Appearance and Composition of the Council
The word Elder is considered appropriate by many clients because the advanced beings who sit on their councils are visualized as elderly men. They are frequently depicted as having bald heads, or white hair and perhaps beards. In questioning people about the gender of these beings, I have come to some conclusions. The high predominance of older males seen on the councils is a cultural stereotype. Wisdom is associated with age and men are seen more often than women because of our long history of male dominance in positions of authority.
There are two factors that create these stereotypical images: One, what is projected to you from the council is intended to impact your own experiences and conceptions as a soul from Earth. Two, memory recall in regression involves an overlaying process. While subjects relive their experiences in front of the council in a pure soul state, they are also communicating to me from their current body with all the cultural influences which exist in life today.
We are under the same influences as discarnates when we project a set of facial features from a past life to members of our spirit group. This reflects both our character and mood at the moment, as well as creating a form of instant recognition to souls who might not have seen us in a while. I am certain that regression therapists who perform my sort of work in future years will find as many women as men on these councils. Bear in mind that when I review a council meeting, it is usually between former lives in past centuries. I always take timelines into consideration when evaluating the reality of a spirit world scene in the mind of a client.
Having made this statement about gender bias, I must add that most of my advanced clients, along with large numbers of intermediate souls, see their councils as androgynous. An Elder may appear as sexless or be of mixed gender, flashing both male and female images to the soul. Nevertheless, since almost all my clients either cannot or will not give me the names of their council members, they tend to call them he rather than she, despite a genderless appearance. Spirit guides, on the other hand, are represented equally as male and female between clients.
Returning to figure 8, the reader will notice that the position of the council table (A) is toward the back of the rotunda. The soul (B) stands directly in the center of the room. Most of my clients say, “We stand out of respect.” I’m not sure they have a choice. I have had more advanced souls actually sit at one end of the table with their council, but this is quite uncommon and considered presumptuous by the average soul. When I am told that there is no table and the Elders wish my client to join them informally, I know I am working with a highly developed soul who is approaching guide status.
The very young soul, who has been to Earth less than five times, sees their council differently than all my other subjects, as the following quote illustrates:
There are four of us who play a lot. We do silly things when our teacher, Minari, is not around. My friends and I hold hands when it is time to be taken to see two important people. We go to a place which has bright colors everywhere. There is a man and woman sitting in two high-backed chairs with big smiles on their faces. They have just finished with a small group of kids who wave at us on their way out.
This couple are in their early thirties, I would guess. They could be our parents. They are loving and kind and beckon us forward. They just ask a few questions on how we are getting along and what we would like to do in our next life. We are told to pay close attention to everything Minari tells us. It’s like Christmas in a department store with two Santas.
The fact that more than one soul would appear before a council meeting is a dead giveaway that my subject is still considered a “child soul.” I learned that this individual had only been to Earth once before his current life. In my experience, somewhere between the second and fifth life this sort of council scene is altered. One client who had just made such a transition exclaimed:
Oh, how things have changed! This meeting is more formal than last time. I am a little anxious. There is a long table and I am being asked by three older people to describe my progress to them. It’s similar to having just finished an exam and now it’s time to find out how you scored.
The typical client sees between three to seven members on their council. An advanced soul might have from seven to twelve Elders. This is not a hard and fast rule by any means. However, as souls develop and become more complex they appear to require more specialists on their panels. I do find that less- developed souls are frequently unable to differentiate between individual council members, except for their chairperson and perhaps one other Elder at the table. These two Elders seem to be most engaged with the case while those Elders who are not directly questioning the soul are rather hazy in the background.
It strikes me that there is some sort of protocol connected with council seating arrangements. The members arrange themselves in a row with the less-active participants located at the ends of the table. Almost always, there is a chairperson seated at the center, directly in front of the soul. This Elder is the primary questioner and may also be referred to as a director or moderator. The number of council members who attend these meetings can change each time we see them, depending upon the circumstances of the life just lived and the one to come. Our chairperson, and perhaps one or two other Elders, are normally present over great spans of time between many lives. Another curious aspect of this procedure to me is that members of the same soul group usually go before different councils. I suppose this is due to the different character aspects of each soul and their state of development. My clients are unable to explain why this is so.
