Birth, Death and the Afterlife: Remembering Who You Really Are

By Madonna J. Kettler PhD

In a world filled with food, booze and a gazillion other distractions, Birth, Death and the Afterlife offers innovative approaches to living fully, peacefully, and loving unconditionally.

A wonderful book. Very comfortable and very deep. Its like having both your best friend and spiritual teacher sitting next to you on your couch, teaching you, reminding you of who you are and whats important in your life.
Robert Peterson, author of Out of Body Experiences

In my work both as a lawyer and a psychic, I have met with hundreds of people struggling with fears, addictions, and blocks, many of which stem from past life issues. Birth, Death and the Afterlife brings marvelous relief by teaching you how to remember your divine self and reclaim your personal power.
Kathryn Harwig, author of The Return of Intuition and seven other books

No matter where you are on your spiritual path, Birth, Death and the Afterlife meets you there and guides you to your next level of self-discovery. Designed for spiritual seekers of all types, it includes case studies and stories that awaken, enlighten and empower.
Nancy Fischer, author of Choices: Escaping the Illusion of Being a Victim

Dr. Kettler escorts you on the journeys of others, using fine-tuned regressive hypnotherapy skills to discover unremembered memory segments in the souls life-cycle that validate your human and spiritual existence. It illuminates hypnotherapists, potential clients, and the general readership in multiple areas of personal growth and transformation.
Allen S. Chips, PhD, DCH, president of NATH and author of Killing Your Cancer without Killing Yourself

• Language: English
• Publisher: Balboa Press
• Release date: Sep 27, 2012
• ISBN: 9781452558998

Madonna J. Kettler PhD

Madonna Kettler, PhD, is an award-winning hypnotherapist, spiritual teacher, and healer. Her creations include books, CDs, guidance cards, and self-help programs that empower and enlighten. Her passion is her commitment to personal evolution as well as that of the Earth and all beings. She resides in Silver City, New Mexico.

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Copyright © 2012 Madonna J. Kettler, PhD

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The author of this book does not dispense medical advice or prescribe the use of any technique as a form of treatment for physical, emotional, or medical problems without the advice of a physician, either directly or indirectly. The intent of the author is only to offer information of a general nature to help you in your quest for emotional and spiritual well-being. In the event you use any of the information in this book for yourself, which is your constitutional right, the author and the publisher assume no responsibility for your actions.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

ISBN: 978-1-4525-5898-1 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4525-5899-8 (e)

ISBN: 978-1-4525-5900-1 (hc)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2012917474

This material is not intended to be a substitute for medical treatment, but is inspired, complementary information designed to enhance a full and vibrant life. It is intended to be educational and not for diagnosis, prescription, or treatment of any health disorder whatsoever. This information should not replace consultation with a competent healthcare professional. The content of this book is intended to be used as an adjunct to a rational and responsible healthcare program prescribed by a professional healthcare practitioner. The author and publisher are in no way liable for any misuse of the material.

Cover art by Nathan W. Guice

Spirit-Directives artist Nathan W. Guice

Balboa Press rev. date: 9/25/2013

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements

Introduction

How to Use This Book

Preface

Part I

1.   Balance in Relationships

2.   Marching to the Beat of a Different Drummer • Being Creative

3.   Destiny and Fate • Building a Stable Foundation

4.   Choosing Freedom From • Moving into the Unconventional • Change IS

5.   Filters and the Unseen • Dreams • Acceptance of What Is

6.   The Power of Words • Seeking Deeper Truths – Inner Reflection • Deception and Perception

7.   Forgiveness and Happiness • Worthiness • Manifesting and Empowerment

8.   Universal Love • Releasing Fear • Living Consciously and Loving Unconditionally

9.   We are Eternal, Divine Beings • Self-Empowerment • Respect

10.   Thankfulness and Gratitude • Do Be-ing

11.   Celebrating our True Selves

12.   Courageous New Beginnings • Be In Love

13.   Grace, the Tao, and NOWRemembering Who We REALLY Are

Part II Textbook

1.   About Addictions, Distractions, Fears and Blocks

2.   The I AM WOWED™ Program

3.   Love Research

Appendix How to Prepare for and What to Expect from a Past Life or Life Between Lives Regression

About the Author

To my family:

On Earth

Above

Below

Around

and

Within

Acknowledgements

The creation of this book involved the patience, fortitude, and commitment of many people, including those clients who volunteered their case studies, the Love Research group, an infinite number of beings who contributed their knowledge and expertise, as well as friends and family, who supported me, knowingly and unknowingly, throughout this nearly 10-year process.

