My Past Life in Hollywood

I don't even really know where to start with this story. Let me just say from the outset that you must have a completely open mind when you're reading this blog. The discovery I have made over the past few weeks is incredibly amazing, but extremely weird, bizarre and abnormal. I questioned my sanity at several points throughout this whole journey and I understand if you, the reader, conclude that I am completely out of my mind. Although my discovery is kind of cool (to a degree) I would have preferred NOT to have made such a discovery, mainly because a) it makes me look weird and b) it poses a serious threat to my masculinity. In fact, let me just say right now that - in this lifetime - I am a MAN named Matt Burns. I am completely heterosexual. I LOVE women and all of their body parts. Why am I telling you this? Well, you'll understand in just a moment.

The roots to this particular story can be traced back to January 2010 when I visited a medium named Liam Galvin (read about this visit HERE). Among other things, Galvin informed me that I had a past life in California, though he didn't elaborate on it at the time because he was mostly concentrating on identifying my various spirit guides. However, several months after my reading with Galvin, I started to really wonder who I may have been in California. Was it a recent life? Was I in Hollywood? Or was I a Native American? Mexican? Somebody like that?


Liam Galvin Re: California Life



A month ago, I finally came to the point where I thought I should - once and for all - figure out who I actually was during the California life. So I got in touch with a regression therapist named Donna Ciaciarella who is a rare kind of medium. She essentially possesses the ability to envision people's past lives and then she relates what she sees to her clients on an audiotape.

When Donna regressed me, her "vision" was something totally different from what I expected; instead of going to my California life, Donna was taken to another life I had in Poland during WWII (read the whole story HERE). I was supposedly a non-Jewish man with a family of nine to feed, and I essentially found myself in a situation where I had to compromise my morals in order to provide for my family. I was a machine operator hired by the Nazis to clear land and dig holes that were supposedly going to function as "anti-aircraft trenches". But it turned out that I was digging mass graves where hundreds of Polish intellectuals were to be buried. These intellectuals were killed as part of a Nazi campaign called the "AB Action", which was an attempt to exterminate all members of the Polish intelligentsia who were viewed as a threat to the Nazi agenda. Although I knew complying with the Nazis was very wrong, I still participated in their evil, because I feared that I would be killed and my family would starve.

Needless to say, I didn't expect Donna to relate this kind of traumatic past-life experience to me. I assumed she would go to the California life, though I suppose - at the time - it was probably more in my highest and best interest to learn about the Polish experience. Although I was grateful Donna had helped me come to terms with the trauma, I ended my regression session with her feeling confused. According to Donna, I was in Poland during WWII and lived for about thirty years afterward, which means I died in the late 1960s or early 1970s. This meant that - if I actually had a life in California - it probably wouldn't have taken place in Hollywood. After all, Hollywood is only about a hundred years old and for most of that time I was either in Poland or in Massachusetts as Matt Burns who was born in 1982. Either I had an extremely brief life in Hollywood in the 1970s or I was in California before Hollywood even existed.

Consequently, I came to the conclusion that, if I did, indeed, have a past life in California, I must have been there before Hollywood. Maybe I was part of the Gold Rush, or a Native American or possibly a Spaniard before California even became part of America. But, still, this didn't feel right. If there was any part of California that seemed vaguely "familiar" to me, it was Hollywood. I mean, I really felt deep down that I was in Hollywood before. But how could I have been in Poland and Hollywood at the same time? This would have been impossible. Or was it???

Not long after I was regressed by Donna Ciaciarella, I remembered a book I had recently read entitled The Divine Plan: Beyond 2012 by Caroline Cory. This was a book I had serendipitously stumbled upon back in September at a metaphysics bookstore called "The Enchanted Fox" in Medway, MA. Contrary to what you may think, the book wasn't about doomsday or the end of the world or anything along those lines; rather, it talked about a dawning of a new higher consciousness that would take place around the time of 2012 and several years afterward. During this time, most of mankind will basically "wake up" and come to an unprecedented understanding of what the human experience is all about...why it exists and what its purpose is.

I won't go into every little detail about the book right now, but one thing The Divine Plan talked about was past lives and "parallel existences", the latter concept being something I had never heard of before. The theory is that our soul, spirit, higher consciousness/higher self - call it what you will - has the ability to be in more than one place at the same time. The older and more developed our soul is, the more places we are able to be at one time. This means that we can be in more than one body simultaneously - sometimes two or even three bodies at once.

On top of all this, it's also possible to be elsewhere in a non-physical, spirit form. In other words, we can be in a body but our higher consciousness can be somewhere else existing as an independent, intelligent energy. Right now, for example, I am in the body of Matt Burns; however, about seven years ago, an energy healer with medium abilities told me part of my higher self was in the Middle East trying to maintain peace and stability (this was in the heyday of the war in Iraq). So we can potentially be all over the place at the same time, either as a body or as a spirit. This is a concept that may be very hard for people to believe, but you have to think of your higher self as something separate from your mind. You have no conscious awareness that you are somewhere else other than inside your body. But most people probably are. There is so much more to who we are than what our mind leads us to believe.

Anyway, the fact of the matter is that it isn't at all uncommon for our higher self to be in more than one place at the same time, and it also isn't uncommon for a soul to be inhabiting more than one body at the same time while on earth. So this got me thinking that...hmmmm...maybe I was, indeed, in both Poland and California at the same time. And a couple weeks later - while lying in bed one night - it hit me that this was likely to be the case. But who was I? Was I definitely in Hollywood? Was I a director? An actor? Was I famous? An unknown? Several days went by and the past life in California moved closer and closer to the foreground of my mind. I was being drawn to it for some particular reason. I needed to look into it...find out what kind of person I was...maybe even who I was...and what my life was like.

I figured that the first thing I could do to address some of these questions was "dowse". Dowsing is a practice I describe in one of my previous blogs (click HERE to read), but I will briefly explain it here. Basically, what you do is take a pendulum and ask your higher self and spirit guides 'yes' or 'no' questions. If the answer is 'yes', the pendulum will swing clockwise. If the answer is 'no', the pendulum will swing counterclockwise. I find, however, that you can calibrate the pendulum in any fashion you like. For example, I usually have the pendulum simply swing back and forth for a 'yes' and remain still for a 'no'.

So, anyway, I sat in a chair, started dowsing and - within only a few minutes - I seemed to get all the answers I was looking for. Initially, I asked whether I was, indeed, in another body during the same time I was in Poland. And I got a very strong 'yes' in response. Then I asked whether I was in Hollywood. Another very strong 'yes'. Then I asked whether I was an actor. Yes. And whether I was in silent pictures. A weak 'yes'. And whether I was in 'talkies' (i.e. movies with sound and dialogue). A much stronger 'yes'. And whether I was famous. Yes.

At this point, my mind raced with possibilities. I went through a few names like John Barrymore, Charlie Chaplin and even Ed Wood. But I got 'no's' in response to all of them. Plus, I didn't really feel that I was any of these people, anyway (though it would have been cool if I was). I searched my mind for more names, but after a few seconds it hit me that maybe I wasn't even a male actor. It occurred to me that I may have been an actress. After all, it's not unusual for a male to have had a past life at some point as a female. In fact, some past-life regression therapists argue that switching sexes is necessary in order for the soul to have the experience of being both male and female. The more varied the human experiences, the more well-rounded and fully developed the soul gets over time.

Consequently (and somewhat reluctantly), I asked my pendulum whether I was a famous actress. And I got very big 'yes'. Then, I asked whether I died young or had a full life. I got that I had died young. From there, I asked whether the death was considered tragic. Yes. Then I asked whether I died from drugs or something along those lines, because the first actress to come to mind was Marilyn Monroe. But I got a 'no'.

At this point, I stopped dowsing, sat back in my chair and brainstormed a bit. Who - other than Marilyn Monroe - had a very early and tragic death in Hollywood? In retrospect, I could have thought of a name like Jean Harlow or Virginia Rappe or even Sharon Tate, but there was one and only one name that immediately entered my mind, almost within a few seconds.

"Was I Carole Lombard in my past life?" I asked the pendulum.

Yes. A very strong YES.

"Holy shit."


Dowsing Demonstration:



Listed by the American Film Institute as one of the greatest movie stars of all time, Carole Lombard was mostly known for her roles in "screwball comedies", although she began her career in silent films and also had several dramatic roles in her later years. She was the highest paid actor in Hollywood during the late 1930s (making five times as much money as the President) and was nominated for an Academy Award for her role in the 1936 film My Man Godfrey with William Powell. She was basically on top of the world and was considered to be "Hollywood royalty", partly because she was briefly married to Clark Gable, the so-called "king of Hollywood." Tragically, Lombard died in a plane crash in 1942 at the young age of 33. Hollywood and America and much of the world was devastated.

Now, I should just say right now that I hardly knew anything about Lombard until her name came up from the dowsing. I was never drawn to her in any way, nor was I a fan of her work. And I never had seen one single movie that she was in. To tell you the truth, I wasn't even sure Lombard was an actress. I knew she was at least a socialite who was - at one time - married to Clark Gable. I knew she had died in a tragic plane crash as well. But I really didn't know anything other than that. I would have never (and I mean NEVER) suspected that I was Carole Lombard in my past life, not in a million friggin' years! So it was incredibly strange to have her name pop into my head. I mean, it's not like - on a subconscious level - I WANTED to be Lombard and this is why her name came up. I would have much rather preferred discovering I was Charlie Chaplin, or maybe Humphrey Bogart or any other MAN (yes, MAN!). Heck, I would have preferred being Clark Gable over Lombard because, frankly, Lombard was extremely attractive. An absolute knockout. She was hot!

In short, Carole Lombard was a name that came from way out of left field. The idea of being Lombard was so random and wacky and insane that it made me think maybe - just maybe - there was some truth to it. I mean, on one hand it seemed like a ridiculous idea, but at the same time there was something that felt so right about it.

Needless to say, I needed some means of confirmation, from a source other than myself.

The first person I went to was my medium friend Jan who had helped me identify several of my spirit guides (Lillian Gish, D.W. Griffith, Nathanael West, Hunter S. Thompson, among others). I wrote an email to Jan but it actually took her several days to get back to me. So in the meantime, I visited the Enchanted Fox (the metaphysical bookstore I bought The Divine Plan at), because I wanted to inquire about a lady named Robin Allen who did past-life regression work there. Incidentally, I hadn't even really planned on going to the store that day; it was late on Sunday afternoon and I was on my way to my sister's house, which is in the same town. I had actually just planned on calling the place on Monday, but I figured that - since I was in the area - I might as well stop in and ask my questions in person.

