Allowing the Ascension:

A Fascinating Journey through My Inner Lives

                                                                                                             By: Patrick Roseblade

Prelude to a New Dream

It was a brisk early January morning in the heart of South Lake Tahoe. The cloud-less winter sky, clear and majestic as ever, seemingly encompassed my friend and I as we navigated our way along our favorite snow-shrouded meadow path. It was then that our collective excitement reached a point of pure exhilaration. Lorna and I, however, had something other than frigid temps and icy surfaces in mind. We marveled instead on another adventure we were about to embark on, a meditative one, far from the chilly albeit beautiful environs of our sierra surroundings.

When we finally escaped the cold after arriving at Lorna’s nearby home, we and her dogs were relieved to have found a warm respite. The relief only lasted briefly for Sadie and Bella, as they were clearly uneasy about seeing me inside of the house, since they were unaccustomed to anything other than my playing the role of outside dog-walk partner. Judging by their visible anxiety, especially Bella’s, I was initially perceived and treated as an “intruder” in their interior domain.

Once everyone had calmed down a bit, Lorna and I got right to the point. I first noticed that she had the 2020 version of the Lazy Boy chair fully prepared for me in the center of her living room. This included an accompanying folded blanket, eye-cover, and, on a table next to my seat, a glass of water, some paper, and a pen. Her table, just feet away, was decorated with her laptop, printouts of what were surely a meditation outline and questions, a glass of water, and her cell phone to record the session.

We were both noticeably anxious as we took our respective seats. It was a sensation to be expected, I figured, since we were about to enter relatively uncharted worlds, aside from the three regression sessions we’d ventured on nearly 20 years back. Those were my initial experiences with the meditative process, and my positive, life-changing memory of them had what seemed forever been calling me to return.

“So you ready to start?” Lorna asked, opting to bite the bullet.

“Let’s do it!” I announced, quickly flipping the coin from anxiety to its opposite. I insisted that my excitement carry me through as I closed my eyes. I took in a deep breath, then released it, settling further into the chair that would support me for, approximately, the next two hours.

Whilst I came to rest, Lorna adjusted her position and reached over to start the recorder on her cell phone, being sure to position it just above my head on the puffy chair.

Three minutes into the relaxation or “induction” process, Lorna asked me to find a comfortable place, a happy place, and, preferably, the first place that appeared to me. Coming to my mind’s eye straight after her suggestion was an image of Kiva Beach, a well-known beach in South Lake Tahoe. I immediately found myself planted in the warm summer sand, while observing the natural setting from the first-person perspective. 

The view, I was surprised to find, wasn’t of the expected enormous lake. Instead, I found that I was angled more toward the Taylor Creek meadow, which is a broad, expansive marsh that opens up to a view of Mt. Tallac, the majestic peak, visual staple, and principal reference point in this popular basin of the Sierra Nevada mountains. While calmly gazing at the towering peak, I started to relax for what seemed a few minutes, giving extra attention to my surroundings: the sensation of the wind; the radiance of the sun; the rich scents that wafted through; and whatever else my senses could perceive.

At this point, I was calm and well-rooted in my “happy place.” In recognizing this, Lorna affirmed, “Now, I’d like you to look up into the sky and find a cloud.” 

Curiously, one was immediately apparent. 

“Can you find one?” She wondered.

“Yes, I found one.” I smiled, having forgotten that she couldn’t see what my mind’s eye was seeing.

“Okay, I’d like you to float up to that cloud. As you do, I want you to know that it will undoubtedly support your weight upon laying down into it.” Lorna assured me.

At that moment, I couldn’t help but feel twinges coming from my ego-mind. Its doubting ecos increased in intensity to such a point, as if to shout: “No! That’s not possible! We can’t float on a cloud!” 

I remembered what Lorna and I’d talked about days’ prior: whenever these naysaying thoughts and somatic jolts appear, just breathe in deeply so as to invite and eventually reach an even higher realm of connection, beyond the calls from the ego-mind. Luckily, I had this counsel in my inner ear, I heeded its words, and the doubts receded as they were relegated to the lower realm where they invariably reign supreme. 

A smile came to my face, as I realized that magic had, once again, done its job. For in my mind’s eye I was greeted by the fluffy, airy reality of the most cushy cloud you could ever conjure. It was, curiously, the same one I’d previously experienced in a few of my past regression sessions. Thus, per Lorna’s suggestion, I laid into it, going on to feel the calmest of vibrations. As they subtly pulsed through me, from toes to head, I could feel my smile grow, extending, at this point, off of my face. 