It was wonderful working with my editors, Lily Rivertree, Rebecca Blackman, Karen Lauseng, and Donna Clayton Walter—your expertise allowed the words to transform into readable and enjoyable text. Thank you Scott Edelstein, whose wisdom and guidance amazes me. I am eternally thankful to the artistic contributor, Nathan Guice (cover art and Spirit-Directives artist), whose artwork continually inspires me. Thanks to everyone else involved with the publishing and printing of this book—thank you all so very, very much. Without all of you this project would never have been completed. I am also eternally grateful to every dimension of myself for finishing this project! There were times…!

Finally, thanks to those Above, Below, and Within, my Spirit Helpers, Ancestors, and the God in every thing, for guiding my fingers, thoughts, and inspirations. It continues to be an honor to serve, in any capacity, the Greater Good.

Namasté

Introduction

Life can be a grand, joyous experience or a persistent, all-encompassing struggle. Most of you reading this already know we don’t die, and that we are spiritual beings having a human/Earth experience, not the reverse. Yet many of us may not know how to optimize this Earth experience. In the following chapters you will be guided on how to remember your Divine Self in every moment. Through the sharing of the following case studies, life experiences, and dedicated research results, you will discover your way to remembering. Jung said, When the unconscious becomes conscious, change happens. The past twenty years of my life have been about just that—remembering—first remembering who I really am, then assisting others in this wonderful recall, through hypnosis, meditation and a myriad of other holistic practices.

I personally have benefited greatly from hypnotherapy, hypnosis, meditation, drumming, energy healings and many other modalities. I also have created various techniques and methods that help me and others achieve a deeper sense of Self. When you remember your Divine Self (as opposed to the egoic, human self), everything changes. This transformative process can take as short or as long as you desire. It’s all up to you.

Life truly is a journey that never ends. We don’t die, we don’t even really cross over, we simply change our vibration. Only our physical body returns to dust. Our spirit goes on forever. And Earth is not the only school! In the following chapters you will discover there are unlimited ways for us to evolve, not just on Earth. In this book, many beautiful souls share their current truths and profound experiences in order that you may come to realize what your truths are. Discovering my personal truths and choosing to march to the beat of a different drummer has not been easy, but it has been worth it.

What we experience as truth is determined through our personal filters. The same experience may be perceived differently by someone else. What is most important is that we ultimately find our way back to Love. This is our life purpose and our mission, should we choose to accept it: Be In Love.

There are many ways to remember our Divine Selves. It’s up to us to discover what works best for us. The great sages say for us to remember who we really are is the most important message of our time. Once we remember this, everything changes. We change from unconscious to conscious beings that can love ourselves and all beings unconditionally, and we realize our connection to All That Is.

Bartholomew, an energy that was channeled through Mary Margaret Moore, says that we came to Earth to experience the full range of emotions and to become master of those emotions. He says that mastery comes when we realize we can choose our responses, we can choose which thoughts we accept and bring into our life. He suggests that most of the thoughts we typically accept have to do with the misguided notions that we are not loveable, not worthy, there is something wrong with us, and that we have to do something in order to be loveable. He suggests, as do I, that we begin today, to love ourselves, no matter what. We can do this by repeating the mantra over and over again until we get it—I AM LOVED, I AM LOVE, I LOVE. This progression begins with the realization: I am loved," moves us to a state of be-ing in love with "I am love, and then we come to a place of sharing our love and being of service through the last two words, I love." Any blocks or thoughts we may encounter deep within that may cause us to believe we are anything less than pure love, can be released. This book will guide you to your fullest potential—LOVE.

There are many books that affirm this. A New Earth by Eckhart Tolle, the works of Michael Newton and The Newton Institute, Wayne Dyer, Marianne Williamson, the Kryon channelings, Steve Rother and The Group, as well as Bartholomew, Gary Zukav and Louise Hay, to mention only a few. Over and over we are told that we are Divine Spiritual Beings, yet we tend to forget and fall into old, destructive patterns. Birth, Death and the Afterlife is about embracing all we are and accepting ourselves, unconditionally, in every moment.

I have continually had the opportunity to work through the challenges of a plethora of addictions, distractions, fears, and blocks, beginning at a very young age. Now it feels right for me to share how many have come to love themselves in the most magnificent manner—at least MOST of the time!

We are all a work in progress. We are loved unconditionally by our Creator, and we are asked by our Creator to love ourselves as He/She loves us. This is a selfless love, not a selfish love. When we get this, life IS love, life IS an adventure!