I walked into the Enchanted Fox about a half hour before closing time and saw a woman behind the counter named Rose. Rose had a very pleasant aura about her and was very welcoming to me. I asked about Robin Allen and Rose thoroughly explained everything Robin did (basically everything from energy healing to Tarot reading to past life regression therapy). Then Rose started asking about who I was and why I was interested in seeing Robin. I started telling her about how I was recently very interested in past lives for whatever reason and how I discovered I was in Poland etc. Then I started telling her about a California life I thought I had and how I thought the life coexisted with the Poland life.

"I'm just trying to get some sort of confirmation on it," I said.

"I think you just did," said Rose.

See, as it turned out, Rose was a partial medium/sensitive herself. And she was sensing that, yes, I did, indeed, have a life in Poland and California during the same time period.

"Wow," I said. "But, see, I think I need further confirmation. I think I know exactly who I was, and I just want to be sure."

"Well," said Rose, "when I look at you there's two people coming through very strongly: Howard Hughes and Jack Parsons. Was it any of them?"

Howard Hughes and Jack Parsons??? I told Rose 'no', but I still found it eerie that she would come up with two names that were alive around the same time period as Lombard. Was there any sort of connection?

"The name I was thinking of wasn't even a man," I told Rose. "I think I was Carole Lombard."

Rose hopped onto her computer and Googled in 'Carole Lombard' and 'Howard Hughes'. The results were incredibly interesting. See, Howard Hughes and Carole Lombard used to date each other. And when they weren't dating they were actually very good pals. In fact, Hughes taught Lombard how to fly airplanes. Plus (on a darker note), the plane Lombard crashed in - TWA Flight 3 - was actually an airplane owned by Hughes.

Rose gasped aloud when she saw the connection and said she was getting intense chills, which is what happens to psychics when something strange is going on. Another woman who was working in the store (also a sensitive) got chills as well. Frankly, so didn't I. Rose subsequently Googled 'Jack Parsons' and we realized Parsons was Hughes' employee/friend. How strange it was that the two famous "Aviators" appeared before Rose. Was it their way of having me make the Carole Lombard/aviation connection???

Taking this strange coincidence into account, I believe there was definitely a reason why I walked into the Enchanted Fox that night. There was something almost magical about the whole experience. I most absolutely believe that I was guided there by some invisible force, no matter how lame that may sound. I left The Enchanted Fox that night feeling about seventy-percent sure that I was, indeed, Carole Lombard in my past life. But I wasn't going to be satisfied until I was one-hundred percent sure. I needed better confirmation.

The next day, Jan got back to me about my email and what she had to say was rather interesting. One one hand, her dowsing confirmed that I had a "past life" as both a man in Poland and Carole Lombard, but she wasn't exactly sure how to explain this to me. Here is an excerpt from the email:

Hi Matt,

It's taken me a while to figure out how to answer you. This is what I've gotten dousing and just having gleaned from life.

I think that our spirits always exist, but we only inhabit one body, one time. I think that our souls are in heaven before we're born. Then our souls inhabit a body, and go to hell, purgatory, or heaven after our bodies die. I think that our spirits roam around and maybe can follow someone's life for whatever reason. So when people talk about past lives I think that they just followed someone closely. And I think this is the case with the past life in Poland and Carole Lombard - because I think that our spirits can be in more than one place at one time.

I think that it is more important for you to focus on what you are doing in the present. I don't think that you need to be concerned with where your spirit may have been in the past. I think that where you may have been in the past is known by your subconscious. And if your subconscious is in tune with your conscious, then all is as it should be.

Now, it's important to keep in mind that Jan is still a practicing Catholic and the concept of past lives is something that goes against what the Catholic Church has always taught (i.e. that we are a spirit made by God and we only inhabit a body once). Instead of saying that I actually was these people, Jan said that my spirit "followed" these people closely. And although I can see where she's coming from, her explanation contradicts a lot of what Donna Ciaciarella said when she regressed me. If I simply "followed around" these people, then why do I carry their emotions around with me? Why, for example, do I still carry the sadness from the life in Poland? Why is the Polish man's trauma my trauma?

When it came to Jan's suggestion that I should be focusing more on the present, I completely agreed with her, but I still felt that I was being drawn to all this past-life stuff for a reason. I strongly felt that the (alleged) life as Carole Lombard was revealing itself to me at this point in my life for a significant purpose. I just didn't really know what the purpose was...yet.

So, yes, Jan gave me further confirmation that I was potentially Lombard in my past life. Even though she didn't know how to explain the concept of past lives to me, she still said that I had a past life as Lombard in the same sense that I had one in Poland. Of course, this still wasn't enough evidence to satisfy me. I basically needed somebody to tell me, flat-out, that I was Lombard. Period.

A day after I received the email from Jan, I went to see Robin Allen at "The Enchanted Fox". As I explained before, Robin is a well-respected medium and she also does past-life regression therapy via hypnosis. I had Robin start out by doing a traditional reading on me where she asked "source energy" or "universal consciousness" or "God" - call it what you will - to provide information that was in my highest and best interest to hear at the time. I figured her 'sources' would immediately address my past life in California because I felt it was of top priority. But this wasn't the case...well, not exactly.

Robin began her reading by saying I had a certain "existential anxiety" that I probably wasn't very aware of on a conscious level. It was an anxiety that made me feel "unsafe in my body". I didn't really understand her at first, but basically what Robin was saying was that I have trouble being close to people and being intimate and relating with people on deep emotional levels. Although I'm usually personable and sociable, there is a part of me that supposedly never really feels any sort of deep connection with anybody, and this is partly because I'm afraid of getting too close. Robin also said that I needed to stop using my brain so much, because it's distracting me from opening up my heart to people. On one hand, all my intellectualizing and curiosity about life was good, but in another sense it was distracting me from facing my heart, which is the most important gift we all possess.

I listened to Robin telling me all these very personal things for about twenty minutes or so and I started getting antsy, not because she was making me uncomfortable, but because I was worried that we weren't going to confirm what I came to her to confirm (that I was Lombard in the past). At a certain point, I basically stopped the reading and tried to cut to the chase. I explained why I came to see her and, to my disappointment, she said she wasn't really able to confirm the Lombard life, because that's not what her sources were interested in telling her. However, she said she felt a "female essence" with the California life and she also felt a sense of "victimization" around her. She also insinuated that my "existential anxiety" may have stemmed from this particular past life; that is, I came into the world as Matt Burns already possessing the anxiety problem. Here is an audio clip from my meeting with Robin:



Later into the session, Robin said I could ask a specific question about the California life and she could read Tarot cards to see what the answers were. So I asked whether the lessons I thought I learned from the past life were the lessons I needed to learn. Robin determined - with the use of the Tarot cards - that the answer was 'yes'. Here is an audio clip from this section:



Overall, Robin stressed that she would love to confirm the Carole Lombard life, but she simply wasn't able to. She couldn't give me a definite 'yes' or a definite 'no', though there was an indication that it was likely true. She asked her sources for the information that was in my highest and best interest to hear, and what 'they' were concentrating on was my existential anxiety and fear of intimacy and discomfort in my body etc. And although Robin insinuated that the anxiety was something that possibly stemmed from the California life, she wasn't able to elaborate too much on that. She said she could hypnotize me at a later date and see what came up, but she also said that it wouldn't really be worth doing something like that for simple confirmation. She said that if I felt I was Carole Lombard in my past life then it was probably true.

Frankly, I left my session with Robin feeling dissatisfied. I still didn't have one-hundred-percent confirmation I was Lombard, and I was beginning to believe that I wasn't going to get it. I started thinking about what Jan had told me, how I needed to concentrate on the present - on Matt Burns - because it was this current life that mattered the most. Yes, I was ready to put the whole matter to rest...that is, until the next morning.

Some people say that we are more in tune with our psychic senses either right before we fall asleep or immediately after we wake up. In a semi-awake state, our conscious minds shut down and we experience a more direct communication with our higher consciousness. This theory may explain what happened to me the morning after I had my session with Robin. I had just awakened from a deep sleep in my bed, lazily shuffled onto my knees and a thought suddenly surged into my head.

"Whoa," I said to myself. "I think I was raped."


What I meant was that I suddenly felt that Carole Lombard was either raped or sexually abused sometime during her life and that she never revealed it to anybody. I don't know how, exactly, I came up with this thought, but it felt so true. I don't want to be all melodramatic here, but I started to get intense chills. I even started shaking a bit. I strongly felt that Carole Lombard was raped.

I mulled the potential revelation over in my mind a bit more and I suddenly remembered a documentary I had recently seen about Lombard. It was actually an episode of a show called DEAD FAMOUS and a medium was relating information to the show's hosts about Lombard via Tarot cards (watch video below from around 6:25). One thing the medium said was that the Carole Lombard the world knew was nothing like the Carole Lombard in her private life. She also said there was a secret about Lombard that nobody had yet to discover...because she buried it so deep. Had I come close to discovering this secret??? Maybe so.



But even if I had, indeed, uncovered a deep, dark secret about Lombard I couldn't help but wonder why this was at all relevant. I mean, why was it being revealed to me at this particular point in time? Why was it being revealed at all? I considered that, perhaps, it was because the trauma was affecting me negatively in my current life. Maybe the "victimization" that Robin Allen talked about was from rape and it was affecting my ability to be intimate, close to others, safe in my body - in short, maybe it was the very source of my existential anxiety.

Finally, everything was starting to come together and make more sense. Now I knew why I was so drawn to my past life in California to begin with. It was never necessarily important for me to confirm that I was Carole Lombard; what was crucial was uncovering a past-life trauma that occurred while I was Carole Lombard, one which was affecting my current life in very negative ways. Although it was cool to discover I was a big movie star in the 1930s, the only reason why I made this discovery was so I could deal with the trauma.

Of course, I wasn't completely sure about the rape theory. It felt like it was true, but I needed to know exactly what happened. I needed all the details in order to properly come to terms with the victimization. I thought about giving Robin Allen a call and having her hypnotize me, but I was concerned that my conscious mind would interfere with the regression. Seeing that I already suspected I was Lombard and I was raped, I couldn't trust that my preconceived suspicions wouldn't skew whatever came up during the hypnosis. No, I realized there was only one person I could go to for help with this: back to Donna Ciaciarella.

I managed to get in touch with Donna about a week after I had the rape revelation. She was a little reluctant to do another reading for me because the Poland one was - as she put it - "one of the worst ones [she] had to deal with." But I explained the situation to her and we both came to the conclusion that it was in my highest and best interest to deal with whatever trauma occurred during the California life. However, she made it clear that she was not doing this to satisfy my curiosity in regards to who I was. She explained that who I was didn't matter and she wasn't going to directly address that. What mattered was figuring out a) what happened in California that traumatized me so much and b) why it was still something affecting me negatively in my current life.