We hung out here for a couple of minutes, at least. I could sense that Lorna, too, used this time to enter deeper into a meditative space, matching the glorious one in which I now hovered. We couldn’t hang for too long, though, so it was soon time to journey forward.

“This giant leaf that you stand on can take you anywhere your soul would like you to go." Lorna continued. "And can transport you to any time period for you to find answers to the questions you want to know.” 

True to her recommendation, I instantly found myself on a giant leaf, feeling fully secure as I overlooked the entirety of Lake Tahoe. This view, however, wasn't from the lake's shoreline, or even from the top of Mt. Tallac, as might be expected. Instead, it was from no less than some 200 stories above the heights of the famous peak, yielding a gargantuan panorama of the Lake Tahoe region!

Lorna carefully continued. “So, as you gently float on the leaf, and you travel over the land, and over the hills, and over the valleys. You’ll be going to another time and another place that is the best time and place for your soul to show you and for you to look at.”

I now took an even deeper breath, an effortless one, as I followed her suggestion further. “Now, once the leaf finally comes to a stop, from there, it will start to descend ever so slowly toward the earth.”

As she’d calmly explained, I began to watch as the giant leaf made its subtle pause and subsequent descent from the heavens. And, ever so slowly, I reached closer and closer to the ground.

Allowing me to float down at my pace, I could sense Lorna then prepare for the last question before I entered into the setting of the past life, below. I anticipated what came next: finding myself in a new world, and at a different time.

As I was nearing the surface of the earth, she somehow intuited to ask: “So as you come down off of that leaf to plant your feet down on the ground…what is it that you see?”

Her tone was of excitement. After all, this was the long-awaited question, and, really, the most exhilarating of them all. In spite of the presence of a hint of doubt ricocheting through my mind, I opted to just go with what I was visually given. Taking a deep breath, while I settled into place, something Lorna had said came squarely to mind: “Just trust that what you see is what your soul is showing you.”

It was with this that I conjured the courage to disembark. As I bravely stepped off of the leaf and down to Earth, I knew that a new world beckoned. It would be a world at a very different time and in a completely different place from what I was used to.

Chapter 1

A Lengthy Life-Digression

Ever since I was young, I'd felt that being “connected” was something of utmost importance. I had the habit of zone out during the course of my day, especially when daily stressors got to be too much. It wasn’t only a means to cool my mood, since I found that it was also in these moments of alignment that I would revel and bask in the certainty that I was something beyond my habitual, everyday perception.

As a seven year-old, for example, I can recall standing in front of the bathroom mirror, staring deeply into my eyes for long minutes of contemplation. With a fixated, blurred gaze into my reflection, eventually an onset feeling of being entranced would creep in, after which I’d invariably ask myself: "Who am I?" As you might expect, to answer such a simple yet profound query was neither immediate nor easy. 

Once I’d allow my inner or higher self to respond, the resulting insight was subtle and could always be summed up succinctly: “That’s not me.” Each time I posed the question: “Am I (blank)?”, the same truth would appear in the form of an answer: “That’s not me.” 

“Am I Patrick?”    --->   “That’s not me.”

“Am I a kid?”  --->   “That’s not me.”

“Am I seven years old?”  --->   “That’s not me.”

“Am I shy?”  --->   “That’s not me.”

Etc.

As I think back, what a wonderful discernment to make as a young person. Recognizing that the labels with which I’d normally identified myself, as they related to my age, personality, physical characteristics, and more, didn’t carry any weight when held up to the deeper truth of who I was at my core. Like peeling the layers of an onion, it was by exclusion that I’d determine that I wasn't my face, my hands, my legs, or any other part of my body or mind. Neither my material surroundings nor the physical machinery in which I was embodied could define me. 

And, since I’d do this routinely, often when having a frustrated, emotional moment (like most pre-adolescent and adolescent kids do), I always found this mirror exercise to be relaxing, expansive, and freeing. Flirting with this betwixt and between state whilst being “fully awake” provided me a quick opening into a deeper realm within and thus a much clearer view of myself, beyond the limitations of my physical and mental experience and circumstance.

In addition to practicing this as a child, I also had a general habit of spacing out, even at times when I was expected to be focused the most. As all of us know, in school there’s an assumption that children should give undivided attention to their teachers, their classmates, and the activity being engaged in at any moment. Normally a warning or, worse yet, a penalty is issued if you’re caught being “off task.” Or, as was often the concern in my case, my continual aloofness and quietness was actually cover for my "spacing out," which was sometimes rewarded with the wrong kind of attention by my teachers and, since it was done repeatedly, it even resulted in a reputation of sorts.

