March 15th , 1916
This connection between you and me is something huge and wonderful. But just as I live and feel with you, you likewise must feel with me and adjust to my current life. I repeat it once more today: I am not dead. Haven’t some of you been dwelling on such thoughts again?
No, my dear ones, I beg you now, destroy the terrible thought “death” once and for all. Don’t you feel the burning pain that overcomes me when you indulge in it? Just imagine: after seven months of spiritual interaction, after all these communications, a wave of mourning now comes over you once again. I don’t want to name any names, but I regret that it has happened and ask that you take this memorandum to heart and act accordingly. I rely on the love and trust in the strength you have to overcome yourselves.
Is it all that difficult to transform the bodily Sigwart into the spiritual Sigwart? Of course I still have the same face, hands and shape as when I lived among you. So see me in your thoughts the way I was, but without matter and otherwise with exactly the same features, because I still have them. It’s like an astral duplicate that exactly replicates the physical, but doesn’t have any physical substance to it. That ought to reassure you.
Once I heard that you didn’t know how you were supposed to imagine me in my present state. You mustn’t err or allow yourselves to be led astray. I am exactly the same Sigwart
as you knew him, and I will stay this way until we are reunited, no matter whether on or above the earth. I send you greetings and fervently entreat you to take today’s ommunication deeply to heart.
Your Sigwart
March 17th, 1916
Today I can resume telling you about my life. Of late, I have been quite preoccupied with helping the recently deceased. That is always an interesting task for me, because it hardly seems possible that nearly all the people presently living on the earth are at such a low materialistic level. It is said that this is very different now than before, though, because the multitude of people who daily look death in the eye are more moved by the thought of what happens afterwards than they were before the war. It must have been absolutely desolate then. However terrible the things you hear about the war may be, one thing is certain: a large portion of humanity has become more open. They have turned their gazes inward, are looking for their God and holding fast to an afterlife, to eternity. Nevertheless, I am disappointed in most of the souls who come to us. Instead of arriving full of interest in our life here, they always want everything to be exactly the way it was on earth and they draw comparisons and evaluate their lives here according to life on earth. By now, though, I have become quite a bit calmer about the constant disappointments we have to endure here. Sometime I would like to explain precisely the process of exiting the earthly sheaths to you, but not today.
March 24th, 1916
I heard what you were saying about the war, and would like to add a few things to it.
Whereas I spoke earlier about the power that influences all more spiritually elevated people, today I would like to address the feelings of those who met their fate in a true spirit of willing self-sacrifice and jubilation. Every one of these average people offered up the best they had within themselves in the time, the hours and minutes prior to their crossing-over. Even more: there was a climax of the most powerful sensations of a kind they otherwise would never have experienced their whole lives on earth. These sensations, which occurred suddenly and were heightened to the maximum, still live and influence everyone with the will to make spiritual progress.
I can compare the feelings of these who so joyously sacrificed themselves with what it feels like to be suddenly flooded over by currents so lofty that they normally cannot be experienced until the end of the full course of one’s lives on earth. It is actually like skipping an entire series of incarnations. This explains the glorious effect on these souls, too, because when a person is young in divine feelings and immature regarding all spiritual matters, this experience is so overpowering that they spend the initial phase of their time here rejoicing greatly. But this feeling gradually wears off, and then they take on their critical and sober reason again, which has all kinds of issues to complain about. This is the sad state I mentioned earlier, and there is a lot to be done and helped with in dealing with it. I get the sense that you have understood this now, so that I can move on to the next matter.
The forces, or perhaps we should call them ecstatic super-earthly feelings, now form a kind of chain or ring, inside of which what is new and on the rise is supposed to be established: the blueprint for the new, more strongly inspirited humanity that is to develop within this spiritual circle. And this circle has arisen in our dear homeland, in our Germany. All of you and us are allowed to remain inside this circle, which is the dawn of a new era. I am so infinitely happy to have already been in a clear state of consciousness myself when I felt and took part in the circle’s formation. It is very important to me that you clearly and exactly take in precisely this message. I’ll wait...