"Tell me everything you know already," Donna said to me.

Although I was hesitant to tell her what I thought I knew, I had no choice but to give her the details. Like I said, she wasn't interested in confirming what I already felt; the more information I gave her the more she would be able to help me. So I told her that I felt I was in Hollywood and a famous actress and that I thought I was raped at some point. And immediately, without hesitation...

"Yeah, you were raped," said Donna. "I got that before you even said you were a woman. You were definitely raped."

Now, of course, Donna could have just been telling me this because that's what I was interested in hearing. But I had already come to the conclusion after the Poland reading that this lady was completely legitimate. Plus, Donna's details of the rape turned out to be completely different from what I told her I thought happened. See, I told Donna that I thought a producer or studio-head raped me, and that I never told anybody because I thought they would ruin my career if I did. You know, 'Have sex with me or you career is over'! That kind of thing. But this wasn't really the case at all.

When Donna went into her trance and had her vision she did end up confirming that, yes, "I" was an actress in Hollywood and, yes, "I" was raped. But I wasn't raped by some random guy I didn't want to have anything to do with; I was raped by a man who I was deeply in love with (listen to the audio recordings at the bottom of the page).

It all happened relatively early in my movie career and I was young and naive and somewhat new to the whole Hollywood scene. According to Donna, there was a man "related to work" who "I" essentially had a major crush on (I use the latter quotes because I'm uncomfortable referring to myself as a woman in the first person). This man knew that I had a crush on him and he took advantage of it, led me on a bit and then eventually took me out on a date. Blind to his lack of romantic interest in me, I looked forward to this date for weeks and built it up in my head to be this wonderful fairy-tale-like fantasy. I would think about what dress I was going to wear and if he would hold my hand or try to kiss me and whether I would let him...you know, the usual things young girls think about when they're naive and experiencing a first crush.

But the date didn't go anything like I had fantasized about. Things went sideways as soon as the man started putting his hand down my yellow dress. I told him 'no', but then he started to run his hands up my skirt. I kept on saying 'no' and 'no', but he became more aggressive and it soon turned into an all-out rape. He left my apartment that night without so much as a thank-you and the next time I saw him it was as if he didn't even know me.

I didn't end up pressing charges. I didn't even really get mad at the guy, because - as pathetic as it may sound - I still felt love for him. Overall, I just felt so humiliated, because I had built the date up to be this whole romantic, fairy-tale-like fantasy; but, instead, I just got a big slap in the face. My "dream", so to speak, had been crushed and I felt so stupid for thinking things were going to be so wonderful.

In short, it wasn't really the rape that disturbed me so much as the horrible rejection I had to endure from the man I thought loved me. The truth is that the guy had no interest in me whatsoever, aside from wanting to "get with me" physically. And, according to Donna, I was never able to fully get over the feeling of this rejection. I built the whole experience up to be such a horrible thing and I was petrified by the thought of ever having to experience it again. So I hid my heart deep inside me and never really opened it up to anybody. And it continues to be buried deep inside me to this day, in this current life as Matt Burns.

Now, rape is obviously a horrible experience that nobody should have to endure. But if it happens to us, which is the better way to deal with it? Is it best to close our hearts off from people so that we never have to be hurt again? Or is it better to rise above our fear of being hurt and continue to live our lives with our hearts open to others? After all, we are only a victim of something if we allow ourselves to be. We can live the rest of our lives saying "poor me, I'm a victim" or we can move forward and not allow ourselves to get immobilized by the trauma.

In my case - deep down - I was saying "poor me" and in a lot of ways this has been romantically paralyzing me all my life. The fear of being hurt like I was back in Hollywood has been the source of my anxiety and inability to be intimate with people. Sure, I've been close to girls on a physical level but I've never been able to make any sort of deep emotional connection with any of them, basically (I guess) because I've been scared shit-less of having my heart crushed again. But I have to stop building rejection up to be such a horrible thing. In fact, it's more important to rise above the fear of rejection than to actually be accepted by somebody. Or, to put it another way, a person who isn't phased by rejection is so much more powerful than a person who is constantly accepted. I mean, think about how weak we would be if we were never rejected. We NEED rejection. It's what makes us strong.

So Donna's ultimate advice to me was to go out into the world and get rejected. "Go talk to that random girl waiting in line with you at the grocery store. Go hit on the girl at the bar. Ask the cute librarian out on a date. And learn to love any rejection that comes your way. Think of it as something that makes you a better person in the long run."

I ended my session with Donna feeling as though I had finally gained closure on the entire past-life situation. I had identified and dealt with the problem that I was meant to deal with. As far as confirming my identity as Lombard went, Donna was not willing to do this because she thought those kinds of details would be distracting to me. But she confirmed everything else. I did, indeed, have a parallel existence with the Polish life. I was in Hollywood. I was an actress. And I was raped.

I should also note that Donna went out of her way to describe my physical appearance in the California life as absolutely "beautiful" and "ravishing". "I can't even tell you how beautiful you were," she kept saying. And although it's true there were a lot of pretty actresses in Hollywood, Donna's special emphasis on my "ravishing" beauty made me more confident that it was Lombard she was describing.

So what's the verdict? Was I really Lombard? Deep down, I feel that I probably was. I think I received confirmation on this the day I walked into the Enchanted Fox and Rose told me Howard Hughes and Jack Parsons were around me; there was something so eerie about my experience in the store that day. Plus, I think Jan, Robin Allen and Donna Ciaciarella gave me further confirmation in their own indirect ways.

However, there's also one other clue that I had completely forgotten about until just now. See, back when I visited Liam Galvin in January 2010 he informed me that the spirit of Alfred Hitchcock was one of my spirit guides, and he was "all around me".

"Really??? Alfred Hitchcock?"

"Yeah, he hangs out with you."


Liam Galvin re: Alfred Hitchcock



Needless to say, I felt flattered by Mr. Hitchcock's presence, though I never really understood why he "hung out" with me. But now I may actually have the answer. See, Alfred Hitchcock and Carole Lombard were extremely good friends during Carole's last years. In fact, she starred in the original Mr. and Mrs. Smith, which was directed by Hitchcock in 1941. This was the second-to-last film Lombard made before she died in the plane crash. Is this why Alfred Hitchcock hangs out with me? Did I star in one of his films??? Were we good friends before I died?

The bottom line is that there are one too many coincidences at play here to say that I definitely wasn't Carole Lombard. Putting all the pieces of evidence together, I would go out on a limb and say that I probably was Lombard, though I don't think there is any sure way of getting one-hundred-percent confirmation. One thing is for sure: I was in Hollywood. I was in movies. And I was...yeesh...a woman!

Yes, it's kind of emasculating for a guy like myself to discover he was a woman in a recent past life. But it's important to remember that - technically - my most recent human incarnation was as a man (the Polish man died in the late 1960s or early 70s, way after Lombard). So, again, let me remind you that I am very much a man now. I love women and all their body parts. The fact that I was "in love" with the man who raped me is difficult for me to fathom with the mind/body I have right now. And it makes me cringe knowing that - as Carole Lombard - I was married to Clark Gable when I died. Yikes. I'm cringing right now as I write this! Gross!

Of course, I don't mean to insinuate that there's anything wrong with homosexuality. In fact, one of the reasons why I'm writing this blog is to show people that none of us are solely male or female to the core. Our soul has no specific gender and we constantly switch sexes throughout our various human incarnations. Maybe if people realized this, same-sex marriage wouldn't be such a controversial issue anymore. Love is about two souls coming together as one and that's all there is to it; it doesn't really matter whether they happen to be physically manifested as male and female or both male or both female at the time. The male/female body is merely a suit we wear for a limited amount of time in order to fulfill some sort of vocation or purpose on earth. But our gender in no way defines who we are at the core. And it's not something that we should ever allow to get in the way of love.

On this note, I now come to the conclusion of my story. I must say that the year of 2010 will go down as one of the most bizarre years in my life thus-far. It all started with my reading with Liam Galvin back in January and kept getting stranger and stranger as the months went by. Over the past year, I have communicated with my dead grandfathers, identified seven of my spirit guides, discovered I had a past life in Poland and realized I had a parallel existence as an actress in Hollywood (the identity of whom was most likely Carole Lombard). So what's left to explore now? Probably not too much, but - then again - very much. If you haven't figured it out already, the reality beyond what we perceive as our reality is so much more complex than we could ever realize. There is always more to discover. You just have to be open to it.

As for me, I probably need to start exploring the universe a little less and channel some of that energy into exploring my heart. I know this may sound sappy, but Robin Allen was right: although it's good to open our eyes to the complexity of our universe, it's important to, first, open up our hearts.


PostScript (written on March 7, 2011):

This is a brief update to my previous blog BEING CAROLE LOMBARD: MY PAST-LIFE IN HOLLYWOOD (read the blog above).

When Donna Ciaciarella regressed me to my past life as an actress in Hollywood, she thoroughly described a costume I wore in a film I was shooting "that had to do with a period piece". She described the costume as being a "southern belle dress" (listen to the Part Two recording at the bottom of the page from a little before 2:00).

I consequently tried to find evidence of Lombard wearing this type of a costume, but I came up dry. I researched most of her movies - read what they were about - but none of them was something I would really consider a period piece, especially one that took place in the South.

As it turns out, however, I wasn't looking carefully enough. About a week ago, I started to watch one of the most important films Lombard ever made. It was the film that essentially made her a star. The movie was called Twentieth Century.

I was only about fifteen minutes into the 1934 film when I saw Lombard wearing a dress that gave me intense chills. The dress was almost exactly what Donna Ciaciarella described to me in her vision (see the movie poster above and the photo to the right). Now, Twentieth Century itself was not a period piece, but Lombard's character (Lily Garland) wore the dress for a play she was acting in. And the play WAS a period piece that took place in the Old South. Could Donna have been describing this play within the play? After all, Donna never said the film I was working on was a period piece; she said it "had to do with a period piece".

Of course, it's possible that there was another actress from the early twentieth century that wore a similar dress and may have starred in a period piece that took place in the South; but Donna's vision was almost exactly the same as what was going on in Twentieth Century. And when you factor in all the other evidence (that you can read about in my previous blog), I can now more confidently say that I had a past life as Carole Lombard in Hollywood.

Now, does this mean I am the reincarnation of Carole Lombard? No, I don't really feel comfortable saying that, seeing that I also had a parallel existence as a man in Poland around the same time period (read about the Poland life HERE). All I know is that my spirit, soul, consciousness, higher self - whatever you want to call it - previously incarnated itself as a woman named Carole Lombard. That's all I can say and I'm basically 99.9% sure now that this is true.