Outside of school, where disciplinary measures weren’t so rigid, my preferred form of spacing out was in scenarios requiring my focus to be one-pointed. This, for example, occurred during hikes through the forest, on bike rides along mountain trails, or while listening to the lake’s soothing waves at the beach. I'd also space out during more formalized physical activity, too, be it while up skiing on the mountain or playing organized sports, like soccer, baseball, basketball, or anything else that involved movement and concentration.

When engaged in these activities, a delightful sensation would always arise in me that was unforgettable. A distinct feeling of being outside of my body would emerge, as if I were floating in a space so expansive that my concept of what and who I considered myself to be would fall away. Similar in effect to the mirror exercise, this subsequent new sensation of self started from the central vertical axis of my body and seemingly stretched out beyond in a spherical radius, like a giant bubble of energetic awareness.

Being in such a limitless, marvelous realm of consciousness is usually described as "being in trance,” "being grounded in one’s soul," or, even more popularly, “being in the zone.” From here, I no longer identified with my body, the regular world, or much of anything; to do so, would only be to give into the ego-mind’s need to identify, label, judge, and look for relevance in honor of its always self-interested agenda. From this glorious space, any real ego-noise was completely off my radar, since my body and mind, as well as my experience of solely being human neither mattered nor played a prominent role. Although I do have recollections of observing these aspects of me and being able to identify them as such, their role and importance were fully subordinated.

In this void of open space, my awareness was wonderfully grounded in a higher aspect of me. This sensation was so fulfilling and gratifying that I recall sensing that even my soul, in these moments, relished having “pulled me” from my normal ego-aware state. Perhaps my soul wanted to provide me with this enjoyable connection to my spiritual nature and origins so as to show me that there did exist a reality and potential beyond who at that time I knew myself to be, as that limited, constrained physical and ego-derived person.

Arrival of My Spiritual Allies

Speaking of the possibility of the non-physical, its enticing potential, and my growing awareness of it, when I was seven, I met people who would have a profound impact on my life. Dianne and Willie Takahashi were a wonderful couple from Lake Tahoe who were the mother and father of my twin sister's best friend, Christina-Mai. Their family lived a block away from our family, and, for the five or so years they lived nearby, I fondly recall the time we’d spend together. Whether it was local excursions to the beach, trips to the movie theater, or memorable adventures up skiing, our time shared with the Takahashis was always a lot of fun. So, too, were those out-of-town journeys we’d sometimes make to attend plays, visit museums, and watch baseball games. 

To add to this, my sister and I would make frequent visits to the Takahashi home, which would usually happen after school or on snow-days. Though I didn't realize it at the time, I can now clearly reflect back on how the Takahashi home always offered an environment that felt safe, comfortable, and nurturing. So much so that I, in spite of having been an extremely quiet kid who'd shy away from most social interactions, had a natural tendency to want to be over there. As follows, you could say that their home was so welcoming that it was my soul that called for me to be there, and I, much of the time, would heed its higher nudge.

Willie and Dianne were themselves loving and up-beat people, so in this way it made sense that their home reflected their warm individual dispositions. Many years later, during one of Dianne’s massage-therapy sessions, Dianne admitted to me that she and Willie would do energy work in and around their home on a daily-basis. I was amazed to learn that this “work” included an early-morning (and throughout the day, as needed) running of divine flow, first, through themselves and, then, through each room in the entire house. Their intention was that they and their home would be, in her words, "filled with pure, positive energy" for the day to come. She’d “visualize the entire home inside a bubble of divine love and protection”: strong, brilliant, vibrant, and soothing in nature. Disclosing even more about her long-held secret, Dianne added that the “good energy” always began with her, Willie, and, over time, their daughter, Christina-Mai. The resulting “vibrant feel” of the home, thereafter, only made sense given the household’s intentionally-set high vibration, and the time, attention, and intention they’d invest to clear up the energetic space of their dwelling. 

Thanks chiefly to Dianne’s later revelations, looking back at that early memory showed me that as a child I’d always been intuitive or, at the very least, been sensitive enough to sense the energy in spaces and places I’d find myself in, as well as sensing the energy of people. If the aforementioned wasn’t enough, it was the extensive massage-therapy sessions that Dianne and I had from 2004-2008 that unquestionably hit home for me that the energetic realm was a very real thing. During these sessions, she, almost exclusively, performed cranial-sacral massage on me. In short, cranial-sacral massage is the facilitating or running of divine energy through the energy centers of the receiver’s body in order to allow the energy to do whatever it needs to do or whatever it’s allowed to do by the receiver. Ideally, the aim is for the receiver to allow the energy flow to help release their outdated traumas, ideas, thoughts, memories, and experiences so as to balance, heal, and thrive. In addition to the incredible physical impacts of this type of energy therapy, which includes overall muscle- and body-tension easing and releasing, the technique, as mentioned above, also aims to venture to the source as it targets the emotional stresses we store in our bodies. 

