Tag Archives: life after death

Chuck's Blog

Chuck’s Place: Opening To The Door Of More

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Opening the door to more…
-Artwork © 2026 Jan Ketchel

When Jeanne, my first wife, left her human form, she came to me in a song and asked me to pray for her. What that meant was for me to keep the dream of us, as we had been in this life, fresh and alive in my consciousness, as a touchstone for her, as she opened to her unfolding, ethereal Odyssey in infinity, solely in spirit form.

She advanced rapidly as she learned of her vaster journey through infinity, of which our dream had been but a moment. She then came to me again, and this time asked me to not stay attached to old ideas of us, as our thoughts of others are suggestions that weigh upon their consciousnesses, binding them to old ideas of themselves, whether in human or spirit form.

Withdrawing my attachment to old ideas of us freed her energy, as well as my own, to experience a far greater connection to who she more fully was, and is continually becoming, beyond the prior specialness of us.

Opening to this new relationship also allowed me to be pointed in directions of discovery that have broadened my knowing of self and the collective dream of our time. Most everything that Jan and I put out on this website reflects Jeanne’s lessons for our world, as they have come to us, in spirit, in this time of great change.

The occasion of physical death is a unique opportunity to open the door to more, as we leave the physical body behind and fully embody a far more subtle energy body.

Although we retain our pure love for all whom we leave behind at death, we also release each other from old roles and expectations. This allows us full freedom to employ our attention in the adventure and exploration of expanded reality.

The issue of discovering and settling into an expanded identity is paramount to continued growth beyond human form. We have that same opportunity of expansion while in human form, if we are willing to stalk it.

Stalking is a shamanic practice, where, like in acting, one fully embodies a role or identity to the point of almost forgetting the familiar habitual self of everyday life.

The wisdom for manifesting, as discovered by prominent New Thought teachers, is to fully live as if that which one desires is indeed already fully present in one’s life. This involves the faith that it is so, as well as the joy and gratitude for it being so.

This stalking behavior is a powerful suggestion, from the conscious mind to the subconscious mind, that this is the reality to be manifested. The imagination becomes the architect of physical experience. We become what we believe ourselves to be.

The practice of stalking is a powerful suggestion to the subconscious mind that has the power to actualize anything.

The magic of the manifestation is in the hands of the subconscious mind, not in the acting quality of the actor. What matters most is the sincerity of the imagination, as it truly opens to the door to more.

The message I have most powerfully received, and live by, is that everything is indeed possible, if you can fully stalk it in your imagination.

Believing is seeing,
Chuck

 

 

 

 

Soulbytes

Soulbyte for Wednesday April 1, 2026

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-Artwork © 2026 Jan Ketchel

Some days are more infused with sadness than others, especially to those who have lost loved ones. But keep in mind that those who you consider to be gone from your world are alive in another, greater world, a world that encompasses your world and many others as well. Those who have gone on ahead of you are simply in another form, in another realm of existence. It’s not your world, but if you think of that person’s spirit as eternal, then you may be able to envision them in spirit form, alive in a world of spirit form as well. There are many mysteries about life and the afterlife that will only be revealed as you are ready to receive. Until you are more fully ready, keep your heart and mind open so that you are ready to accept what does come to guide you and enhance your understanding. Everyone will receive the guidance they are ready for. And it will come in ways that are unique and particularly honed so that there is no misunderstanding.

All our love,
The Soul Sisters, Jan & Jeanne

Chuck's Blog

Chuck’s Place: Completing the Physical While in the Physical

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Completion now, or later?
-Illustration © 2023 Jan Ketchel

Life in a physical body is a solid dream. We require solid foods to maintain the body of that dream. When we exit from that dream, at completion of the solid life we are in, we shift into the dream of life in a much more refined, subtle energy body; one that no longer requires solid foods to survive.

However, attachment to the habits, pleasures and goals of life in a material body cast their shadow upon the new parameters of life in the energy body. Frederick Myers called this stage of existence, life in Illusionland. The Buddhists call it life in the bardos; the Christians call it purgatory.