The entire mystery, however, is still not completely solved. As I described in my previous "Past Life in Hollywood" blog, Donna uncovered that I was raped in Hollywood by a man I was "madly in love with". Up until now, I assumed that I was raped during the time that I was filming the "period piece" and this is why Donna mentioned the movie in her vision. But my gut feeling seems to be telling me something different; right now, I don't believe I was raped during the time I was shooting Twentieth Century. And I don't think I was raped by anybody I was working with on the film. Lombard's costar (and legendary Hollywood bad-boy) John Barrymore briefly popped up as a suspect, but my intuition tells me he was a good guy and didn't do it.

To be honest, I think Donna described my part in Twentieth Century to me for reasons unrelated to the rape. In his book Regression: Past-Life Therapy for Here and Now Freedom, Dr. Samuel Sagan reminds people that past-life regression doesn't only uncover negative traumas, but sometimes positive trauma as well. Twentieth Century, after all, was known to be Carole Lombard's career-altering movie. It was the film that officially made her a big-time Hollywood movie star. Maybe the entire Twentieth Century experience was so positive that it left a good scar on my soul and this is what Donna was picking up on.

Anyway, the fact of the matter is that I don't think anybody associated with Twentieth Century raped me. But I do have a prime suspect in my head right now. I was reading some of Larry Swindell's biography on Lombard (Screwball: The Life of Carole Lombard) and I stumbled upon a few paragraphs describing a "fling" Lombard had with Howard Hughes when she was about twenty years old. Hughes was supposedly Carole's first crush. She was very much in love with him, but Hughes kept the whole affair very hush-hush and secretive, partly because he was also dating actress Billie Dove on the side. Lombard and Hughes saw each other for a while, but then Hughes called the whole thing off when he apparently lost interest in her. Carole didn't want to let him go. She told all her friends that she would get him back eventually. But she never did.

At the time of the affair, Swindell says that Lombard wasn't acting quite like herself while at work. She was actually fired from a Cecil B. DeMille movie she was working on (Dynamite) because she wasn't remembering any of her lines. According to Swindell, there was a "detectable vagueness about her that seemed contrary to the forthright, eagerly working Carole Lombard [colleagues] would later know and direct. It was the only case of her having been remiss in application." Was there something bothering Carole that made her 'vague' and 'remiss'? Was she just hurt when Hughes dumped her? Or was there something else bothering her???

What I'm getting at is that the "affair" between Lombard and Hughes sounded very similar to the situation Donna described to me in her vision. Donna said I was madly in love with whoever raped me. It was a teenage-like crush that I blew out of proportion. I had fantasies of marrying the man and living a fairy-tale-like life happily ever after. But the man had no romantic interest in me whatsoever. Donna described him as a "womanizer", which is exactly what Howard Hughes was known to be.

On top of all these similarities, I couldn't help but remember my eerie experience at a metaphysical bookstore called "The Enchanted Fox", when a medium working there (named Rose) said she saw an image of Howard Hughes when she looked at me. We were both confused as to why she was seeing Hughes, but could it have been because he raped me in my past life? This is all too possible, but I don't have any evidence to support anything. I am currently in the process of trying to get a medium to corroborate my suspicions, but I haven't had much luck yet. I also asked my friend Jan to dowse for me, but she wasn't able to get any answers for some reason. Maybe I'm not meant to get any answers. Maybe I'm just completely out of my mind. It's very possible, I suppose.

But, yes, right now Howard Hughes is the number-one suspect. I feel in my bones that it was him, but I can't go pointing fingers unless I have some sort of confirmation from a source outside of myself (which, I suppose, has to come in the form of a medium). Of course, Hughes is long dead (he died in 1976), so it's not like I would be able to press any charges or anything. But it would still be nice to attain some closure in regards to the situation.

I will, of course, keep you updated if there are any more developments in this mystery. If you have any information that can help me out (either from the real or spirit world) please let me know. I'll take anything I can get. Thank you.

NOTE: There is now a second update to my past-life in Hollywood available to read HERE.

...

The videos below are the actual recordings of my regression session with Donna Ciaciarella. Please note that these are merely excerpts from an hour-long session and I also edited areas where there were long periods of silence or parts that I thought were superfluous. You may have to boost your volume a tad, as most of the session was recorded a little low.

PART ONE


PART TWO


PART THREE

Palmiry: My Past-Life Update

This blog is an update to my past-life regression blog that I wrote almost a month ago (click HERE to read). In the blog, I explained how Donna Ciaciarella (a gifted regression therapist) told me that I was indirectly involved in the massacre of around 1,000 Polish intellectuals that occurred in Nazi-occupied Poland during WWII. After doing some research, I believe I've identified the massacre that I was more than likely involved with.

After Germany occupied Poland in 1939, the Nazis wanted to be sure that the 'Poles' wouldn't organize and start any sort of resistance. The best way they thought they could prevent this from happening was by rounding up all of Poland's intellectuals and exterminating them - people like lawyers and professors and doctors and politicians, and journalists, and poets and bankers etc. The Nazis figured that if they eliminated the Polish intelligentsia, they would eliminate all potential "leaders" who would be able to organize any sort of revolt.

A Nazi government official by the name of Hans Frank consequently developed the "AB ACTION", which was the official name for the German campaign to eliminate the Polish intellectuals. The Nazis basically made a list of people who they saw as a threat, imprisoned them for a while, and gradually executed the prisoners in a series of well-organized massacres that started in December 1939 and continued well into 1940.

Most of these massacres occurred in a cleared section of the Kampinos forest (in Poland) called 'Palmiry' (see above photo). The Nazis would pack the Polish prisoners in tarp-covered lorries, assuring them they were only being transported to concentration camps, which (of course) was a lie. Sometimes the Nazis would even blindfold the prisoners so they wouldn't know what was happening to them until the last minute, when it was too late to run or even panic. The truck-loads of blindfolded prisoners would then roll into the Palmiry forest, where they were executed by a firing squad and buried in mass graves. This is where I more than likely came into the picture.

When Donna Ciaciarella regressed me, her description of the massacres I was involved with almost identically matched the ones that occurred at Palmiry. When she said my job was "to clear land" it's likely that I was the man hired to clear the area of the Kampinos forest and dig the graves, which the Germans initially lied and told me would function as "anti-aircraft trenches". Donna's description of the trucks with tarps and blindfolded prisoners was eerily similar to what occurred at Palmiry. Donna also stressed the fact that the prisoners who were executed were Polish intellectuals, not Jewish people. Furthermore, she described how "hush-hush" the whole operation was, how the burials were covered up, both figuratively and literally. In other words, all signs pointed to Palmiry as the place where my past-life experience occurred. It was exactly what Donna had related to me through her vision. If this is true, I am essentially the man who created Palmiry, which is kind of a disturbing thought, though while I was creating it I had no idea what it was going to be used for.

After more research, I was unable to find the name of the person who was hired to clear the Kampinos forest and dig the graves. I assumed that if I did find the name, then this person probably would have been me. I'm not sure if I'll ever be able to attain such information. I'm not even sure it's in my best interest to know exactly who I was. It would be a strange discovery to make, because then I could potentially locate my family - my children, grandchildren etc. Perhaps "living in the past" like this wouldn't be a good thing. Maybe it's more important to focus on the present, to move forward and concentrate on my current life. Time will tell.

Exorcising a Nightmare: My Past-Life Experience

For the past year or so now I have become incredibly curious about the possibility of past lives and reincarnation. I became especially curious after visiting a renown medium named Liam Galvin back in January (read about this visit HERE). Among other things, Liam informed me that I had a past life in California and I couldn't help but wonder who I may have been. Seeing that I am into film and writing and I'm an overall creative individual, I wondered if maybe I was in Hollywood and maybe I was a famous actor or director or musician or somebody like that! How cool that would have been!

I looked all over the place for somebody who could help me find answers to these questions. But for some reason, I didn't have too much luck. First of all, many of the people I approached charged a lot of money for their services and they also wanted to regress me by means of hypnosis. To be frank, hypnosis kind of freaked me out and I was skeptical of whether it would actually work on me; plus, I feared my conscious mind would interfere with the results and I would purposely start describing a life in California/Hollywood that never occurred.

One day, however, I stumbled upon the website of a lady named Donna Ciaciarella who is based in South Carolina. Donna specializes in "regression therapy" but she doesn't use hypnosis. Instead, she is a kind of medium who is able to have extremely detailed visions of an individual's past life and then she describes everything she sees on an audio recorder. This was a method of regression that immediately struck me as a better way to go. With Donna doing all the work, I wouldn't have to worry about my mind skewing the results. I could just sit back and listen to the vision.

I looked over Donna's website (click HERE to visit) and determined that she seemed pretty legitimate, so I gave her a call and spoke to her personally. The first thing she wanted to know was my intention in wanting to be regressed. And I didn't beat around the bush. I told her that a well-respected medium said I was in California in a past life and - out of sheer curiosity - I wanted to know who I was! Donna, however, politely told me that she wasn't interested in helping me. Regression, she explained, was a very serious thing, not an amusement ride; sheer 'curiosity' wasn't a good enough reason to want to be regressed. Needless to say, I was disappointed by Donna's refusal to help me, but I completely respected where she was coming from. In fact, I was glad she was so picky about who she helped, because it went to show that she wasn't running any sort of a scam. She seemed to be the real deal.

Anyway, five whole months went by and I still couldn't stop thinking about my past lives. I had a near-obsessive desire to know who I was...what kind of person, when I was last alive, if I was anything like I am now etc. So, finally, about a week ago, I decided to get back in touch with Donna...only, this time, I was sure to state my intentions to her differently. Basically, I decided to forget about the whole California past-life thing. I told Donna that all I wanted was to learn about a past life that was in my highest and best interest to know about. I wanted to know something that would help me understand my purpose in my current life, something that would possibly help me clear any negative emotions, thought patterns or other energies that were carried over into my identity as Matt Burns.

This time around, Donna was willing to help me.

As I mentioned before, Donna is located in South Carolina, but she does all her readings over the telephone. All she needs to know is your birth date and to hear your voice (over the phone) and she is able to have visions of certain past life experiences. She begins each session with a prayer and asks that she be shown a certain life that is in the person's best interest to know about at the given time.

In my case, it took Donna about a minute or two to start having a vision. I expected she would maybe go to my California life or at least go to some other life where I was a creative individual (like I am now). I assumed she would start talking about Hollywood or entertainment or vaudeville or theater or something like that. But this was not the case at all.

Donna began her vision by saying that I was "stuck between a rock and a hard place". I was a non-Jewish man living in Nazi-occupied Poland in the 1930s or 40s. I had a very large family with about nine children and we had fallen on hard times. Money was a big problem and I was very concerned about how I was going to keep feeding my family.