Given that Dianne and I were very familiar and comfortable with one another, due to our seemingly forever close relationship, there were few limits as to what we talked about during our numerous sessions. This provided the space for us to openly discuss issues, insights, and epiphanies as they arose during the session, which was an invaluable benefit that allowed me to more readily release both emotional and physical trauma from my body. In fact, the level of healing I experienced with Dianne’s expertise and counsel during those four years was so profound that it still shocks me today as I look back at its impactful effect on my life. 

Not only did I release pain and stress from my body, by working to and through the emotional root of them, I did so with Dianne only physically touching certain areas of my head and chakras. Aside from this limited contact, it was Dianne’s overall awareness of my energy field, as well as her flowing of energy that was the active ingredient in facilitating the healing. From there, it was up to me to allow the thoughts, memories, and emotions to be present, to be processed, and to eventually be released. This therapy wasn’t all low-impact, however. As I recall, it was memorable the amount of “movement” that I would go through while receiving this ethereal flow. At times, my body would subtly twerk or twitch, showing me that the energy flow was working on a certain area. At other times, my body responses were more abrupt, proof to me that the concentration of emotions or thoughts was much more significant and, thus, the somatic release more profound. Still at other moments, the impact of the non-physical flow would yield notable physical responses that would not only surprise me as the receiver, but would also shock Dianne as the facilitator. With arms randomly flailing, legs haphazardly kicking, and my spine definitively cracking, these occasions, albeit rare, are forever memorable markers of the sessions’ success.

Through my participation in this therapy, I knew with certainty that the energetic realm was a very real thing and, I was convinced, it was even more real and powerful than the influence of the physical body. Moreover, through my experiences, I came to understand the nonphysical as being the actual source of life, whose invisible ingredients hold more sway than the body’s; it’s here that life's relationships, situations, and opportunities manifest, however known or unbeknownst to us, from the creative realm of the Divine into our material reality. 

All along these therapy sessions, Dianne would tell me how I, too, could develop the ability to flow energy so as to personally nurture and heal myself. “Actually,” she’d often say, “it’s something that you already know how to do; it’s more about relearning it. But, it will only come about through trust, belief, and constancy in practicing and using it.” I, being my own worst critic, wasn’t so sure I could do it, despite Dianne’s unwavering encouragement. Nevertheless, at bottom, it was safe to say that a seed had been planted underneath my road to reclaiming my personal power and evolving my intuitive and energetic healing abilities.

Buttressing this mostly unconscious, growing belief in me, was the influence of Lorna, my aforementioned dear friend. I met Lorna in 1994 at Passaretti's Italian Restaurant, where she and I both worked. Ever since that time, our friendship has flourished. In addition to working together and being involved in each other’s life, we frequently found time to talk about things that many people don't usually discuss. Included in these topics were the reality of energy, spirits, ghosts, and "miracles," as well as the importance of your mood, attitude, and intention when it came to manifesting your life and its situations. When it came down to it, our talks were soulful and entertaining and just being around Lorna was always fun and satisfying. 

She’d often tell me of the work she was focused on outside of the restaurant. This included her practicing of meditation, astral traveling, and energy-healing techniques in various guises. In fact, as well as her personal practice, she’s participated with a highly-reputable meditation group in Oregon since the 1980s. With this group, she and her peers get together twice a year in Oregon (and remotely, nearly daily in their meditations) to explore everything from connecting to the Divine, to running and balancing energy in themselves. From doing grid-work around the earth, to astral traveling elsewhere, among other intriguing ventures, Lorna admits that many of the meditations are so “out there” that they’re difficult for her to recall even after having participated in them for many hours on a spirit/soul level. She and her cohorts are so “out there,” in fact, that once they’re back in their physical bodies, any recollection of their activities outside of the body is usually unclear or hazy, at best. (It should be said that her meditation group is so well respected in terms of the high-level healing work they do that the group has and continues to attract large amounts of people from all over the world to their classes and seminars in Oregon.)

For the first five years of knowing Lorna, I’d primarily only hear about her experiences with meditation and the incredible adventures she and her cohorts would go on. Then, in 1998, she offered the opportunity for me to directly experience some of what she regularly explores in the ethereal realm. This took the form of an invitation to channel for me in the comforts of her Tahoe home. It will forever be a day that I’ll simply never forget.