It was very nice that you thought my message through so lovingly, because sometimes it is not easy for me to clothe certain things in words, seeing as here we make no use of hem. Sometimes I’m too superficial and don’t bring these things to expression in an exact enough way. That’s why I am happy that you have made progress in your receptivity. In this way I will with time be able to inform you of ever more profound and intricately complicated matters.
March 25th, 1916
I am here, Sigwart.
I want to explain the transition from the physical to the spiritual to you today. But you need to concentrate hard, withdraw entirely and be very receptive, because weighty communications are disrupted by any thoughts from outside. On the other hand, you increase my strength through being spiritually present. Now let’s start.
When the time has come for a person to end his passage on earth, there are changes that take place within him. These cannot be felt, of course, except perhaps by a clairvoyant. But we who have already overcome our physical bodies feel immediately if and when the crossing is supposed to take place; it starts about a week beforehand. I can liken it to shifts in the individual bodies, which cause them no longer to rest properly within each other. Then the moment of separation comes, and whether it is called forth by illness, accident or anything else: the actual death is always the same.
The exit occurs differently according to how highly developed the person is; in general it is safe to assume that the process is consummated in a state of sleep. If the exit took place in a waking state, that would be terrible for less highly developed persons, because it is an actual tearing-away. This state lasts only a few hours, and then the awakening comes, which I can only compare with a very clearly dreamt dream. In this state, the spirit feels itself to be only half its own master. Without actually wanting it, it has to keep returning to its physical body, and this is an unpleasant feeling for the liberated spirit. Be that as it may: the spirit is unable to get away from its body. It even has a feeling of love toward this old garment it has worn for so long. It goes without saying that the etheric and the astral body are even stronger attached to it than the spirit.
This state of not being able to separate oneself lasts a few days, but then suddenly the recognition comes, and when it does, it is like a bolt of lightning that hits one. The dream state then dissolves, and one sees what is going on around one and understands – provided one is sufficiently mature – that it really is about one’s physical death.
This experience is magnificent in the moment, but becomes less pleasant later, because then one’s complete memory awakens, connected with the love one had for those one has left.
But this doesn’t last very long either, because just like a person knows on earth, for example, that he needs to go the doctor because he is gravely ill, in exactly the same way one also knows that now one needs to go through it all, in order to be liberated. This is when the sojourn begins, and I can only compare this with a trip from the deepest, darkest cave up to the highest of heights. I myself cannot even remember this trip; I only know that I endured it, and that I had the most remarkable impressions from it, albeit without being able to explain a single one of them. Nor can I say how long my roaming through all the spheres lasted.
When I awoke, there you all were. And a glorious awakening it was. I felt for the first time what we were to one another and just how strong the spiritual band is that connects us. Because whether you believe it or not, you carried me aloft, and you comforted me when I was so transfixed by my state of recognition. That was the first fully clear experience I had in the spiritual world. Maybe you are surprised at this, having believed as you did that I gave so much strength in the beginning. And so I did; but not consciously. Since my spirit was more highly developed, though, it had great strength to do so all the same.
I cannot describe how beautiful the moment was when I fully awoke in this world after all that had gone before. I tell you, the moment was overpowering.
From this time on, I had my set work to do. My etheric body was long since dissolved, my astral body began to undergo purification, I started feeling liberation, and from then on I had my clear consciousness. This gives you an approximate picture of how the transition from the physical to the spiritual is made.
Unfortunately, I cannot quote you any dates, since after all I did everything unconsciously during the initial phase. But I do need to tell you one more thing: it is untrue that dying is such a simple process; it is the most complicated matter anyone can imagine. However, it is not at all the scary experience many people make it out to be.
I’ll conclude with loving greetings and remain your
Sigwart.