After much worry, a well-paying job came along and I thought it was a gift from God. I was a mechanics engineer or machine operator of some sort and I was hired to clear out large areas of land and excavate very large holes. "This is it," I thought. "My family is going to be OK."

It wasn't long after I started the job, however, that red flags started to arise. First of all, it was never made clear what, exactly, I was digging the holes for, and whenever I asked any questions I was either lied to or told to keep my mouth shut. In other words, the whole operation was very shady, but I kept on doing the job, anyway - for my family's sake. I needed the money, or at least I thought I needed the money.

Then came the day that I realized what I was doing. I was basically clearing the land and digging the holes so that massive amounts of bodies could be buried within them (around a thousand to be exact). Some of these bodies may have been Jews, but most of them were members of the Polish elite, like professors, bankers, high-ranking officers and other intellectuals who were a threat to the Nazi agenda. These people were bussed to the digging sight, shot in the head by German soldiers and then buried. It was a very well-organized massacre.

According to Donna, I witnessed many of the executions with my own two eyes - hundreds and hundreds of people getting shot in the head. And it was actually my job to bury the bodies right after they were killed. Of course, I knew that what was happening was incredibly wrong and evil, but I ultimately still went along with it. Because if I didn't, I would have been shot myself. And my family would have (potentially) starved to death.

Needless to say, I was never the same person after I had this "job". According to Donna, it changed me forever and haunted me for the rest of my life. I felt so much sadness and guilt, and also anger towards the Nazis (for putting me in such a tough position). I had recurring nightmares and I was, overall, a very disturbed individual. My children would always do a good job cheering me up, but I was never the same person. I lived for about thirty years after the massacre occurred, which I guess means I must have died in the late 1960s or possibly the early 70s. I was fortunate to be able to watch my children grow up, but my guilt haunted me every day until my death.

Looking back on the situation, I wonder if I could have done anything differently. Like Donna said, I was "between a rock and a hard place". I think most people would have done the same thing if they had a family of nine to feed. But was this really the right thing to do? No, I don't think it was.

I think the main mistake I made in this past life was in allowing fear to influence my actions. I was so afraid that my family would starve that I compromised all morals for the sake of ensuring their survival. I should have risen above the fear, refused to bury the bodies and, thus, refused to partake in the evil. Yes, I would have been shot and killed if I did all this, but at least my soul would have had a clean conscience. And maybe my family would have starved, but maybe they wouldn't have. Maybe they would have found a way to survive after I was dead. Maybe a miracle would have occurred. Maybe God would have helped them out in some way.

The fact of the matter is that I was living in the future, with a "what if" mindset. Basically, I was thinking, "if I don't comply with the Nazi's, awful things will happen to my family." But I should have been acting more "in the moment" and taken a leap of faith. If I stood up for what I believed and took the bullet (literally), maybe God would have helped my family survive. And even if they ended up starving to death, at least it was all done for the sake of truth and morality.

Anyway, the lesson to be learned from the experience is that you have to always exist in the present. You have to take each event in life one step at a time, do the right thing, and possess the faith that everything is going to work out well in the end. FEAR (of things going wrong in the future) is literally the seed to most evil in the world. If I wasn't afraid that my family would starve, then I wouldn't have participated in doing something that was so very wrong. And I'm sure I wasn't the only one in this situation. I'm sure many of the German soldiers who were doing the ACTUAL killing were committing such heinous atrocities out of fear as well. A lot of them probably had families that they wanted to make sure were safe and financially sound. They were stuck between a rock and a hard place.

Incidentally, I would argue that the fear I experienced in my past life is something very similar to what many people in America are feeling right now, especially with the economy being in the shape that it's in. The question is how are we going to deal with this fear as the future becomes more and more uncertain? Will we allow it to manipulate us into carrying out immoral acts, like it did with me and countless others during the Holocaust? Or are we going to take the high road, so to speak, and stay true to ourselves, even if that means financial ruin (or even death) for us and our families?

I recently watched a documentary entitled TEENAGE PAPARAZZO by Adrian Grenier (star of "Entourage"), which was essentially about the paparazzi in Los Angeles. One thing I found incredibly interesting about the film was how the paparazzi justified their professions. Many of them knew that feeding distractions and disinformation to our celebrity-obsessed culture wasn't a healthy thing for the human family, but they still did it because "they had mortgages to pay and families to feed". But is this right? Whoever said survival was of utmost importance? Isn't it better to starve (and, perhaps, die) then to live your life doing something immoral? Isn't this what Jesus taught us? Surely being a paparazzo isn't the same thing as exterminating people, but it's still a job that is unhealthy for the human family and, thus, something I'd consider immoral.

And the paparazzi, of course, aren't the only Americans working immoral jobs out of fear. Think about the people working for the shady credit card companies or drug companies or the people in the entertainment industry making unhealthy "Reality" TV; think about all the people who work for companies that have oversea sweatshops or companies guilty of profiteering during wars; think about all the politicians who want to build casinos in communities to "create more jobs for people"; think about the people who work for ANY corporation where the 'bottom line' is of utmost importance, where profit is valued over people. All of these people would justify what they do in saying they have a family that they have to support amidst an insecure economy. But is this a reasonable justification? I don't think so.

Please keep in mind that I'm not judging anybody here, because - if my past life is any indication - I'm as guilty as anybody of selling out my morals for the sake of me and my family's survival. But I still feel that we need to start thinking long and hard about our jobs and how they affect humanity as a whole. With the economy being in the shape it's in, people are more and more desperate to bring home the bacon. But is it right to compromise our morals for the sake of survival?

...

Donna told me that much of my guilt and sadness from my past life in Poland was carried over into my current life. This actually explains a lot about my overall temperament, which I would describe as generally melancholic, although I usually don't show it to others. Hopefully I can begin to clear the sadness through the process of writing about it like I am now, and also by thinking about where I went wrong. And hopefully I don't make the same mistake in my current life. I mean, I doubt I'll be placed in a similar position as I was during the Holocaust but I'm sure I'll come to many points in life where fear will try and influence me into making bad choices. Hopefully I will be more conscious of my fear now and I'll be able to go down a better path.

On a brighter note, I have to admit that - apart from everything else - it was heartwarming to learn that I had a really big family in my most recent past life. According to Donna, I had about nine children. It's very likely that many of them are still alive today, not to mention all my grandchildren. I mean, there are actual people out there in the world today, thinking of their dead father or grandfather, and that guy...is me! That's a messed-up thought. Crazy. I can't help but wonder what these children are like - if they're all still in Poland or somewhere else. In fact, I can't help but wonder if I stayed in Poland after the Holocaust. Maybe I ended up moving to California in attempt to escape my nightmare. Maybe I moved my whole family out there. Or maybe it was in another past life that I was in California. Who knows?

I think it's also interesting to learn how (completely) different I was in my past life. I mean, I would never be a mechanics engineer or machine operator in my current life. I'm so different from that kind of a person. Today, I'm a writer, filmmaker, wedding videographer, actor, percussionist...in short, I'm not your normal, working-class fellow. So I think it's true when meta physicists say the soul incarnates itself in many shapes and forms. The purpose, they say, is to go through several types of experiences, so that our spirit becomes well-rounded and ultimately ascends to the wisest and most enlightened level possible. And throughout our many incarnations, it is essential that we learn from our mistakes. Hopefully I will learn from mine...if I haven't already.

I ended my session with Donna feeling rather dazed and, frankly, sick. In fact, I kind of felt like puking after I got off the phone with her. But I feel like my traumatic past-life memory was something I needed to come to terms with. Over time, I will hopefully be able to clear some of the guilt and sadness that I'm still carrying with me. Writing this blog is my first step in trying to do this. Hopefully, in time, I will begin to feel better, like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders. To be completely honest, I think I feel a tad lighter already.

The videos below are the actual recordings of my regression session with Donna Ciaciarella. Please note that I edited areas where there were long periods of silence or parts that I thought were superfluous. Donna's voice comes in loud and clear, but my voice is a little more difficult to hear, so you may need to adjust your volume accordingly.

POST-SCRIPT: There is a new update to this blog that identifies the exact massacre I was involved with. Click HERE to read.


PART ONE




PART TWO




PART THREE

Meeting Henry James

For your reference, you may want to read the three blogs listed below if you haven't already. They will provide all the necessary backstory to this blog:

http://mattboourns.blogspot.com/2010/01/meeting-my-guides.html

http://mattboourns.blogspot.com/2010/03/meeting-lillian-gish-and-dw-griffith.html

http://mattboourns.blogspot.com/2010/05/meeting-hunter-s-thompson-and-nathanael.html

Basically, I don't have a whole lot to say other than I have identified a seventh (non-family member) spirit guide who apparently helps me with my work. He is Henry James.

James, if you are unfamiliar, was one of the great American novelists of the late 19th/early 20th century. He was known for such novels as The Portrait of a Lady, The American, Washington Square, as well as his short stories like The Beast in the Jungle and The Private Life. His work dealt with how the human consciousness functioned and often focused on how 'New World' Americans interacted with 'Old World' Europeans.

The manner in which I identified James as a guide was a little roundabout. About a month ago, I randomly started getting interested in Pragmatism, which was a philosophy developed by William James. In fact, it was William whom I initially suspected as being a spirit guide of mine, because I had remembered Liam Galvin saying I had philosophers "with me" in spirit (see the videos in the first blog). But upon researching William a bit, I came to realize that he was brothers with Henry James, which is something I hadn't realized. I had always been drawn to Henry James' work, especially The Beast in the Jungle, The Lesson of the Master and The Private Life. So I thought..."hmmmm...maybe he's a guide, too." And for some reason this started to feel that it was likely to be true. Call me weird, but I had a gut feeling about it. It seemed right.

A month went by before I really felt the need to seek confirmation. Like usual, I asked my medium friend Jan to dowse for me (read about dowsing in my second and third bog) and the results were interesting. Here is our unedited correspondence:

----- Original Message -----

From: Matt
To: Jan
Sent: Monday, July 26, 2010 12:34 AM

Subject: Hi Janet

Hi Jan:

I think two more of my spirit guides have been making their presence known to me and I just thought it might be nice to possibly get some confirmation. If you have any moment in the near future, could you dowse and check to see if philosopher William James and novelist Henry James are with me as spirit guides? Their names have been in my head for about a month now and I thought it might be nice to get some sort of confirmation. Again, no rush on this whatsoever. Please don't go to any trouble. Just curious if they are, indeed, "with me." Thanks so much!