When I am told by a client that a member of their council has just reappeared on the panel after an absence involving a number of lives, or if a new member has appeared, I take notice. A male client told me:
After my last life I saw a new female member on my council. She was not unkind, but gently critical of my continued insensitivity to women in my past lives. She is here to help me develop a plan to overcome my tendency to shut women out of my life. This is hindering my development.
Apparently, specialists come into our panels at certain times to lend their expertise if we continue to fall into the same ruts. While facing three Elders a subject remarked:
Only the director in the center speaks to me. The Elder on my left emanates warm, benevolent energy toward me while the one on the right sends me serenity. It is as if I needed tranquillity at this moment because we are talking about my coping with angry emotions in life.
Another client of mine explained what had been happening at her recent council meetings in this way:
After many of my recent lives, my council has changed from three members to four, then back to three, then four. I noticed this fourth member appears to be a bright silver color while the others have deep hues of violet. I call him my counselor for confidence. Invariably, when I see him sitting on my panel I know I am going to get a lecture on my lack of confidence. He tells me I’m a reticent soul, afraid to push myself with others even when I know I’m right. I tell him how fearful I am on Earth and he gently explains that when I extend myself I become greatly loved and appreciated. I am afraid of confrontation and lives of adversity. He says, “We never give you more than you can handle; keep extending yourself, you have much to offer.”
This subject chose to be a woman of small stature and ordinary features in her current life, rather than accepting a tempting offer of another body choice as a dazzling beauty. She told me there was the expectation that this silver counselor of confidence would be happy with this added challenge, along with her also accepting a life with parents who belittled and devalued her while she was growing up. I asked this client what single statement from the silver council member was most sustaining to her over the last few centuries. She replied, “That which you gain from each difficult life, you gain for all eternity.”
Where a personal guide will review how we prioritized our objectives and analyze each step after a life, our Elders ask more overview-type questions. The council just doesn’t inquire into our most immediate past life. Lines of questioning follow across the sum of all our lives and cover the larger picture of our progress toward self-fulfillment. The Elders wish to explore if we are developing to our potential. I have come to believe that the committee is carefully balanced by certain Elders whose character and background have some sort of common ground with the souls who come before them. Sometimes I see a personal affinity between an Elder and one of my clients. Individual Elders seem to identify with a soul’s character, strengths and weaknesses, interests and purposes.
Despite what I have just said, I must add that the vast majority of people in hypnosis do not feel really close to the Elders on their councils. They have reverence and veneration for them but not the deep affection they display toward their spiritual guides. This is why the following case is so exceptional.
Case 38
Dr. N: Do you see any new faces on your council since the last time you went before them?
S: (with a sudden gasp, then a deep sigh of pleasure) AT LAST! Rendar has come back. Oh, am I glad to see him again.
Dr. N: Who is Rendar?
Note: Subject is shaking and does not respond.
Dr. N: Now, take another deep breath and relax for me so together we can discover what is going on. Where is Rendar sitting?
S: To the left of center at the table. (still musing) It’s been so long . . . Dr. N: How many Earth years have passed since you last saw Rendar? S: (tearfully, after a long pause) Some . . . 3,000 years . . .
Dr. N: This must represent a multitude of lives for you—why has Rendar been away so long?
S: (still tearful, but regaining composure) You don’t understand the significance of his coming back on my council. Rendar is very old and wise. . . he is so . . . peaceful . . . he was with me before my Earth cycles (past lives) had numbered so many. Rendar told me I was showing great promise and developing rapidly— I was receiving assignments of importance—and then . . . (subject stops, choking up again)
Dr. N: (softly) You are doing fine. Please go on and tell me what happened to you.