March 26th, 1916
My life here is beautiful and harmonious. I have taken care of a great deal of the unpleasant tasks, and am now a freer human being. Actually, I can no longer call myself a human being at all, but the term is much more natural to me, and more pleasant to use when I correspond with you.
Everything I have learned so far in the spiritual world, whether through others or through having gone through it myself, I have processed and gathered, neatly compiled and ordered. This is the source of my joy. This also includes all the communications, prayers and verses. With the verses – most of them – I also help others. They were given me for my own help, but with permission to pass them on to others. It goes without saying that you were the first ones I gave them to, and it was solely for your sakes that I put them in words and, in some cases, into rhymes. I don't need any words at all if I want to give them to poor beings who are in need of help here. In this place communication takes place in the following way: I think the entire verse, and when I want the other being to receive it I give it life by thinking and feeling: “I give you thishelp.” Then my stronger force flows over to the other being. In this way poor unknowing souls can often be motivated to open themselves up to receive help, which they would not have been willing to do on their own.
If we don't want just anyone to be able to read our thoughts, we can use our will to create a denseness that makes them invisible. But this is a power that first needs to be learned, and for some of us it takes a long time.
It is different with you, that is, with your thinking. If I wanted to, I could read all of your thoughts. Of course I would need to attune myself differently to do so. First, I have to establish a full fluid connection with the person in question, and only then do I feel all of his or her thoughts. But I refrain from this if it is a personal matter; not to do so would be indiscreet. It is enough if I feel the thoughts that pertain to me. These I can feel, because they hover towards me and always reach me. This is also the reason why I am always aware of when you are thinking painful thoughts of me; you cannot conceal that sort of thing from me. Moreover, I also check up on the thoughts you think relative to meditation, and all of your deep spiritual conversations get through to me, as well. After all, their basic tenor has to do with me, my departure, and my current life. The moment you speak of spiritual matters, I am among you listening, and am pleased with your profound interest and your absolutely correct sensing.
This connection between you and me is something huge and wonderful. But just as I live and feel with you, you likewise must feel with me and adjust to my current life. I repeat it once more today: I am not dead. Haven’t some of you been dwelling on such thoughts again?
No, my dear ones, I beg you now, destroy the terrible thought “death” once and for all. Don’t you feel the burning pain that overcomes me when you indulge in it? Just imagine: after seven months of spiritual interaction, after all these communications, a wave of mourning now comes over you once again. I don’t want to name any names, but I regret that it has happened and ask that you take this memorandum to heart and act accordingly. I rely on the love and trust in the strength you have to overcome yourselves.
Is it all that difficult to transform the bodily Sigwart into the spiritual Sigwart? Of course I still have the same face, hands and shape as when I lived among you. So see me in your thoughts the way I was, but without matter and otherwise with exactly the same features, because I still have them. It’s like an astral duplicate that exactly replicates the physical, but doesn’t have any physical substance to it. That ought to reassure you.
Once I heard that you didn’t know how you were supposed to imagine me in my present state. You mustn’t err or allow yourselves to be led astray. I am exactly the same Sigwart
as you knew him, and I will stay this way until we are reunited, no matter whether on or above the earth. I send you greetings and fervently entreat you to take today’s ommunication deeply to heart.
Your Sigwart
March 17th, 1916
Today I can resume telling you about my life. Of late, I have been quite preoccupied with helping the recently deceased. That is always an interesting task for me, because it hardly seems possible that nearly all the people presently living on the earth are at such a low materialistic level. It is said that this is very different now than before, though, because the multitude of people who daily look death in the eye are more moved by the thought of what happens afterwards than they were before the war. It must have been absolutely desolate then. However terrible the things you hear about the war may be, one thing is certain: a large portion of humanity has become more open. They have turned their gazes inward, are looking for their God and holding fast to an afterlife, to eternity. Nevertheless, I am disappointed in most of the souls who come to us. Instead of arriving full of interest in our life here, they always want everything to be exactly the way it was on earth and they draw comparisons and evaluate their lives here according to life on earth. By now, though, I have become quite a bit calmer about the constant disappointments we have to endure here. Sometime I would like to explain precisely the process of exiting the earthly sheaths to you, but not today.