-- Matt


----- Original Message -----
From: Jan
To: Matt
Sent: Thursday, July 29, 2010 1:04:52 PM
Subject: Re: Hi Janet

Yes - on Henry James, but no - on William James. But I think that you are supposed to read some of William James' writings. I hope this helps. Enjoy your week in Falmouth! : )

Jan

---

So, according to Jan, Henry was a guide, but William wasn't (though I guess I was supposed to read his writing, which made sense). I thought this was interesting, because I would have thought William was my guide before Henry, seeing that I was so drawn to Pragmatism at the time. But this apparently wasn't the case. Maybe attracting me to Pragmatism was just Henry's indirect way of revealing his identity to me. Who knows?

I also find it interesting that Jan's results proved to be a bit more complicated than just providing affirmative responses, like it did with Hunter Thompson and Nathanael West (see third blog). This time around, I felt that getting a 'no' for William James added to the validity of her dowsing skills. In other words, I wasn't just getting 'yessed' to death. There was something more complex happening other than simply telling me what I wanted to hear.

So, yes, as of this date I have identified seven non-family-member spirit guides who, I guess, help me with my creative endeavors. They are John Cassavetes, Alfred Hitchcock, Lillian Gish, D.W. Griffith, Nathanael West, Hunter S. Thompson, and last (but not least) Henry James. When he gave me my reading in January, Liam Galvin had actually told me there were seven main guides who helped me with my work (see videos). Were these the seven guides? Will I identify anybody else? I suppose time will tell.

But, again I find myself wondering how it was that I lucked out and got such great guides (if it's all, indeed, true). I was actually watching an interview with "Jane's Addiction" front-man Perry Farrell not too long ago (click HERE to view), and he was talking about his "spirit" and, specifically, a spirit guide of his who visited him in his dreams. One interesting thing he started talking about was the "law of attraction," which is a concept that most people are familiar with these days, what with the whole "positive psychology" movement and what-not. The law of attraction, if you're not familiar, says that positive people attract other positive people to them in life, like friends, lovers, colleagues etc. Farrell, however, insinuated in his interview that positive people also attract positive people in spirit: that is, positive spirit guides.

So this is kind of an interesting concept: the more positive our endeavors, the more positive energy we attract to us, both on earth and in the spirit realm. And maybe the bigger endeavors we attempt to pursue in life the better guides we get to help us. In other words, we ALL have the ability to attract some really awesome people to us, if only we have the courage to go out and do awesome things. This isn't to say that I'm awesome and this is why I've attracted awesome guides. But I do feel I've taken certain atypical risks in my life that not a whole lot of people take, so maybe it paid off. I don't know.

This is all food for thought, anyway. There may be no truth to it whatsoever, but it makes you think a little bit.

Meeting Hunter S. Thompson and Nathanael West

Perhaps a brief recap of this whole story is in order:

Last January, I was attempting to make a documentary about metaphysics. The film was meant to be a sort of sequel to my short documentary "A Parallel World", which was about a haunted house on Cape Cod (click HERE to view). I didn't know what I wanted the so-called sequel to be about, but I essentially wanted to further explore the possibility of a spiritual dimension coexisting with our physical world, one comprised of spirits (deceased humans), more intelligent energies (what we would refer to as 'angels') and a most intelligent energy (what we would refer to as 'God').

My attempt to film such a documentary ultimately led me to a medium named Liam Galvin. Galvin is renown for his mediumship and has written several books about the so-called "spiritual world". I met Galvin through a friend of mine and he was kind enough to schedule a reading with me, both for the purpose of my documentary but also for my own personal interest. Although it usually takes about three months to get a reading with Galvin (because he's so good at what he does), he was actually kind enough to fit me in within two weeks time.

So on January 25, I sat down with Liam at a place called "The Healing Moon" in Norwood, MA., and it wasn't even five minutes into the reading that I was essentially shocked by what was happening. Not only did I end up talking with my two dead grandfathers but Liam also identified two of my "spirit guides" as being Alfred Hitchcock and indie film director/ex-Hollywood actor John Cassavetes. Liam also said I had a beautiful actress with me from the 1920s or 30s, as well as writers, musicians and philosophers. You can read the full story and listen to the audio tapes of my reading with Liam by clicking HERE.

The night after the reading, I went home and had a very strange experience while in bed trying to fall asleep. The name "Lillian Gish" suddenly popped in my head and then a B&W image of D.W. Griffith flashed in my mind's eye. Gish, if you're not familiar, was an extremely famous actress from the silent film era and Griffith was one of the first big directors of the early Hollywood days (his films Birth of a Nation and Intolerance were among the most significant of the silent era). I didn't know why these two people came into my mind, but, with the help of another medium friend (Jan), I eventually came to identify them as two more of my spirit guides. To read the full story of this particular discovery, click HERE.

After identifying Gish and Griffith as spirit guides - in addition to Cassavetes and Hitchcock - I basically tried to forget about all this spiritual stuff. Although I believed in everything that was happening, part of me was still kind of weirded-out by it all. I mean, it's not exactly normal to be walking around thinking you're haunted by the spirits of four ex-famous people. Though I was excited by my discoveries at first, I felt a little stupid in the long run. Kind of delusional. Maybe even a little crazy. So I basically tried to put it all in the back of my mind in hope of returning to a state of mental normalcy.

But my guides weren't through talking to me. Only a week or so after "meeting" Gish and Griffith, another random name entered my mind: Nathanael West.

West, if you're not familiar, was a big writer from the 1930s. His novel Miss Lonelyhearts (1933) is considered his masterpiece while The Day of the Locust (1939) is considered to be one of the best novels about the early years of Hollywood (the latter novel is often said to be on the same level as F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Last Tycoon).

I actually read The Day of the Locust a year or two ago as research for my own Hollywood novel, so I was somewhat familiar with West, but I found it odd how - all of a sudden - his name kept echoing in my mind. At first I kind of just said "All right, maybe this is significant," but, to tell you the truth, I didn't really care all that much. Maybe Nathanael West was my spirit guide or maybe I randomly had Nathanael West in my thoughts for no significant reason -- the bottom line was that I was more or less tired of all this spirit stuff and wanted to concentrate on other things.

West, however, wouldn't let me forget about him. A couple days later, I was paging through the Boston Sunday Globe newspaper and I suddenly saw the name Nathanael West staring at me from one of the inner pages of the "Ideas" section. Apparently there was a new book that had just come out about the life of West and his wife Eileen McKenney (entitled Lonelyhearts: The Screwball World of Nathanael West and Eileen McKenney). I read the article on the book and it gave me a really weird feeling. There seemed to be something significant about this Nathanael West guy. The idea of him being a spirit guide felt a little more possible...but, still, I didn't feel any real need to confirm my feelings. I could have gone to one of my medium friends for confirmation - like I did with Jan when I was curious about Gish and Griffith - but I decided not to. I didn't want to bother her any more.

A month or two passed and West remained in the back of my mind, though my immediate thoughts were on other things. I probably never would have gone to any effort of confirming him as a spirit guide if it wasn't for another development in this whole story. About six weeks later (i.e. two weeks ago), I was polishing my novel for probably the five-thousandth time when a thought suddenly entered my mind. For some reason, I started acknowledging certain affinities between my work and the work of Hunter S. Thompson's Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. Then I remembered how Liam Galvin had told me I had five writers with me as spirit guides, which is something that - for some reason - didn't interest me too much at the time (I basically figured the writers were unknowns from way back in the past). But, suddenly, I started to think "Hmmm...maybe Hunter's one of those five."

But, of course, the idea seemed rather far-fetched. First of all, I've always like Hunter's work (Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas is one of my favorite books of all time), so I kind of chalked up the whole idea of him being my guide as "wishful thinking". Plus, Hunter has only been dead for five years; I mean, he friggin' committed suicide in February 2005, for Christ sakes. The idea of a guy shooting himself and, sometime within a five-year period, attaching himself to me as a guide, seemed like a really wacky idea. So I kind of laughed off the whole thing and tried to forget about it, kind of like I tried to do with West.

But Hunter wasn't going to let me forget about him either. Day after day passed and I had extreme difficulty getting him out of my mind. For some reason, I felt compelled to go on Youtube and start watching Hunter S. Thompson interviews and other video clips. I looked up photos of him on the Internet and read little tidbits about his life. Looking at him and listening to him struck a chord within me. There was something strange going on.

About a week later, I finally came to the point where I started to seriously consider the idea that maybe - just maybe - Hunter was actually with me as a guide, and I stress 'maybe'. Possibly. Conceivably. There was a one-percent chance. But, still, I wasn't quite ready to consult with someone like Jan, mainly because I didn't want to make a complete ass of myself if the answer was 'no'. I wanted to, first, try and confirm my suspicions via a few methods I could perform myself.

The first thing I did was 'dowse', just as I did with Gish and Griffith. I explain the concept of 'dowsing' in my last blog but let me give you a brief explanation here: What you essentially do is hold a pendulum in your hand and ask your spirit guides 'yes' or 'no' questions. Usually your guides start moving the pendulum in a clockwise direction if the answer to the question is a 'yes' and in a counter-clockwise direction if the answer to the question is a 'no'. However, I find that you can calibrate the pendulum in any fashion you want to. For example, sometimes I ask that the guides show me a 'yes' by simply moving the pendulum and a 'no' by not moving it.

Anyway, by means of dowsing with my (home-made) pendulum, I was able to further confirm my suspicions that Hunter was with me as a guide. Basically, when I asked if Hunter was present, the pendulum would move like crazy, without my help or the help of any external stimulus. In other words, the pendulum's movement was entirely 'paranormal'.

Watch the video below for a demonstration of this phenomenon:



So, yes, the dowsing - once again - yielded some interesting results and I was one step closer to being convinced Hunter may have been with me as a guide. But I still had my doubts. After all, the pendulum could have moved from my own subconscious energy, especially if - deep down - I really wanted to believe Hunter was my guide. Clearly I needed more evidence before I drew any conclusions, but I still felt foolish consulting with a third party like Jan. I mean, think about how silly I would have sounded: "Hey, Jan, could you just check and see if the spirit of Hunter S. Thompson is haunting me? Thanks a bunch." And if the answer turned out to be 'no' I'd feel like a royal schmuck. "Who do you think you are, Matt, thinking a dude like Hunter S. Thompson is with you as a guide? Get off your high horse, ya stupid hediot!"

Yes, I needed a little more convincing before I consulted with my medium friend. So I tried one other experiment, a method that paranormal investigators refer to as an "EVP session". "EVP" (if you've never watched the shows "Ghost Hunters" or "Ghost Adventures") stands for electronic voice phenomenon. What you do is basically take a voice recorder and ask spirits questions in hope that they provide answers. Metaphysical theory suggests that it takes less energy for a ghost to communicate through the audio frequency recorded on an audio tape than it does through the frequency we hear with our own naked ears. This means that we may not hear the ghosts respond to our questions, but they may still turn up on the recorder.