S: (after another long pause) I . . . fell from grace. I fell into the traps that so many of us do here. I grew too confident with my power. Assuming positions of authority over others was fun. It didn’t matter what kind of body I had. I became self-indulgent and selfish in life after life. Rendar warned me about slowing down my progress and I made promises to him I did not keep. So many lives . . . wasted . . . I squandered away opportunities. . . and corrupted my knowledge and power.
Dr. N: Well, obviously you have turned things around recently or Rendar would not be here?
S: I have been working so hard to improve in the last 500 years. To care about others—to engage in service to others—to feel compassion—and now my reward. Rendar is BACK! (subject begins to shake violently and cannot talk)
Dr. N: (after a break where I do my best to compose this client) What does Rendar first say to you at the moment you see him after his long absence?
S: He gives me a warm smile and says, “It’s good to be working with you again.”
Dr. N: Just like that? That’s it?
S: Nothing else is necessary. I feel the power of his great mind and know that once again he has confidence in my future.
Dr. N: What do you say to him?
S: I vow not to slip back again.
Rendar’s color was reported as a phosphorescent violet robe. The garment worn by both guides and council members is almost always a robe, sometimes described as a tunic. Spirits don’t need clothes any more than they require buildings as places to live in the spirit world. As with so many other images people have of their spiritual life, this too is metaphoric. As pure energy, Elders have deep shades of purple but the colors of their robes may be different. The symbolism of wearing robes confers dignity, honor and a sense of history in the minds of people who report on them. People associate robes with the fields of law, academics and theology in human society.
There are many clues a therapist can gain from questioning hypnosis subjects about the colors of the robes worn by each Elder on their council. These robes appear for the edification of souls from Earth. When I began to gather information about the variety of robe colors, I assumed that these differences conferred some sort of status or rank to an Elder in the minds of people. During my early investigations into this aspect of the spirit world, I asked questions based upon my faulty assumptions about authority. I found the garments worn by these beings, their seating positions at the table, and the degree of participation by each council member was not hierarchical.
White and purple are the most common robe colors seen by my clients. Since they are at opposite ends of the color spectrum this may seem incongruous. However, as case 31 explained, white is receptive energy to beginners while it is also a color of transference or intervention by advanced senders of thought. The white energy of younger souls denotes a process of continual self-cleansing and renewal. For the more advanced, it signifies purity and clarity. The reason white robes are seen so frequently on council members—and with guides at the gateway to the spirit world—is that here white represents the transmission of knowledge and wisdom. White energy robes, or white as a halo aura on an enlightened being, signifies harmonizing and aligning thought with universal energy.
Purple is the color of wisdom and deep understanding. Council members with purple and violet robes reflect their ability to govern the affairs of the souls who come before them with benevolence and love born out of vast experience. These energy colors reflected on an Elder’s robe have an idealistic quality of perfection bestowed upon the wearer by my clients. Black robes are never seen, but once in a while an apprehensive subject will call the Elders “judges” when they initially enter the council chamber. Once inside, though, no soul visualizes this meeting space as a courtroom.
Hoods, four-square hats and skull caps, all having an antiquarian flavor, may be seen on the Elders. Hoods are usually thrown back from the head, which is less ominous to the viewer. These visualizations remind me of religious orders, such as the Dominicans, who wear hoods with white robes.
These earthly influences of robes and tunics made out of cloth go back a long way in our history. The garments and other accoutrements reported by my subjects on Elders are trappings which engender respect and reverence to wise beings who, like oracles, interpret events in a soul’s existence. The next case is a level I soul who has just entered the council chamber after his last life ended in 1937.
Case 39
Dr. N: How many Elders do you have on your council?
S: I prefer to call them the Wise Ones. There are six sitting at the table.
Dr. N: Explain to me what each Wise One is wearing and give me your impressions of what you see.