March 24th, 1916
I heard what you were saying about the war, and would like to add a few things to it.
Whereas I spoke earlier about the power that influences all more spiritually elevated people, today I would like to address the feelings of those who met their fate in a true spirit of willing self-sacrifice and jubilation. Every one of these average people offered up the best they had within themselves in the time, the hours and minutes prior to their crossing-over. Even more: there was a climax of the most powerful sensations of a kind they otherwise would never have experienced their whole lives on earth. These sensations, which occurred suddenly and were heightened to the maximum, still live and influence everyone with the will to make spiritual progress.
I can compare the feelings of these who so joyously sacrificed themselves with what it feels like to be suddenly flooded over by currents so lofty that they normally cannot be experienced until the end of the full course of one’s lives on earth. It is actually like skipping an entire series of incarnations. This explains the glorious effect on these souls, too, because when a person is young in divine feelings and immature regarding all spiritual matters, this experience is so overpowering that they spend the initial phase of their time here rejoicing greatly. But this feeling gradually wears off, and then they take on their critical and sober reason again, which has all kinds of issues to complain about. This is the sad state I mentioned earlier, and there is a lot to be done and helped with in dealing with it. I get the sense that you have understood this now, so that I can move on to the next matter.
The forces, or perhaps we should call them ecstatic super-earthly feelings, now form a kind of chain or ring, inside of which what is new and on the rise is supposed to be established: the blueprint for the new, more strongly inspirited humanity that is to develop within this spiritual circle. And this circle has arisen in our dear homeland, in our Germany. All of you and us are allowed to remain inside this circle, which is the dawn of a new era. I am so infinitely happy to have already been in a clear state of consciousness myself when I felt and took part in the circle’s formation. It is very important to me that you clearly and exactly take in precisely this message. I’ll wait...
It was very nice that you thought my message through so lovingly, because sometimes it is not easy for me to clothe certain things in words, seeing as here we make no use of hem. Sometimes I’m too superficial and don’t bring these things to expression in an exact enough way. That’s why I am happy that you have made progress in your receptivity. In this way I will with time be able to inform you of ever more profound and intricately complicated matters.
March 25th, 1916
I am here, Sigwart.
I want to explain the transition from the physical to the spiritual to you today. But you need to concentrate hard, withdraw entirely and be very receptive, because weighty communications are disrupted by any thoughts from outside. On the other hand, you increase my strength through being spiritually present. Now let’s start.
When the time has come for a person to end his passage on earth, there are changes that take place within him. These cannot be felt, of course, except perhaps by a clairvoyant. But we who have already overcome our physical bodies feel immediately if and when the crossing is supposed to take place; it starts about a week beforehand. I can liken it to shifts in the individual bodies, which cause them no longer to rest properly within each other. Then the moment of separation comes, and whether it is called forth by illness, accident or anything else: the actual death is always the same.
The exit occurs differently according to how highly developed the person is; in general it is safe to assume that the process is consummated in a state of sleep. If the exit took place in a waking state, that would be terrible for less highly developed persons, because it is an actual tearing-away. This state lasts only a few hours, and then the awakening comes, which I can only compare with a very clearly dreamt dream. In this state, the spirit feels itself to be only half its own master. Without actually wanting it, it has to keep returning to its physical body, and this is an unpleasant feeling for the liberated spirit. Be that as it may: the spirit is unable to get away from its body. It even has a feeling of love toward this old garment it has worn for so long. It goes without saying that the etheric and the astral body are even stronger attached to it than the spirit.