Anyway, I managed to get my hands on a digital audio recorder and I began an EVP session by simply asking Hunter to say something I would be able to hear when I played the tape back, so that I would know he was with me. However, after a couple of tries, nothing turned up - no voices as far as I could hear.

So I altered my approach a bit. I began another EVP session where I asked Hunter to knock or click or make two sounds twice, as confirmation that he was, indeed, with me. And it was after this request that something rather interesting happened. About five seconds after I asked the question, I felt as though something flew past my eyes, kind of like a bug, but it wasn't solid. The best way to describe it is that it was like a ball of energy...sort of like an orb, though it wasn't illuminated. And, then, about a second or two after I saw the orb (call it what you will), I heard a noise that I'm still having trouble finding an explanation for. Listen to the audio clip below and hear for yourself:

(Note about this clip: the reason why I specify that Hunter only communicates with me if he is "in the light" is because I was afraid of attracting any kind of negative energy to myself. Hunter, after all, committed suicide, so I was concerned that he may not have made it into the light after passing. Spirits who aren't in the light are not good to have around you, not necessarily because they're negative or evil, but because their intentions are often misguided, even selfish, and they may influence you in ways that are not in your personal best interest.)





Now, the above audio clip is played at regular speed and - to the the naked ear - the noise sounds like it is one single 'click'. However, upon slowing the clip down, the noise is actually two distinct clicks that come right after each other. Here is the same clip played at a slower speed:





So, yes, there seems to be two distinct noises in the above audio clip, but why are they so close together when played at normal speed? Why wouldn't Hunter (if it WAS Hunter who made the noises) have spaced them out more? Well, there is one possible explanation for this. Metaphysical theory suggests that many spirits (especially those who are in the light and not earthbound ghosts) are operating at a higher energy vibration than human beings. What this sometimes means is that their method of communicating can be much faster than our kind of communication. EVPS from these particular spirits will sound sped-up, like they are in fast-forward. In other words, the two clicks in the above audio clip may sound fast to the human ear, but to a higher spirit like Hunter S. Thompson, they may be slower, more spaced out and not sound like they're layered on top of each other. This is a possible explanation.

Anyway, all this talk about EVPs and vibrations may sound strange and complicated to the everyday layman, but the fact of the matter is that I seemed to get an appropriate response when I asked Hunter to make two noises. Surely the 'clicks' could have sounded out of sheer coincidence, but I have to say I never heard the noises again and I really couldn't identify the source of them. Plus, there was that weird orby-thing that flew in front of my eyes only seconds before I heard the noise, which only adds to the strangeness of it all.

Paranormal or not, the results of the EVP session were undeniably interesting. But I STILL was nervous about consulting with Jan and asking her to see if Hunter was with me. The whole idea seemed too far-fetched, and if the answer was 'no' I would have felt like the biggest ass in the friggin' world.

Days passed and I, again, tried to forget about the entire situation. But I had great difficulty doing so. Hunter simply wouldn't get out of my mind, and, eventually, I came to realize that, if Hunter was with me, I really needed to know, one way or the other...literally, for my own peace of mind. I needed confirmation.

So I finally caved and wrote an email to Jan. As I mentioned in my previous blog (click HERE to read), Jan is an experienced dowser with both psychic and medium abilities. Keep in mind that I don't pay her for her services. She is simply a friend kind enough to help me out with my metaphysical questions. She has nothing to gain by telling me what I want to hear.

Anyway, here is our email correspondence. It's brief, simple, and pretty damn straight-forward. Also, you will notice that I asked her about Nathanael West as well. I figured I might as well try and get both names out of my head while I was at it; you know, kill two birds with one stone.

---

----- Original Message -----
From: Matt
To: Jan
Sent: Tuesday, May 25, 2010 3:30 PM
Subject: Re: question

Hi Jan,

Just another question to run by you if you have any free moment. Absolutely no rush.

The medium I went to a while back said I had five writers with me as spirit guides and two names have been in my mind lately that I just wanted to run by you: Hunter S. Thompson and Nathanael West. If you have a moment could you dowse to see if these people are with me as guides, just to rule them out and get them out of my mind? Again, absolutely no rush.

Thanks a lot. I really appreciate the help.

--Matt


----- Original Message -----
From: Jan
To: Matt
Sent: Thursday, May 27, 2010 8:44:17 PM
Subject: Re: question

Yes on both counts! : )


----- Original Message -----
From: Matt
To: Jan
Sent: Friday, May 28, 2010 3:44:17 PM
Subject: Re: question

Wow hahaha. Thanks again for your help! I really appreciate it!!!

---

So, indeed, the answer, according to Jan, was simple: YES...both Nathanael West and Hunter S. Thompson were with me as spirit guides. Now, I'm not saying that Jan's dowsing results are one-hundred-percent accurate, but I do have to say that she's usually right. I mean, her results combined with my own dowsing results (not to mention the EVP session) have basically convinced me that, yes, it's probably true that both Hunter and Nathanael are two of my spirit guides.

Needless to say, this is all pretty crazy. I mean, knowing that a guy like Hunter is with me is a really intense feeling. This is the guy who wrote The Rum Diaries (the inspiration behind my "Natty Ice Diaries") and Hell's Angels and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. He worked and became good friends with Johnny Depp and Benicio Del Toro while making the Fear and Loathing movie. He was a pop-cultural icon in the 70s, writing for Rolling Stone and Sports Illustrated and covering the disillusioning Nixon era with his unique "Gonzo" journalism. It's very surreal that Hunter is actually with me right now. I mean, he knows who I am! That's a really weird thought.

And then, of course, there's Nathanael West, one of the great novelists of the early twentieth century. The Day of the Locust was an ingenious novel, probably one of the best Hollywood novels I read while researching my own novel. I'm sure he provided a lot of assistance when I was writing my book.

So, yes, discovering Hunter and Nathanael are with me as guides is an incredible feeling; however, what's even more incredible about the whole experience is how, again, my guides were able to telepathically reveal their identities to me (just as Gish and Griffith did). I mean, their names just popped into my head in a very weird way and haunted my thoughts until I finally got some confirmation that they were, indeed, with me as guides. For some reason, they felt it was time to reveal their identities. Why now? I don't know.

What's also interesting about the situation is how both Hunter and Nathanael experienced really tragic deaths at the end of their life, but are now (apparently) alive and well in the spiritual dimension. I mean, Hunter, of course, committed suicide, so it's interesting to see that he made it to "the other side" in one piece and is still doing his thing. And then there's Nathanael who actually died in a tragic car accident while driving to his friend F. Scott Fitzgerald's funeral in 1940.

Hunter's situation, in particular, raises some interesting questions about the concept of suicide. Is killing oneself really the ultimate sin? Was it wrong for him to do it? Was it his fate? Maybe Hunter's helping me out now for Karmic reasons, because he cut his life as a writer on earth too short. In fact, maybe Nathanael is helping me out for similar reasons: that is, because his own life was cut too short (for reasons outside of his control, of course). Or maybe everything was meant to be. They were meant to die when they did. It was all part of God's grand design.

Whatever the reasons, I am honored to have Hunter and Nathanael helping me out. I'm sure there's more spirit guides to identify, but I have no idea who they are at this point in time. Liam said I had three more writers with me, not to mention musicians and even philosophers. It will be interesting to see if these people ever decide to reveal their identities; maybe, over time, they will. But, frankly, I'm happy enough knowing Hunter and Nathanael are with me, not to mention John Cassavetes, Alfred Hitchcock, Lillian Gish and D.W Griffith. It's nice to know that these people are endorsing my endeavors. They give me a feeling of validation, especially during the times when I start doubting myself and the creative life I lead.

Now, one thing a lot of people are probably wondering right now is where the hell all these spirit guides are? I mean, if they're "with me", where are they in relation to my physical self? And, to be honest with you, I don't really know how to answer this question other than to say that the spirits exist in a completely different (i.e. non-physical) dimension that we can't see with our own eyes and therefore have a difficult time comprehending. But it's important to remember that our eyes are only designed to process a very narrow spectrum of light, which means that we only see a fraction of what is actually in front of us. If our eyes were designed to process a much broader spectrum of light (one that would include infra-rays and ultra-violet rays) then we would probably be able to see a lot more spirit activity, as spirit energy usually only makes itself visible in the higher portion of the light spectrum. This, incidentally, is why so-called "Ghost Hunters" have more success capturing spirits with "full-spectrum" cameras (i.e. cameras with lenses that can process both infra-red and ultra-violet rays).

The bottom line is that our concept of reality is unavoidably limited because we can see very little of what's in front of us. So, in the end, who is to say that our guides aren't around us all the time? Maybe they are, but we just don't know it. Maybe an entire world of spirits surrounds us on a 24/7 basis, but we're just completely blind to it.

Meeting Lillian Gish and D.W. Griffith

A couple of months ago, I visited a renown medium named Liam Galvin who, among other things, informed me that I not only had my two dead grandfathers "with me" as spirit guides, but also the spirits of John Cassavetes, Alfred Hitchcock and a beautiful actress from the early 1900s whom he wasn't able to identify. (To read about this story, visit this link: 
http://mattboourns.blogspot.com/2010/01/meeting-my-guides.html)

Curious about the actress' identity, I went home that night, lied in my bed and thought about who she could possibly be. Little did I know that I wasn't going to have to wait very long for an answer. As I was laying against my pillow - trying to get some sleep - a name suddenly entered my mind: Lillian Gish.

Now, when I say the name 'entered' my mind I mean, literally, it seemed to just pop into my head. The best way to describe the sensation is that I felt as though I didn't think of the name myself. As corny as it may sound, it was almost as though the name was inserted into my mind, like from some unseen force.

Oddly enough, Lillian Gish wasn't even an actress who I was very familiar with. I remembered hearing the name here and there while I was in film school and when I used to research the history of Hollywood, but I actually thought she was an actress Charlie Chaplin used in a lot of his movies. In fact, I was literally saying inside my head, "Hmmm...Lillian Gish...wasn't that the actress in all of Chaplin's movies?" And it was at this point that another name immediately entered my mind, as though it were a response to my question: D.W Griffith.

Griffith, if you're not familiar with the name, basically started Hollywood. I mean, obviously there were several different pioneers involved with putting Hollywood on the map, but Griffith was a sort of godfather of the Hollywood film movement. His film Birth of a Nation in 1915 was the highest-grossing movie of its day and revolutionized the art of filmmaking with its innovative cinematic techniques. Birth was the film that inspired Louis B. Mayer to enter the movie business and start MGM studios. It was the film that made people realize the pictures was not some superficial fad or silly novelty but a serious art; the wave of the future; a respectable means of individual expression (and, in the eyes of people like Mayer, a way to make some serious cash).

