by Lance G. Trendall

Rescue: What is a Rescue?

Rescue is simply an expression for the process of helping a ghost to understand what his experience is and helping him to understand that he has died and is now a Spirit. An important part of this rescue process is to do this safely by helping this new Spirit find his way into the dimension to which he can go.

It’s not good enough in my experience just to shove someone away saying “You’re dead now buzz off”. To me this is not a rescue as the ghost may not have got the message and may simply regard you as crackers and go off and play somewhere else.

In a Rescue all that is happening is the opening of the mind or eyes of a ghost to a dimension that is available to him, which he has not looked at before. A ghost is so locked into the material world that he does not even look around him. It’s like not being able to see the wood for the trees but only with more serious and frustrating consequences.

It has been suggested through mediums, that once dead we are approached by dead friends and relatives who come to our side to ‘help us over’. In near death experiences written about in such books as ‘Life After Life’ (by Raymond A. Moody, Jr. MD) this is described as friends and family waiting and most who have spoken of their experience talk of a sort of a bright white light. Read these books for yourself though, and form your own opinion.

Well these dead friends and relatives are pretty frustrated when they are trying to attract the attention of their friend, who has just died, who denies his death to such an extent that he does not see them. If he’s been a bad person he may even try not to see them as he may expect to go to Hell and eternal damnation, so he may avoid that at all cost.

So the basic ingredient of a good rescue is to convince the ghost he’s dead and ask him to look around for friends and relatives who have already died. Once the ghost sees his relatives he’ll also hear them and be in conversation about going with them so the mortal rescuer’s job is done.

Because I am not Clairvoyant or Clairaudient and therefore cannot see or hear a ghost directly, I find an effective Rescue practice is to make it clear to the ghost that I cannot see him or hear him and use this to emphasize my belief that he has died and must be a ghost. I also ask if things have been a bit confusing, as I know that most ghosts are very confused. I ask if he has been ignored a great deal, possibly by people he loved. Very few ghosts disagree with these ideas, they believe that I must know what I’m talking about because it’s often the first thing they’ve heard that makes any sense of their present condition.

Also I often ask them to think of an accident or illness, could they have died? With a bit of thought, now that they are open-minded and less fearful they can often remember that they were ill, had been run over or kicked by a horse for example.

Once they reach this stage of understanding then I consider that they are ready to open their spiritual eyes to their new reality and I ask them to think of their loved ones who have died before them. Often I suggest thinking of a Grandmother, a Grandfather or even a Great Grandparent, because I want the ghost to turn their attention to a deceased relative – not someone still alive.

Once our ghost agrees to think of such a dead friend or relative, almost instantly they see them and the room is filled with joyful psychic energy.

In all the rescues I’ve attended and participated in, I have never known this method to fail: once they’re willing to ‘go over’, each ghost has been greeted by someone they know or someone friendly who takes them into the other dimension. Some cases, however, are quite tricky and can test the skill of the rescuer.

Sometimes the spirit who leads the ghost to the ‘other side’ is someone who had been wronged by the ghost in their mortal lives and the ghost is initially afraid when he sees that person. Once the two can see each other however, it seems that the ghost can also hear assurance of the spirit and quickly loses fear, knowing that the spirit wants to lead him from confusion to safety.

Rescue then, in a Spiritual sense, is when a ghost is rescued from his confused state and brought to one of enlightenment, where he is able to focus attention on the ‘spiritual dimension’ rather than being stuck in our material world.

I used to attend my regular weekly séance and we performed Rescues almost every week. Ghosts would be brought into the séance or circle by our spirit guides, or the ghosts own guides, and would speak through the Medium. We would explain their situation, just as I have described. The same method has been used for many years and is clearly documented by Wickland in 1926.

What amazes me, is that Wickland was doing this way back in 1908 for thirty years and still we are, as a society, completely ignorant about the subject of ghosts, exorcism and possession. I hope what is explained here helps to shake all that fear and prejudice off the subject so we can get on and treat it properly.

So what’s going on? That’s what I used to ask. How come all these lost, dead people come through our humble circle totally confused, often after being dead for years? They sometimes describe how they hung around their wife, long after she was a widow, not knowing they were dead and wondering why she wouldn’t listen.

Incredible, but true!

Even in a traumatic accident, people have got up, brushed themselves down and walked away, leaving their body behind. They don’t even know they died! If you’ve seen the film ‘Ghost’ with Patrick Swazye and Demi Moore, you may recall the part where ‘Sam Wheat’ gets killed by the mugger and doesn’t notice. He runs after his own killer with such determination that he didn’t notice his own death. It is only when he sees ‘Molly’ crying over his own dead body, that he realizes he had been killed by the mugger. ‘Ghost’ is a great film which shows such a valid picture of one death experience, so close to the truth I’ve come to accept.

So when we help someone find their way we call it a Rescue and there are many of these ‘Rescue Circles’ going on all over the world. We help the ghost notice the absence of his body and get him to accept his death and discover the new dimension that he can go to.