This state of not being able to separate oneself lasts a few days, but then suddenly the recognition comes, and when it does, it is like a bolt of lightning that hits one. The dream state then dissolves, and one sees what is going on around one and understands – provided one is sufficiently mature – that it really is about one’s physical death.
This experience is magnificent in the moment, but becomes less pleasant later, because then one’s complete memory awakens, connected with the love one had for those one has left.
But this doesn’t last very long either, because just like a person knows on earth, for example, that he needs to go the doctor because he is gravely ill, in exactly the same way one also knows that now one needs to go through it all, in order to be liberated. This is when the sojourn begins, and I can only compare this with a trip from the deepest, darkest cave up to the highest of heights. I myself cannot even remember this trip; I only know that I endured it, and that I had the most remarkable impressions from it, albeit without being able to explain a single one of them. Nor can I say how long my roaming through all the spheres lasted.
When I awoke, there you all were. And a glorious awakening it was. I felt for the first time what we were to one another and just how strong the spiritual band is that connects us. Because whether you believe it or not, you carried me aloft, and you comforted me when I was so transfixed by my state of recognition. That was the first fully clear experience I had in the spiritual world. Maybe you are surprised at this, having believed as you did that I gave so much strength in the beginning. And so I did; but not consciously. Since my spirit was more highly developed, though, it had great strength to do so all the same.
I cannot describe how beautiful the moment was when I fully awoke in this world after all that had gone before. I tell you, the moment was overpowering.
From this time on, I had my set work to do. My etheric body was long since dissolved, my astral body began to undergo purification, I started feeling liberation, and from then on I had my clear consciousness. This gives you an approximate picture of how the transition from the physical to the spiritual is made.
Unfortunately, I cannot quote you any dates, since after all I did everything unconsciously during the initial phase. But I do need to tell you one more thing: it is untrue that dying is such a simple process; it is the most complicated matter anyone can imagine. However, it is not at all the scary experience many people make it out to be.
I’ll conclude with loving greetings and remain your
Sigwart.
March 26th, 1916
My life here is beautiful and harmonious. I have taken care of a great deal of the unpleasant tasks, and am now a freer human being. Actually, I can no longer call myself a human being at all, but the term is much more natural to me, and more pleasant to use when I correspond with you.
Everything I have learned so far in the spiritual world, whether through others or through having gone through it myself, I have processed and gathered, neatly compiled and ordered. This is the source of my joy. This also includes all the communications, prayers and verses. With the verses – most of them – I also help others. They were given me for my own help, but with permission to pass them on to others. It goes without saying that you were the first ones I gave them to, and it was solely for your sakes that I put them in words and, in some cases, into rhymes. I don't need any words at all if I want to give them to poor beings who are in need of help here. In this place communication takes place in the following way: I think the entire verse, and when I want the other being to receive it I give it life by thinking and feeling: “I give you thishelp.” Then my stronger force flows over to the other being. In this way poor unknowing souls can often be motivated to open themselves up to receive help, which they would not have been willing to do on their own.
If we don't want just anyone to be able to read our thoughts, we can use our will to create a denseness that makes them invisible. But this is a power that first needs to be learned, and for some of us it takes a long time.
It is different with you, that is, with your thinking. If I wanted to, I could read all of your thoughts. Of course I would need to attune myself differently to do so. First, I have to establish a full fluid connection with the person in question, and only then do I feel all of his or her thoughts. But I refrain from this if it is a personal matter; not to do so would be indiscreet. It is enough if I feel the thoughts that pertain to me. These I can feel, because they hover towards me and always reach me. This is also the reason why I am always aware of when you are thinking painful thoughts of me; you cannot conceal that sort of thing from me. Moreover, I also check up on the thoughts you think relative to meditation, and all of your deep spiritual conversations get through to me, as well. After all, their basic tenor has to do with me, my departure, and my current life. The moment you speak of spiritual matters, I am among you listening, and am pleased with your profound interest and your absolutely correct sensing.