S: (pause) Well, the one in the center is wearing a purple robe and the others are white mixed with purple . . . ah . . . except the one on the far right . . . she is mostly white with a touch of yellow. She is more animated toward me than the others.
Dr. N: What do all these colors mean to you?
S: It kind of depends upon the life I have just lived. The Wise One in white on the right wants me to see things more clearly. The yellow-robed person . . . has something to do with my giving and receiving support . . . but I don’t know what that has to do with me right now. I remember someone else was in her place two lives ago who wore a crimson robe. That was when I returned home (to the spirit world) after being physically crippled.
Dr. N: What did you think of when you saw her red robe two lives ago?
S: It’s physical—a body-oriented color. The crimson One dealt with karmic influences involving that body. I was really worn down and angry after that life. There was a Wise One wearing green then, too, which I don’t see now.
Dr. N: Why green?
S: They are skilled at healing . . . mental and physical.
Dr. N: And do you usually see all these colors in the robes worn by the Wise Ones?
S: As a matter of fact, no. Mostly, I see them all wearing about the same purple color tones. This time I’m supposed to be getting some special messages.
Dr. N: Let’s talk about the purple-robed being in the middle. Do you think this is someone important?
S: (laughs at me) Hey, they are all important!
Dr. N: Okay, someone more significant to you than the others.
S: Yeah, he’s the leader. He sort of directs things.
Dr. N: Why is that, do you think?
S: Because the others seem to defer to him. He conducts things. Mostly, the others seem to speak through him.
Dr. N: Do you know his name?
S: (laughs) No way! We don’t circulate in the same social circle around here.
Dr. N: How does the meeting open for you?
S: The director says to me, “Welcome, we are glad to have you with us again.”
Dr. N: What do you say?
S: “Thank you”—but I’m thinking, “I hope this goes all right.”
Dr. N: What kind of thoughts do you pick up then from the chairman who seems to be running things?
S: He doesn’t want me to feel the Wise Ones are so superior that I can’t talk to them. This meeting is for me. Then he says, “How do you feel about your progress since we saw you last? Did you learn anything new we can talk about?” (pause) This is the way these meetings open. They want to hear what I have to say.
Dr. N: Do you feel more relaxed now?
S: Yeah.
Dr. N: Give me an idea of how things proceed from here?
S: (pause) We start with what I did right. I had a successful company which employed many people in my past life. I’m turning this over in my mind. I want to make a good impression by telling them about my charity contributions—you know, my good acts. (pause) Then things drift into the way I ran my company . . . my inability to avoid conflicts—disagreements and anger with my employees. (subject grows agitated ) It’s so frustrating . . . and I’m working on this . . . but then . . . (stops)
Dr. N: Please go on. Does your guide assist you in any way with this?
S: My guide Joaquin speaks from behind me. He sums up the main parts of my life and my objectives to contribute to society by employing people during the Depression.
Dr. N: Sounds good to me. Are you happy with the manner in which Joaquin is presenting you to the Wise Ones?
S: Well, yes. He states what I wanted to do and then what actually happened. His tone is even. Joaquin does not defend or praise me—he simply relates my participation in the events during a bad time in America.
Dr. N: Do you think of Joaquin as your defense attorney?
S: (abruptly) No, that’s not the way things are here.
Dr. N: Is Joaquin objective in his summation of your life?
S: Yeah, but we’ve hardly started. I’m forming my thoughts about how well I provided for my family but this kind of gets mixed up with my professional life . . . I can’t get how I treated my employees out of my mind. This really bothers me. Joaquin is quiet now—he doesn’t want to interfere with my thoughts.
Dr. N: Then let’s stay focused with the thoughts between you and your council of Wise Ones. Please continue.
S: I’m trying to anticipate their questions. I know I enjoyed accumulating material possessions in my life. They want me to tell them why and I say that it made me feel valuable as a person, but I stepped on people. Then they bring up similar actions on my part from former lives . . . and if I feel I am doing better.