It’s great to help, but it upsets me that it’s necessary to help these people. The situation should not be possible where we can die and not understand what’s going on. By now, in the 20th century, we should know better. We should be better educated or at least, better informed.

Even if you don’t agree with any of this, if you read it now as though you believe it, you will be able to call on the method and try it if your world seems funny. You’ll be able to consider that maybe you’ve died.

After a bump on the head or a long sleep and the whole world seems peculiar where everyone ignores you, consider whether they see you or not. You may have had a harder bump than you know.

An Example of Exorcism

Sometimes, these ghosts who wander lost and alone, become attracted to receptive or vulnerable people and hang around them. Some become so close that they somehow, get drawn into the ‘aura’, the magnetic or psychic field of that individual. It seems that once that happens, the ghost can find it hard to get away and can become convinced that he is in charge of the body he was following.

He may believe the body is his own and take control of it as best he can. This is the short view of how Spirit possession can occur.

My group was contacted by a woman who wanted help for her husband. The man, Robert, had been becoming really obsessive about washing his hands and had been taking on some strange mannerisms and habits. The couple, having moved to a new area two years before, had integrated well but Robert, previously a sociable man, had not made a single friend and loathed going out or meeting people. He seemed to want to keep himself to himself, which was quite out of character with his usual behavior.

We agreed to see if we could help and raised the subject at our usual Monday night circle. The spirit people agreed that we would be able to help Robert who was, they said, possessed by ghosts.

Knowing we had the guidance of our band of Spirit helpers, we agreed to help. We arranged an appointment and traveled to the couple’s home where we established our circle with the Lord’s Prayer and a specific prayer for protection and to help Robert.

After the opening greetings from our usual guides, Patricia went into a trance and allowed a ghost to communicate through her.

This was the spirit of a man who had been horribly disfigured and had such an ugly face that he had been cruelly mocked by children and treated as an outcast. He thought he was still alive and still had the same ugly face. He thought that Robert’s own body was his. Eventually we convinced him he had passed over, that was why he was speaking to us through a woman’s body. When he opened his eyes to the spiritual dimension he saw that the room had become full of spirit children all dancing and singing asking him to come and play with them.

How could he resist such an offer after years of being ignored? And off he went.

It transpired that Robert had been home to five ghosts, of which our disfigured friend had been just one, but very significant in affecting Robert’s behavior.

You could understand how, with such a supposedly ugly presence inside him, Robert would get up and wash his hands then come back into his lounge, feel he was still dirty and go instantly to wash his hands again. How could he want to mix in social circles if he inherited the fear of revulsion felt by the spirit possessing him? No wonder he hadn’t integrated into the neighborhood.

Robert’s possessing spirits were exorcised, but when we returned to our regular Monday séance we were advised that probably Robert would get possessed again as he hadn’t really minded the presences and hadn’t learnt how to protect himself from wandering souls. He could easily choose not to become possessed if he acknowledged and changed his willingness to be possessed.

An interesting point here, is that as our disfigured friend was so used to being ignored or shunned in his earthly life it would not seem unusual to him that once dead, people ignored him. This would make it even harder for him to work out what was going on. It could have been such a relief to him that the taunting had ended that he may have preferred being a ghost to being alive with such a deformed body. In fact, he enjoyed the company of the other ghosts who were also possessing Robert because they accepted him and didn’t tease him about his appearance.

Self-Exorcism And Being Followed Around

I’ve had many conversations where the subject of ghosts has been brought up, usually by others, as I have only really come into the open about my beliefs since 1989. Often when the subject is broached I recognize that there are no accidents or coincidences and that the subject has come up for a reason. So, I’ll simply state my view that Ghosts often don’t know they’re dead, they don’t really understand why they cannot be seen and even if they did, they don’t know what to do about it.

You can bet your life that these things are said and a ghost is listening he’ll be all ears! Then I go on to describe the simple process that a ghost can use to meet his relatives who have already died. You know, where they just think of their relatives and look beyond the dimension of the room. Exactly the same process as used in a rescue and if a ghost is listening, he may well try the process and rescue himself.

Just by having had the conversation, I feel a rescue may have taken place. As ghosts are attracted to listen it is quite important to describe the rescue process to give them a chance to try it rather than following me around to hear more.

Having tea, late one evening in Holland Park, London, I was drawn into a conversation on ghosts but did not quite take it all the way to the fruitful conversation described above. We chatted about ghosts but I was not able to get to a point where I could describe the rescue process.

I had not been drinking alcohol (you’ll see why I mention this in a minute) and I drove back to Hertfordshire.

When I got into my car and began driving home I developed a terrible headache. Now I do not get headaches unless I poison my body with an excess of alcohol. I knew that this headache was not my own, because I simply do not get them.

I guessed that whoever was hanging round the house at Holland Park had followed me home and this is one sure way of getting my attention. Anyone who causes me pain, I do not ignore!