Anyway, Griffith's name came into my head differently than Gish's did. Where with Gish I simply got the name in my head, in Griffith's case, an actual image of his face entered my mind. It was a B&W photograph that flashed in my mind's eye for about one full second and I immediately identified the person in the photograph as Griffith. Just like with Gish's name, it was as though some unseen force planted this photograph into my mind. I did not consciously think up this image. It was very different from how I knew my brain and thought processes to operate. I realize this may sound wacky and somewhat crazy, but I do not know how else to explain it.

The next day, I woke up, Googled the two names and discovered that Gish and Griffith (much to my surprise) had a big connection with one another...like, a really big connection. In fact, Gish starred in pretty much all of D.W Griffith's significant films, including Birth of a Nation, and also films like Intolerance and Broken Blossoms (two other Griffith masterworks). The director and the actress were like how Scorsese and Deniro were in the 70s/80s, or how Tim Burton and Johnny Depp are today. They were basically a package deal.

Needless to say, I was intrigued by this discovery: how odd it was for these two names to pop into my head when I wasn't even consciously aware that they had such a connection with each other. What did it all mean...if anything? Was Gish the actress who Liam Galvin thought was with me as a spirit guide? And how did Griffith fit into this picture? Was the image of Griffith in my head just Gish's way of helping me identify her as a spirit guide? Or was there something more to this? Was Griffith another one of my guides???

There were a couple of ways I went about finding answers to these questions. First of all, I tried a method that is commonly used by meta-physicists to communicate with the spirit world; it is a technique called 'dowsing' (read about it at this link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dowsing). There are several tools one can use when they 'dowse' but I find that the one that works best for me is a pendulum. What you essentially do is hold the pendulum in your hand and ask your spirit guides 'yes' or 'no' questions. Usually your guides start moving the pendulum in a clockwise direction if the answer to the question is a 'yes' and in a counter-clockwise direction if the answer to the question is a 'no'. However, I find that you can calibrate the pendulum in any fashion you want to. For example, sometimes I ask that the guides show me a 'yes' by simply moving the pendulum and a 'no' by not moving it.

Anyway, by means of dowsing with my pendulum, I was able to come to the conclusion that Lillian Gish and D.W. Griffith were, indeed, "with me" as spirit guides. As you will see in the video demonstration below, I simply asked my pendulum to move as much as possible if the spirits of Gish and Griffith were with me; and sure enough, the pendulum moved like crazy - on its own - without my help or the help of any force in the real world. In other words, the movement of the pendulum was completely "paranormal".

Watch and observe the phenomenon in this video. And, by the way, anybody can do this. All you need is a pendulum of some sort and an open mind:




So, yes, the dowsing yielded some very interesting results, but I still didn't see it as conclusive evidence proving Gish and Griffith were my spirit guides. First of all, I didn't completely trust my dowsing skills. And I also worried that the movement of the pendulum was potentially created by my own subconscious energy, not by the energy of a spirit guide independent from myself. What I needed to do was get a neutral, third-party to dowse for me. This way, I could definitely rule out the possibility of my subconscious skewing my results.

So I consequently consulted a more experienced dowser (and also a medium) whose full name I cannot publish right now, so I will simply call her Jan. Jan has significant psychic abilities and has been dowsing for several years now, almost always with successful results. I contacted Jan via email, told her my dilemma and had her dowse for me. Here is our email correspondence:

----- Original Message -----

From: Matt
To: Jan

Sent: Monday, March 22, 2010 9:29 PM

Subject: two questions

Hi Jan,

I have two random questions that I thought your dowsing may be able to shed some light on. Please understand there is no rush in answering, as it's no emergency. I'm just trying to fit some pieces into a puzzle here and I thought you may be able to help. I don't even know if these questions are answerable but I thought I would give it a shot.

1. Is the former actress Lillian Gish "with me" as a spirit guide?
2. If so, do I have a past life connection with her?

I ask these questions after seeing a medium and he said I had an actress from the early 20th century "with me". He also said I had a past life in California. I was just curious to see what kind of answers you could get for me. Again, no rush. Just curious if you have a moment. Thanks so much! -Matt

----- Original Message -----
From: Jan
To: Matt
Sent: Thursday, March 25, 2010 5:06:41 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern
Subject: Re: two questions 

Hi Matt,

If I'm dousing correctly, yes on #1 and no on #2. I hope this helps with the puzzle pieces. I think you also did have a past life in Calif. I don't know how to explain past lives. I don't think it's reincarnation, but I don't know that we can truly understand what past lives means. I'm glad you weren't in a rush because I was busy this week and didn't see your email right away.

Take care!

Jan

----- Original Message -----

From: Matt
To: Jan

Sent: Friday, March 26, 2010 1:16 PM

Subject: Re: two questions

Thanks, Jan! That's a good source of confirmation for me. Lillian Gish popped into my head the night after I saw the medium and I felt that she was the actress who was with me. There's just one other name that's been popping into my head, a former director named D.W. Griffith (i.e. David Llewelyn Wark Griffith). I'm not sure if it's because he worked with Gish a lot or if he is also a guide. If you have a spare moment could you ask if he is with me as a guide? Griffith is the last name that has been puzzling me. I'm probably going to try and talk to Beverly about the past life stuff.

Thanks so much!
Matt

----- Original Message -----
From: Jan
To: Matt
Sent: Saturday, March 27, 2010 10:25:06 AM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern
Subject: Re: two questions 

He's one of your guides too. But no connection in a past life. I'm glad to be able to help!

----- Original Message -----
From: Matt
To: Jan

Sent: Saturday, March 27, 2010 2:02 PM

Subject: Re: two questions

Thanks Jan! That's incredible. Very flattering to have these people at my side. The medium told me I had Alfred Hitchcock with me as well, which basically shocked the both of us. Thanks so much for your help! I really appreciate it.

----- Original Message -----
From: Jan
To: Matt
Sent: Saturday, March 27, 2010 2:15:24 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern
Subject: Re: two questions

I guess you should keep writing - with an entourage like that behind you!!! Good luck and may God bless your work - and you!!

----------

So there it was: confirmation from a reliable third-party source that Lillian Gish and D.W Griffith were two of my spirit guides, in addition to John Cassavetes and Alfred Hitchcock, not to mention others whom I have not identified and am not sure if I ever will.

As I mentioned in the above emails, I felt extremely flattered by such a discovery. First of all, Lillian Gish is an icon of the silent screen. She was the star of some of the most significant films of the silent era. Hell, Smashing Pumpkins named their first album after her (Gish)! She was an absolutely beautiful woman (just look at her photo above). It's like having a beautiful metaphysical girlfriend with me all the time, which probably sounds like a pathetic thing to say, but it is kind of a cool feeling I must admit.

And then, of course, there is Mr. Griffith, who is basically Mr. Hollywood. His film Birth of a Nation was essentially the Titanic and Avatar of its day (only much better). And his film Intolerance - a huge and enormously expensive epic film - will always be remembered as being Hollywood's most ambitious project in the industry's history. How honored I am to have this man as a spirit guide.

So, yes, identifying Gish and Griffith as my guides is an incredible feeling, but I think what's even more incredible about this whole experience is seeing how my guides were able to telepathically communicate their identities to me. I mean, never in my whole life would I have ever thought that Gish and Griffith were two of my spirit guides, but then their names randomly popped into my head while I was in bed that night. Honestly, at first I thought my brain was just getting wacky on me, but I guess I was actually experiencing a form of direct communication from the spirit world. My guides were speaking to me.

Furthermore, it's nice to know that Gish and Griffith are together again on "the other side". Gish has actually only been dead for seventeen years - she died in 1993 - but Griffith died way back in 1948. In fact, his death was rather sad and tragic. Supposedly, he was somewhat depressed, still in debt from Intolerance (one of the most expensive films ever made in Hollywood) and also disgruntled with the direction in which the film industry was going at the time. One July night he was drinking at the bar in Hollywood's famous Knickerbocker hotel, got up to go to his room and was found a while later unconscious on his floor. He died on his way to the hospital from what was reported to be a cerebral hemorrhage.

Anyway, it's somewhat comforting to know that Griffith is OK, still alive (in spirit form) and has seemed to have reunited with one of his soul mates. They may not like me saying this, but there were actually rumors of Gish and Griffith being romantically involved at one point or another, though they never admitted to being an official couple. Neither of the two ever married anybody, so maybe they were secretly in love with one another but didn't know it...or just couldn't make the relationship work during their time on the earth. Romantic or not, one thing is for sure: Gish and Griffith were extremely good buds. And if they are, indeed, my spirit guides, I guess it's pretty safe to assume that they're still really good buds in the spiritual dimension.

So now the question lingers: why the hell have these people chosen to be my guides? I mean, we're talking John Cassavetes, Alfred Hitchcock, Lillian Gish and D.W. Griffith. These are some really big names. They were really good at what they did. Why did they choose me? Or why did I choose them (many theories suggest that we choose our guides before we are born)? Who really does the choosing? How does all this stuff work??? I have so many more questions, but the fact of the matter is that I'll probably never get them all answered...not while I'm alive, anyway.

My guess is that they're with me - more or less - because of one particular project I've been working on that I won't say too much about other than that it does involve Hollywood, the film industry, the media, our celebrity culture and just the American culture in general. Judging from what I know about Griffith, Gish and the others, I think they would probably believe in the project and be supportive of my purpose in doing it. Hopefully - some day - I will be able to get this project out to the public; but until then, I simply appreciate the fact that I'm having some great people help me with it. At the risk of sounding looney and weird, I would like to now thank my invisible friends. Thanks, dudes! I appreciate your support.

Now I really only have one more thing bothering me: who I was in my past life. In her emails, Jan told me I didn't have any past life connection to Griffith or Gish but confirmed what Liam Galvin told me about having a past life in California. Honestly, I don't really know who I could have been. It's possible I was just some anonymous Native American or Mexican or something. I'm not sure if I will ever find out. Maybe I'm not meant to find out. Who knows....

To be continued. Maybe.

Crossing Over

On March 18, 2010 I witnessed something very fascinating that I think people will also find rather fascinating. A circle of mediums congregated at a place in Easton, Massachusetts to cross a woman's (her name is Linda in the video) grandmother over to the "other side". Linda's grandmother had been pestering her for two years after passing and refused to "go into the light". She was afraid of having to face God and look back on what she had done during her time on earth.

I was fortunate to be able to videotape the 'crossing' and I share it here for others to view. Among other things, the video begins to answer our questions about what happens to us after we die. It also explores concepts such as "life reviews" and "life contracts", the importance of forgiveness, and the soul versus the body.

The 'crossing' is conducted by a renown medium named Liam Galvin. His voice may sound strange at times because he is actually channeling his spirit guide who is helping with the ceremony. Enjoy!


PART ONE




PART TWO