Bright and early one wintry morning, I parked amongst the high banks of snow outside of Lorna’s house. As I gathered some things from my car, I felt my nerves getting the absolute best of me, since a completely new and uncommon experience was beckoning from inside of her house.

Month’s before, Lorna had lent me a cassette tape of Abraham-Hicks. This recording spoke of the immense power that each of us have in creating our reality. I’ll never forget my first impressions of that tape. It was what I couldn’t help but term as the “funny, strange” voice of Esther Hicks, the spirit-channel whose unconventional voice could be heard channeling whilst answering questions asked by her husband, Jerry Hicks. Esther’s rhythm and tone were so shocking to me at that time that they were seemingly etched forever in my mind, and now ringing loudly as I climbed the stairs up to the second-story front door of my friend’s house.

“Hi! Come on in…” Lorna said, excitedly greeting me at the door.

Once we were both seated, and everything was in place inside her spacious living room, I sensed the show was about to begin. Thus, I took a deep breath, while Lorna did the same plus some. As she did, I observed her deep, closed-eyed breaths graduate to larger, more drawn-out ones. 

I’ve found it impossible to erase the memory of what came next. It’s a moment I’ll never forget, and an event that can be described as Lorna’s body taking on the visible embodiment of something other than Lorna. This other entity now having assumed its position in her body and aura, Lorna’s eyes promptly flashed opened, almost as if having just been startled awake. I sensed that Lorna as I knew her, was no longer the driver of her corporal vehicle, for some other, noticeably ethereal presence had clearly incarnated. 

“Welcome...” came the long-voiced, unrecognizable greeting.

I smiled, not really sure of how to respond, since the situation was so novel. The surreality of it all now, needless to say, made me even more nervous than before.

Lorna, or better yet the spirit in Lorna, began to giggle, as I continued to stare in eerie amazement.

“Don’t worry." The voice wisely and eloquently announced. "We’re only here because Lorna thought it right to introduce you to what it is that she busies herself with."

I nodded in response, not really knowing how else to act.

After a pause, the spirit continued. “So, what would you like to know? We are more than willing and ready to provide anything you’d like to explore.”

I was floored! In just two statements, I could miraculously feel my nerves shift from anxiety and fear to a sense of excitement, whilst I strived fiercely to consider the list of questions I’d mentally recorded specifically for the occasion. Once my recollection returned, we went on to discuss a whole variety of topics. All along, however, I couldn’t believe how the spirit in Lorna was able to so clearly and accurately “see” into me, my thoughts and habits, as well as the internal and external circumstances of my life. The spirit knew of every relationship that had air-time in me, the exact nature and intricacies of them, and the best and highest ways to navigate them and live forth. The spirit entity knew about every aspect of my life, including my past events, my current ventures, my career choice and education, and beyond.

Along with its clarity of sight and sense, there was something else I couldn't help but notice in terms of the feeling in the room. It seemed that this entity operating in Lorna somehow wasn’t singular, since its presence was much more amplified and powerful than the workings of just one spirit, as I referred to it above. I was certain, in spite of my ego-mind analyzing to the contrary, that the spirit entity had to have actually been many spirits, somehow, some way fused into one. I immediately thought back to the Abraham-Hicks’ tape and the Hicks’ dialogue about who Abraham was. Esther Hicks’ channeled reply to this query was that “Abraham” wasn’t one entity but a whole council of spirit-entities united into one whole. I was so amazed that a living example of multiple entities was now sitting right before me, embodied in my friend Lorna. 

We went on to spend the better part of ninety minutes enraptured in dialogue with few limits to our varied, albeit mostly spiritually-oriented, discussions. I was convinced of the efficacy and veracity of the channeling, since I knew that Lorna, in spite of her awareness of many aspects of my life, given our close history, couldn't have known my personal information to the level that was reached that day. And, to top it off, to be able to communicate it back to me either upon response to my inquiry or, at times, without being required to even pose a question. Needless to say, I found this introduction to channeling a hugely important experience in my road forward. I left Lorna’s house that day, extremely content and giddy knowing that I’d just witnessed something authentic and profound from the realm beyond. However, it wasn’t only that, it was the fact that I now had a way to access the world of the unknown via another person, and, potentially, as the entities in Lorna encouraged, even accessing it within myself.

Thanks to many ethereal experiences with Lorna, Dianne, and others, I’d mostly been convinced of the reality of the energetic world. Since I’d gained a peek into this realm primarily through the observation of energy practitioners, be them healers, channels, and/or therapists, I knew it was now time for me to personally delve deeper, into a place that was purported to be the originating point of all manifestations, the sacred space where all healing and balancing occurs.