The architect of these interim dreams is one’s need to achieve satiety with the physical instincts of hunger, sex and power, as well as the ego’s obsession with receiving attention and validation. Imagination and intent are the bricklayers of these subtle dreams.

In that dream state, a mere thought or desire constructs an entire illusory world for the soul to live in. We do not awaken from these dreams until we are truly satiated with the sensual experience of these material desires. We cannot ascend to the new world of possibility of life in the energy body until we’ve completed the incomplete dreams of material life, the seeds of which are planted and lived to completion in Illusionland.

While still existing in the real dream of the solid body, we are afforded solid opportunities to fulfill our material dreams. Fulfillment means true completion, a lack of interest in having more. We can never move beyond that which we still carry a torch for. In some way, we must come to peace with all our passions before we can open to the next rung of spiritual adventure. Why wait?

To complete the physical while still in the physical is to become fully lucid in the life one is currently in. Lucidity is consciousness of freedom of choice, but one must first learn to suspend judgment. If, for instance, one must complete a life of victimhood, choose to fully complete it.

If, on the other hand, one is bored with victimhood, a true sign of completion, then take charge of venturing beyond old habit into the uncertainty of new life.

That boredom may have been accrued through countless groundhog day cycles that culminate in a eureka moment of completion that allows passage to new life. Finally the knock of the Spirit is heard. This may also include physical impacts or other natural consequences that contribute toward that ultimate moment of satiety.

We are all sharing a collective Earth dream of epic proportion right now. Almost out of necessity we retreat into the daydreams of out-of-body fantasies. Our need for safety has us sleepwalking through these extraordinary times. Time to wake up.

The truth is, we are all participating right now in a collective dream that has a very clear intention, and that is to discover if (given our freedom of choice) we will choose to evolve or to extinguish this dream. I’m quite certain we are all in this world at this time because we are ready to collectively answer that question.

Individually, we each face this same question in the context of our everyday lives. Will we fulfill our physical life needs and desires while in physical form? Or will we extinguish that possibility in this lifetime and thus dream it forward into Illusionland?

Be in the body of this life. It’s the main attraction while we’re in it.

With lucidity, let’s keep this dream alive by assuming responsibility for all our dreams, particularly the one we currently, physically embody!

Dreaming with lucidity,
Chuck

Chuck's Blog

Chuck’s Place: Of Your Choosing But Not Of Your Choosing

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The law of nature is growth…
– Photo by Jan Ketchel

After Jeanne Marie Ketchel left her life, in a human body, she was amazed to discover that she was still very much a part of this world, though in a much more subtle body than the physical body she had recently shed. Following a period of rejuvenation and orientation she chose a task that was to become her new life mission.

More precisely, she describes this afterlife choice process as, “It will be of your choosing, but not of your choosing. It will be granted because it is exactly where you need to go, but it will also be where you fit perfectly.” (The Book of Us, p. 165)

No outside judge decides where we need to go, we are the ultimate judge of our lives.

“Where you need to go” is how I define karma. The underlying law of nature, both physical and spiritual, is growth. Spiritual growth progresses through lighter and lighter stages of being. We shed the denseness of physical matter upon physical death and enter our lighter energy body soul-state.

However, an individual who remains attached to their worldly possessions and physical proclivities upon death will, of necessity, enter a bardo environment that fits this state of evolution. The Buddhists define bardos as alternative worlds that reflect a soul’s state of spiritual accomplishments, high or low, offering what is necessary for continued growth, for every soul is destined to grow and evolve at their own pace.

Thus, continued life would be in a bardo of one’s choosing and yet not; it would be the only fitting place in which to evolve, hence, would be a natural next step. Souls remain in bardo states until they are ready to move on, meaning until they have grown or progressed enough to shed their attachment to the coveted activities of physical life or have completed the necessary expiation resulting from them.

The significant point here is that we are in full control of where we land based upon the choices we make and how far we spiritually evolve, in whatever world we are in. Upon changing worlds, at death, we can only go where we have prepared ourselves to go.

