The Wheel of Eternity: How the Witness Learned about Her Task

Disney Haunted Mansion publicity photo
 
 

The Wheel of Eternity is a nonfiction case study that offers readers an opportunity to consider such subjects as 'ghosts,' 'extra-sensory perception' and an intermediary "divine Creative Force" from the perspective of a psychic who wrote several books about her strange experiences.

Helen Greaves wrote in the Preface of The Wheel of Eternity (1974) that the book "may be read as an allegory, as an imaginary tale, as inspiration, as a thesis on archetypes in man, or as a telepathic record from Mind to mind of an actual happening out of time and space."  To the author, "this last statement is fact" because in every chapter Helen "participated, not only as recorder, but as one with those who were living through their deep emotional experiences."  She was referring to three people who'd previously lived in the locality of her new home and now inhabited the ascended realm of existence.  This article profiles the incidents recounted by Helen in the first five chapters of the book.  The case study offers evidence that there is a "force of Love which acts as the God-Power to bring all souls into peace, progress and Light."

In Autumn 1971, Helen moved into a 16th Century cottage of a village in Sussex, England.  Within a few weeks of settling in, she was reading near the electric fireplace when her "attention was drawn from my book by a strange feeling of apprehension" —
 

Startled, I looked up.  Immediately, I became 'aware' of an old woman.  She was sitting in the armchair opposite, and she was staring at me with curiosity and interest.

 

Helen first asked herself if she was seeing a ghost.  She commented about her previous psychic experiences: "Always I had been aware of the appearance of a departed spirit, but that had always been an inner seeing."  The old woman wore an antique dress with a white apron over the front.  Helen learned that her name was 'Nan.'

Then she explained her right to be in the cottage.  This had been her "very own" home, she communicated through the mind; she had lived here by herself, "since my Mistress died," which I gathered was some years before.


She had been a servant for years, she told me, in a large house not far away . . .

Then: ". . . the old woman was gone."

There was another "visit from my fellow-occupant" in early December with another encounter the following night.  Nan spoke about her wealthy Mistress who always wore a "real silver" chain with a "great locket."  Helen began learning details of the Earth lives of the old woman and her Mistress, whose son was a teenager when he drowned in a nearby pond.

I was often conscious of the old woman in my sitting room.


Whether she thought or not, I had no way of discovering, but at times I would pick up an idea from her mind.


It is a strange, almost eerie, experience to be hearing the secret thoughts of another individual, especially when I was quite aware that this was a disembodied spirit, locked up and earthbound in her own world of illusion.

What Helen learned stunned her —
 

"Not that the old Master knew much.  'E was too easy-going with 'er, and she knew 'ow to get round him.


. . . the Boy weren't 'is own flesh and blood . . . a fly-by-night, a romp-in-the-'ay child of an 'andsome gardener wot come to work for us for a while.  Oh, the Mistress was proud and self-willed.

In the third chapter "The Vision," Helen described what she experienced and learned "One Sunday morning in January, after a relaxed and gentle meditation."  She was "swept into another state of consciousness, indeed a new world."
 

This was a state in which I heard, I saw, I knew.  I found myself a part of a living tableau, deeply involved with it, as the tableau was broken up into varied scenes, and the scenes into a dramatic drama.

For nearly two hours (checked later by the clock), I remained in this extended consciousness.  I seemed to be a living sentient Mind, separated from the body.  There was no time; past, present and future were all one, for I lived in past actions, forgotten dramas, which were all strange to me, as well as 'taking part' in pre-cognitive future happenings.


As I lay with my eyes closed, utterly engrossed, the drama unfolded and, as in a play, one act led on to another and finally to the climax.  It was all tightly knit, and entirely plausible.  The actors pulsated with life, and human passion rang through it all . . . and in a strange way I felt myself a part of it . . . as indeed I was to be, yet at that time I had no notion of such a possibility.  But as days and weeks passed, and other 'visitors' from a future life communicated with me, this painful saga of three lives resolved itself into such a tremendous Purpose as to stir my very soul to its depths.


Soon I realised that the appearance of the old serving woman in the cottage had been the curtain raiser to a new consciousness and a task which I could not refuse.  Later, when I was able to bring my reasoning mind into the examination of this phenomenon, I was able to sift this vital interplay between mind and Mind, and mind and matter.  It was all part of the same Power, the Alpha and Omega of existence . . . Spirit.

Helen wrote that during the long January evenings she was often aware of the old servant with information imparted "about her life as a maid in the big house."  There were also "the scenes in the vision" to consider.

The mistress, it appeared, did not marry until in her late twenties, which was surprising, as she was both rich and handsome.  Then she took for husband a man much older than she, and he seemed to be under her thumb from the very beginning.


There were no children, until the boy arrived some years after the marriage, when his mother was in her middle thirties.