As I drove home, I simply said to the ghost causing the pain, “Go away and I’ll talk to you later. You’re causing me pain and I don’t need it, now that I know you’re there, I’ll talk to you when I get home.”

The pain eased and I continued my journey home.

To deal with the intruding spirit I simply sat down on my sofa, and said The Lord’s Prayer quietly and said a brief prayer to my Spirit Guides for protection and guidance. I used the same format as I would for a group of people sitting at a séance together, I wasn’t scared as I recognize that ghosts do not want to harm anyone. They are naturally good just as we, and all living things, are innately good.

Then, having created a safe space for communication.

“God bless you Friend. I know you’re here because I felt you hurt my head. I imagine you may have been injured on the head at some time. Perhaps you died when your head got damaged. Anyway, thanks for listening and being here. You have passed over, out of your body and are now dead. This is good as it means that your head need not hurt any longer and you can get on with a life in the spirit world.”

I paused to rest and to give the idea time to sink in.

“You are safe my friend. There is another world waiting for you. You don’t have to hang around here all the time. To find that other world, all you have to do, is think of a loved one or relative who died before you. Think of them and then look for them, look beyond the room and you’ll surely see them.”

“Try it, and go in peace. If it doesn’t work for you, come back another time, when you’re ready to try again. God Bless You.”

My headache never returned once I had agreed to speak to the ghost later. I feel that it was really vital that I kept my agreement with the ghost though. I expect my head would have hurt quite a bit more if I hadn’t sat down and spent time talking to the ghost. I’ve never tested this by breaking such an agreement with a ghost and I do not intend to.

This process cured my headache and it rescued the lost spirit.

The satisfactory rescue was confirmed when I next sat at a séance. A regular spirit guide, whose opinion I really value, confirmed that there had been someone there who had caused the pain in my head. What’s more the guide confirmed another successful rescue. The ghost had successfully made his way to the Spirit World by using the rescue process.

Just through the conversation I’d removed a ghost from a house in Holland Park and performed a rescue, I was delighted with the outcome.

A Child Sees a Ghost

Children are often recognized as being more open to their clairvoyance than adults. When children have a playmate who is invisible to their parents, I suspect they have a spirit companion. We seem to outgrow our psychicness and our western society seems to help us focus on the material factors of our environment rather than developing a spiritual awareness.

Just as some people attribute animals as having a greater psychic vision than humans, so I believe the uncorrupted perception of a child can be greater in some respects than an adult’s.

An example of this natural extra-perception is demonstrated by the experiences of Tony and Patricia and their youngest daughter, Sally.

They also show how the whole family take the spiritual side of life completely in their stride, it’s as normal as you or I going to the Post Office. I’ll give you just a couple of examples of this now.

When Sally was just four years old she was playing in the hall of the family’s Victorian house. Her elder sister was at school full time so Sally was playing on her own.

She was sitting at the foot of the stairs with a toy car, pushing it to the front door then following to retrieve it, where upon she’d sit by the front door and launch it towards the stairs and the whole process would be repeated. You know how kids are, this was going on for a while and the child’s mother got quite used to the sound of the car hitting the front door followed by the scampering and delighted giggles of her daughter.

Suddenly the noise stopped. Doesn’t sound end abruptly sometimes? The silence was deafening and caught the mother’s attention immediately. Sally’s mother came to the foot of the stairs from the breakfast room to see her daughter sitting there apparently okay, but looking up at the front door.

“Who’s that man mummy?” the child asked.

The mother, seeing nothing but accepting that there was someone there who her daughter could see, simply said, “No one to worry you dear”.

Addressing the ghostly visitor she said, “Please could you go away, can’t you see you’re frightening my daughter?”

The child carried on playing as before, she was happy to retrieve her car from the foot of the door, now that the stranger had gone.

At their next circle the visitor ‘came through’ and apologized for his intrusion. He explained that he had lived at the house and was simply a soldier back from the war looking for his parents, he hadn’t meant to startle anyone.

The soldier quickly grasped the point when he was told he must be dead and that it was 1969 and he willingly thought of his parents and went off to the world of spirit with them.

The next example occurred when Sally was a little older. She was woken in the night to find her supposedly dead Auntie standing in her bedroom. “What are you doing here Auntie?” the child asked, completely relaxed about the whole business.

“I want to be in Bournemouth with Edith, and I don’t know how to get there dear,” the Aunt replied.

“Just think you’re there and you will be Auntie,” the child so wisely answered. Instantly the Aunt was gone.

It seems that spirits travel so easily once they are aware that they are not limited by time or space. They really do only have to think of someone or somewhere and they are there. Until they know that they are dead, however, they have to wait for buses or get a lift. Can you imagine how long it would take a ghost to hitchhike?

It’s great to meet a family where ghosts of Auntie, Rescues, and Spiritual Healing are just a way of life. To them it’s simply the way it is. They live their lives totally in accordance with their morals, love their neighbors and have rescue circles to help as much as they can.

Excerpt from Dead Happy

See Part I here.