In the following chapters I will share many of my own and others’ stories and experiences. My truths come from these and other experiences, as well as my intuition, extensive research, and education—but they are MY truths. As you read this book, enjoy, listen to your intuition, try not to take anything personally, and if the words don’t feel quite right for you, change them to words that work for you! My intention here is to help you find your truths as I and others have found ours, and to assist you in remembering… who you REALLY are.

LOVE.

With deepest affection and gratitude,

Madonna Joeletta Kettler

Silver City, NM 2013

How to Use This Book

Most certainly, love is different for each of us. There is energy in love that is different for everyone, yet it is the same love. Part 1 of this book will assist you by sharing a variety of personal stories and case studies on how the contributors came to a place of love; how they removed blocks, addictions, distraction and fears in order to acquire inner peace, live their full potential and remember their true, Divine Selves.

While this book may feel like a how to dialogue, I’d like to suggest that as you read, you observe how you are feeling relative to the case studies and others’ experiences, then check with your intuition to see what could work for YOU. My dad used to say, Everybody’s different, otherwise it would be a pretty boring world. A friend of one of my sisters, an 80-year old Benedictine Sister of German descent used to say, in her very strong, German brogue, Everybody different, everybody right. And as Shirley MacLaine said in Sage-ing While Age-ing; I’ve come to believe it’s all true.

In Part 1, Chapters 1 through 13 each chapter spotlights several of the forty-four Spirit-Directives which relate to that chapter’s focus. These Spirit-Directives are also uniquely appropriate to two weeks of the I AM WOWED™ Program. Also included in each chapter is a case study or personal story related to how an individual overcame a specific issue in order to remember who they really are.

Part 2 is the textbook portion of the book. It is to be used specifically for the I AM WOWED™ Program and/or when it’s part of the curriculum of any hypnotherapy certification or degreed program. It can, of course, also be read for entertainment and informational purposes!

In Part 2, Chapter 1 we discuss how addictions, distractions, blocks and fears can keep us from remembering. I used to feel I was pretty much done with releasing fears and addictions and the forgiveness work attached to that, only to discover that as long as I’m breathing, I’m not done!

Part 2, Chapter 2 gives an in-depth description of the I AM WOWED™ Program and outlines how it can help people manifest whatever they desire into their lives. This is the program that 10 years of research and personal work has created. It has helped participants release weight, remove creative blocks, become more psychic and intuitive, promote their business, and move through a variety of addictions, distractions, blocks and fears that had plagued them for years and sometimes lifetimes.

Part 2, Chapter 3 outlines the results of the research done in relation to the I AM WOWED™ Program and summarizes how, through the use of self-hypnosis, movement, journaling and sometimes regression therapy, the participants were more able to love themselves unconditionally.

Finally, the Appendix has information on how you can prepare for a hypnotherapy session and what you can expect from a session.

Preface

A small group of women had been guided to come together for a spiritual journey in the Black Hills. We had heard countless stories about people coming to Bear Butte to meet spirit animals and receive messages from the ancestors. We were here to have our own spiritual experiences.

Each of us was drawn to a different spot to meditate for the day. For 40 minutes I climbed the steep, slippery slopes, finally reaching my special spot on the butte. I carefully and deliberately arranged my sacred objects around me. I placed my blanket on the loose rock, and burned some sacred sage to set the intention and clear the space. Anticipation high, I began the process of going within.

The rocky slope I was called to was uncomfortable at best, and the day steamy hot, but I was determined to get some guidance.

Within a few minutes, I was deep in meditation, oblivious to the wind and burning sun.

Nothing.

I chanted awhile. I breathed deeply, going deeper within than I’d ever experienced before.

More nothing.

Then, after two more hours, I felt a connection… I connected with the wind as it spoke to me, and was filled with a sense of oneness as I heard three words, very clearly.

Be In Love.

Then the profound feeling of oneness passed.

Are you kidding me, I thought. I drove 800 miles to hear three friggin words?

But what wisdom those three words turn out to hold.

Part I

Chapter 1

Balance in Relationships

The first time I heard the three inspired words, Be In Love I vaguely grasped the depth of the phrase. Be In Love? When we returned from our day of meditation and I discovered everyone else had received a variety of detailed, inspired messages while all I got was Be In Love, I was disappointed. I wanted more! However, those three words started me on a path of remembering instead of the destructive path I had been on the first forty years of my life. They were the impetus for the years of personal inner work and research I have done, and the primary reason I pursued this book, which is to assist you in remembering that we are love. As the years have passed, I have become more and more grateful for having received these powerful yet simple words, because of the continually positive impact they have had on my life. I call this three-word phrase the Primary Spirit-Directive and it is why we are here. It is our life purpose. It is about building a balanced relationship with the self, so we can then experience healthy, balanced relationships with others and with our community.

