time as a straight shot only because our physical life follows that same apparent trajectory.  Cycles were everywhere in my observation and I conceived of time as cycling or possibly spiraling like an infinite slinky.  This model was not linear but did not include any sort of backwards or forward motion either - which made things like precognition (which I still see in terms of possibilities) very hard to explain.

The idea of simultaneous existence as portrayed in Jane Robert's Oversoul Seven always struck me as an interesting but impossible idea.  Reading Atwater's description of her third NDE and the strange synchronicity between that experience and the work of Stanford physicist William Tiller made me think about time and the possibility of layered dimensions in a different way.  And I am appreciative of books which generate that kind of thinking.

I am also very interested in exploring Atwater's new book "Children of the Fifth World: A Guide to the Coming Changes in Human Consciousness" which discusses the apparent leap in the intuitive, creative and abstract thinking in children, increases in autism spectrum disorder's and Cayce's fifth root race. 

Sadly my interview with PMH Atwater is no longer hosted on line. But you can check out her book: We Live Forever: PMH Atwater on Near-Death Experience.