Suffice it that the wandering gardener was evidently seduced by a passion-hungry woman, and there was a short-lived intense affair between them, of which the complacent husband appeared completely unaware.


Later, the mistress' son was born, an unwanted child who soon showed signs of a maladjusted mind and an uncontrolled body.

The boy's mother could not bear him near her; he was both an embarrassment and an intrusion into her ordered life.  She abandoned him to the care of the servants, so that my visitor assumed the role of confidante and protector.


. . . it was his love for the birds which caused his death.  He was fifteen at the time, a big gangling youth with good features but a vacant expression.


It appears that a blackbird with a broken wing had taken refuge on a branch of a tree overhanging the pond.  The boy caught sight of it, as it fluttered down on to the water, and lay there helpless.  He, innocent of danger, waded out to help it and stepped into a deep hole.  He could not swim and by the time the gardener saw him his body was floating face downwards and his half-life was over.  My old woman had never completely forgiven herself for not having been beside him to raise the alarm.

But it was the mother's attitude which riled her.  The mistress took it calmly . . . "never shed a tear, she didn't," and after the funeral gave orders for everything of her son's to be removed and destroyed.


She [the Mistress]  was then about fifty years old and her husband much older.  The winter following the tragedy, the husband caught pneumonia and died and she was left alone, except for the servants, in the big house.  After that, according to her maid, she became tyrannical, resentful, and her health deteriorated.  For the last ten years of her life she was practically an invalid, with heart trouble and other maladies.  She died alone and with an expression of terror on her face that seemed to have burnt itself into the memory of the old servant.

When relatives took over the house, old Nan was offered the tiny cottage as a home.  Helen had become familiar with "the mind and memories of this poor earthbound soul."

One evening in late January, Helen experienced "a heightening (I use this word for want of a better) of the vibrations."

On to my inner sight flashed the figures of two Visitors from another World.  It was quite obvious to me that I could never have seen them with my physical eyes, so different were they from the poor earthbound entity who thought she shared my cottage.

They shone.  I can explain it no other way.  To me, the room was filled with Light and pervaded with such a sweetness and love that I was aware of tears in my eyes.


They were young men, though one appeared little more than a youth, and the other gave the impression of wisdom and experience which came from age, yet had nothing to do with our material measurement of years. 

Helen mentioned that the one who gave the impression of wisdom had an expression of beauty and serenity.  "His robe, which was white, gleamed as though light flowed through it."

At last my attention was caught by the younger man.  His face had a chiselled look, almost as if he was carved in marble, so perfect were his features.  Yet he did not glow, as his companion did.  I found myself puzzling about this, when I was interrupted by a startling thought that was shot into my mind, like a firework exploding in my consciousness.

"The Boy."  Just those two words.  "The Boy."

I was silenced.  Was this an hallucination?  Immediately, my physical mind interrupted, reasoning that the Boy, of whom I had learned from the old servant, had been weak in intellect.  This youth, I felt, was a soul advanced in wisdom.  I must have been mistaken.

But presently I knew that the mind of this young man was communicating with mine.  Quickly I caught up pad and pen.  This, I knew, must be recorded.

Here are some excerpts of the discourse quoted by Helen.

"I am the Boy, of whom you have heard," came the words.  "The poor creature who once lived in this neighbourhood where you now dwell.  Yes, I recall that I passed from earthlife by drowning.  You cannot 'see' me as yet, but your Self is aware of the contact, and this has come as a surprise to you.  Yes, I am the Boy, of whom the earthbound woman spoke, the son of the Mistress she served.  I was a soul drawn to earth-life in a body of flesh created by the lowest physical emotions of lust and not by love.  You have not, perhaps, realised that a love-body, i.e. cells joined and fused in the physical union of two who love each other, is often of superior quality to the flesh formation of a casual coupling unhallowed by tenderness?"


"This Brother of Light, who stands beside me, is a starry Point in the Group to which I, as a lowly aspiring soul, belong.  It was by his protection and love that I was able to endure the mind-prison of a defective brain in your earth-life, an incarnation which I had chosen for a special experience.  Our souls were so united by love and purpose, that strength was often afforded me as by a miracle.  In sleep I knew his comfort and care; in sleep I beheld his radiance, as a guardian Angel, yet my deficient mind could not retain or express this awareness.  Only in the contact with birds and flowers and trees could I dimly apprehend the Love and Creative Intelligence of Divinity.  I was almost mute, dumb in the physical expression of what my soul knew—I suffered.  My friend, if you wish confirmation of my statements, look with perception into the eyes of a retarded child; there you will often perceive the imprisoned soul, longing for yet incapable of, and therefore denied, expression.

"And so with me.  My mother had no natural love for me.  I was both a reproach and an incubus.  But the serving woman, whom you know as the 'old woman of the cottage,' simple, earthbound, unenlightened, loved me.  She gave me the devotion of her soul and the work of her body.  For such comfort, for such compassion, come We now to bring her Light; to free her from the dark unconsciousness and fear which have clouded her soul for some space of your earth time.