Be In Love…

BE

Not DO, but BE. If you are like me, this takes a lot of practice. I was at ease with DOing, but I had to constantly practice BEing in order to slow the thoughts, the ideas, and the chattering monkey mind. DOing is from ego, BEing is from Spirit.

IN

Not out, but IN. To be IN the now, is to be IN a place of peace and IN a place of acceptance. Not what was or will be, but what IS. An acceptance of what is, IN the moment, IN the present, IN the now, IN our Divine Center.

LOVE

There is no one way to Be In Love. Be-ing in love is simply an energy field, a vibration, an is-ness, an experience. Love is not an emotional, affectionate, sexual, or overt gesture. To Be In Love is to remember your Divine Essence.

Love is absolute acceptance of what IS. Love is the experience of inner peace, acceptance, honor, gratitude, and non-judgment. It is not selfish love but self-less love, ego-less love, as our Creator loves us. It is being at peace in our mind, body and spirit. It is being grateful for our body, exactly as it is. It brings us gratitude for every thing and every emotion, every challenge, every adventure. Love involves surrender—not merely in the sense of relinquishing something, but in acknowledging that Not my will (ego) but Thine (egoless) be done (Luke: 24:22). Life is a process of ebb and flow. While meditating, walking, practicing yoga, singing, laughing or playing, I am in the flow of love. With LOVE, I was able to shift the forty year habit of pushing up the river (sometimes without a paddle) to flowing with the direction of the river. When we are in the moment, present and aware of what is, our life can change from struggle to peace, from drama to joy. My primary Spirit-Directive is Be In Love, and it was exactly what I needed to hear, even though I may not have known it back then. It has become the base from where I make my choices. It is who I AM.

In the years that followed the gift of this message, there were other Spirit-Directives that came during meditation, or just as inspirations while walking. I have summarized them into forty-four specific words or phrases that bring us closer to the Primary Spirit-Directive. These messages are meant to be used as daily guidance, as tools to self-empowerment. Each of them moves us closer to a consistent experience of love. Some of them may overlap or feel repetitive, but they all intertwine so that we get it.

Before we begin, here are a few questions for you:

♦   Are you aware that you are loved, unconditionally, by your Creator?

♦   Do you understand what unconditionally means? It means NO MATTER WHAT.

♦   Have you stilled your mind for at least five to ten minutes today? If not, please do so. Just try it! Then practice…

♦   Have you forgiven someone (including yourself) for WHATEVER? (i.e.; not stilling your mind, doing too much or too little, judging another or yourself…)

♦   Are you grateful for this moment? For breath? For life? For pain and sorrow? For it ALL—are you grateful? Practice…

♦   Are you peaceful within? Are you able to slow down and appreciate each moment—no matter what? Practice…

♦   Will you release any fears, thanking them for what they have taught you, then gift yourself with whatever that fear has blocked from you?

♦   Will you allow loving and supporting relationships into your life—healthy relationships, beginning with yourself and then with others?

♦   And finally, remember—you are a Divine Being who chose this temporary Earth suit—your human body—to grow, learn and enjoy. Are you ready to do just that?

In this Divine moment, why don’t you initiate your Self into what we will call The Order of Unconditional Love. This allows you to be free from anything (judgment, fear, anxiety, impatience, anger…) that held you back. Free to be…

The Spirit-Directives for this chapter are:

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Set a Foundation

It is time to plant roots in some thing or project you have started, or to begin a project you may have been putting off. JUST DO IT. The pyramids of Egypt represent a very firm foundation that has been around for a LONG time—focus on the steadfast energy of the pyramids—how firmly they are anchored into Mother Earth, and relate this to your own life, to where you are being called to set a foundation. Then begin to write that book, or take steps towards healing your relationships, volunteer at a local nonprofit, create a center, whatever feels right and appropriate to you. Follow your bliss! Now is the time to take one step forward into this new beginning.

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Positive Intent

Writing or stating some of your highest intentions in a positive manner is integral to manifesting. Any intentions you have, put on paper. An intention can also be a goal—write them in a positive manner—an optimistic, simple manner. Focus on being optimistic, and state your intentions in a positive way. The glass