Dr. N: Do you think their thought probes about your past are jeopardizing the summary of your current life in some way?
S: No, there is no harsh edge to their questions. I’m okay with this but now my mind is racing and I think of my charity work again as something I should stress . . . then . . . (stops)
Dr. N: (encouraging) You are doing just fine with this, tell me what happens next.
S: The Wise One in the center . . . his powerful mind envelops me.
Dr. N: What does he communicate to you exactly?
S: (slowly) This is what I hear in my mind: “Emmanual, we are not here to judge you, punish you, or to override your thoughts. We want you to look at yourself through our eyes, if you can. That means to forgive yourself. This is the most challenging aspect of your time with us because it is our desire that you accept yourself for who you are with the same unconditional love we have for you. We are here to support you in your work on Earth.
Toward that end, we would remind you of the bus stop incident.”
Dr. N: The bus stop incident—what does that mean?
S: (pause) I was confused myself when he said it. I look back at Joaquin for assistance.
Dr. N: Explain what happens then, Emmanual.
S: The Wise One in the center . . . his thoughts come to me once more: “You do not remember this incident? The woman who you helped one day while she was sitting at the bus stop?” I said, “No, I don’t.” Then, they wait for my memories to kick in and someone sends a picture into my mind. I’m beginning to see . . . there was a woman once . . . I was walking toward my office with my briefcase. I was in a hurry. Then I heard this woman crying softly to my left. She was sitting at a bus stop next to the sidewalk. It was during the Depression, people were desperate. I stopped. Then on an impulse, I sat down next to her and put my arm around her, trying to comfort her. This was a very unnatural thing for me to do. (pause) My God, is this what they are interested in? I was with this woman for only a few minutes before the bus came. I never saw her again.
Dr. N: How do you feel now about the Wise One bringing up this incident during your hearing?
S: It’s so crazy! An entire lifetime of giving money to charity and they are interested in this! I gave this woman no money, we only talked . . .
As my client and I evaluated this meeting I reminded him why I thought the smiling female council member on the far right wore a robe of yellow. This might be to acknowledge his spontaneous act of support to a stranger at the bus stop. Less developed souls standing in front of their councils often have entanglements of memory as they purge themselves. While they are self- absorbed, they may miss what is important. Emmanual felt sorry for the woman at the bus stop. Although he was in a hurry to get to his office, he sat down next to her. His brief, compassionate gesture did not last long. Yet in those moments, I learned that Emmanual reached her pain, looked into her eyes, and told her she was going to make it through her troubles because he was confident she could be strong. She stopped crying and when her bus came she stood up and told him she would be all right. Then he hurried off and forgot this brief act of kindness for the rest of his life.
The bus stop incident in this case appears to be a small thing when stacked up against a lifetime of other acts. It was not a simple act to the council. As we move through life, there are many gestures between people that are uplifting. They may be so momentary that we are not conscious of them at the time. In the spirit world nothing is insignificant. No act goes unrecorded.
There are no hard and fast rules about the meaning behind every color the Elders might choose to show the souls who come before them. For instance, the red robe worn by the council member in the last case related to the need of Emmanual to sustain the passion for life within a broken host body in a former life. In the next section I will explain the meaning behind other symbols worn by council members. A red robe, or red stone on a medallion or ring displayed by an Elder, can have several meanings depending on the setting. Red is the color of passion and intensity and Emmanual saw a crimson robe after one of his lives with physical disabilities. However, in another case an Elder could display a ruby medallion to denote the need for a soul to have a greater passion for truth than was shown in a former life. The subtle variations of color translation at council meetings are unique to every soul’s own perceptions. As one of my subjects said:
The wearing apparel of my council shows their mastery over a certain discipline. The colors they display in different forms also relate to the topic under discussion. These represent gifts of awareness to me as I face my council. No Elder is greater than the other because each is an aspect of ultimate perfection.
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