"I myself could accomplish little.  But the power and wisdom of my Brother's consciousness (for he is a most advanced soul), is closer to awareness of the Christ . . ."


"In this release of an imprisoned soul we trust you will play your part as the scribe, the listener, the go-between 'twixt earth consciousness and soul-awareness; and as a catalyst, who is used to trigger recollection from the chain of events."


"Therefore, 'Mind-Catalyst,' before we withdraw our consciousness from yours, My Brother of Light bids you hold your 'fellow-lodger' in the Light of prayerful thought, that of her own accord, she may confide in you those memories and fears that blot her conscience, and hold her to earth.  Farewell."

Helen then wrote:

I put aside the pen and pad.  The session was over. 

The vision which had uplifted my consciousness and had illustrated this story of the Mistress, the Boy and the woman who served them, had in vague references indicated that the story had not ended.

Helen appraised her predicament:

I was a mere cog in the wheel, yet a cog must perform its function.


Before I went to bed, I knew that I was blessed indeed to be allowed to be entrusted even with this humble service.  I felt that my soul had accepted this, long before my rebellious personality had received the smallest inkling concerning the work.

There soon would be another session involving 'the Boy' and at the end of January an encounter with 'the Brother of Light.'  One of the things Helen learned when "the mind of this young man ['the Boy'] was communicating with mine" was:
 

"My Brother has instructed me concerning those Astral Worlds which I passed.  He insists that, although this may not be a part of the death drama for others, yet for me, it was entirely necessary, for when I had attained sufficient spiritual progress I would be joining the Band of Light Brothers, whose work is to release souls held fast in the illusions of the Astral Plane (as is the maid I knew, now the old woman in your cottage)."

Helen explained about the 'Brother of Light':
 

I could not see him with my physical sight, as I had sometimes seen the old lady in the cottage.  I could only sense his presence and build up in my mind's eye what, to me, was his appearance.  I 'saw' him as a humble monk, for he had assumed the brown cassock and the waist-cord of a young Franciscan friar.

The Brother of Light sent his thoughts to me . . .

Here are some passages from the recorded thoughts of the Brother of Light.

"Our duty and service is to aid them to progress from the half-life of these drab abodes into the light and beauty of the higher planes of the Astral World.  To do this we employ all possible means of changing their thought patterns, of dissolving fear and hatred by hope and love.


We observed you, we touched our thoughts with yours during your times of meditation.  We became satisfied that we had discovered a useful channel.  We wished to work with you.


"From your cottage 'lodger' you had learned the story of the Boy and his mother.  He, an advanced soul in a stage of initiation which is incomprehensible to you; she, a young soul, inexperienced and stumbling in its progress.  To your mind was imparted the joy of the fulfillment of one and the tragedy of the failure of another.  Failure, I repeat, which has been brought over to this next stage of life.  I refer, of course, to the mother, whose bitterness has held her chained to the drab Shadow Lands, a soul refusing Light and Love, blinding herself to any opportunity of evolving, hating her present state yet rejecting the idea of any responsibility for it.  She too must be awakened, my Friend; hers is a soul that loved beauty, yet loved it selfishly.  Love itself for others, or even from others, cannot, it seems, reach her.  Self, in its lowest, most limiting form, still imprisons her.  She has no spiritual understanding, no belief and little hope.  Neither her son, nor I, can penetrate through the black despair of her mind.  If, as mankind has pictured for so long, there is a state of hell, then this must be it.  Yet no soul remains in hell for eternity.  God is Love.  Love forgives, Love dissolves hatred.  Love progresses into Light and Beauty.  Love is the Law.  Here we have an example of the lost sheep, for which the Shepherd returns again and again, to retrieve it from its wanderings.  This is evolution; this is progress; and this is the Law of the Creator for all life.

"For this reason, your co-operation is needed.  We can now bring her to you.  You, who live in the material world, and thus are cognizant of its allures, its dangers, its tragedies, can act as a go-between in the service of rescue of this poor benighted creature.  Your mind, inspired by us, might reach hers and implant the certainty of greater Beauty before her, when she sees her mistake and is purged of its bitterness.  This service could prepare her for shock of her shut-in anger, or what she considered was the unfairness of the fate dealt out to her, partly by the fact of her child being 'retarded' and partly by her own inability to redeem her self-centeredness by loving.

"This is a Service We offer you.  But it can only be accomplished with your willing assent and co-operation. . . ."

Helen reacted: "The words ceased flowing into my brain.  I stopped writing.  I sat, almost numbed with this new sense of responsibility . . . I must await future happenings and be prepared for new turns in this most amazing astral drama!"


Update: This article continues in Part 2: "The Wheel of Eternity: The Witness and the Plan".