Karma is not punitive, it is objective. Though we might covet a highly evolved spiritual existence, we will only manifest it when we have completed the prerequisites for such an existence. Death does not automatically result in spiritual advancement, unless we have consciously worked toward it during our lifetime. Alternatively, though we may in fact be spiritually advanced during our lifetime, we may be placed in a remedial bardo to complete the necessary requirements for even greater ascension.

The same principle governs the life we are currently in: we can only advance in our careers and relationships to the extent that we have learned and prepared ourselves to advance into deeper fulfillment.

We are the ultimate judge of our lives, as we place ourselves where we need to go based on the choices we have made and the consequences of those choices. Judgment is based on full transparency—the truth. We are free to ignore the truth, but in that case we land ourselves in the bardo best fitted to allow us to accept the truth that we avoid, and to grow beyond it.

Our truest judge is the voice of our conscience, which is located in the heart center. This is the heart not of sentimentality nor romance but the heart of our morality, our deepest knowing of what is right. This voice of the heart is to be distinguished from the voice of the aberrant inner critic, the product of the conjuring mind’s incessant storytelling.

If we quiet our mind and ask our heart to speak the truth, it will calmly reveal it—no drama, just the plain truth.  The true judge—the voice of heart centered conscience—will always know and choose rightly where we must go next.

If we align our decisions and actions with the truth that we are shown, we will advance as spiritually enlightened beings.

From the heart,

Chuck

Chuck's Blog

Chuck’s Place: Advancement

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Advancement… seeking ever higher…
– Photo by Chuck Ketchel

Memorial Day invites our attention to connect with those who have passed beyond physical life into pure spirit existence. In fact, we are all currently in spirit existence, for the soul that will someday pass on from physical life is alive and operational now, deeply attached to the physical body, at this very moment.

Those souls that have released from the physical body awaken to discover that their soul body, though lighter and brighter than their former physical body, is its exact replica or blueprint, the reason shamans have always called it the double. The desire of the soul body to sojourn for a life on the physical plane attracted to it the dense matter that clothed its soul during its earthly life, in the form of a physical garment.

Souls beyond physical life are often shocked to discover that nothing has changed. The soul and character that they lived in mortal life is the exact same soul and character they arrive with in the afterlife. The first great task in the afterlife is to fully recapitulate the life just lived, in the fullness of truth. Deeds and misdeeds must be acknowledged and reconciled before the soul can truly advance into the subtler possibilities of life in the afterlife.

What separates souls in this evolved position, from most people still in physical habitation, is the lightness of being and higher vibration of soul states beyond the sensory spectrum of the physical body. Nonetheless, these souls innervate our world and readily communicate through the medium of synchronicity, dream visitations, and, for those whose psychic channels have opened, clairvoyance and clairaudience. The spontaneous thoughts that arrive to us daily, through song or creative inspiration, are often the suggestions of guiding souls.

Those who reside in the higher vibrational dimensions, concentric with our Earth, are frequently dedicated to lives of service, the key to advancement on all planes of existence. Life on the Earth plane is socialized, from early on, to accumulate material wealth as its most important goal. The byproduct of this emphasis is a narrow narcissistic worldview that veils over our more fundamental interdependent whole.

The transparency of interconnectedness prevails in the afterlife, where everyone is confronted with the shadow of their former earthly life. That which remains unfulfilled must be completed. The burden of wrongs accumulated must be righted. Advancement demands completion and restitution. This is the law of compensation, cause and effect, and karma that prevails in all dimensions. This is not about being judged by anyone; it’s about living the necessary balance required by the truth of life lived.

Service at the soul-body level, delivered to the greater good for all, is both a means to give back that which was wrongfully taken and, more importantly, to refine one’s relationship to love, the most crucial factor to advancement on all levels of being.

Those of us still in human form do well to listen to the promptings of our own spirit, as well as to the suggestions offered to us through the spirit channels of those we memorialize, who live across the bridge we will all someday cross.

Granted, not all spirits have awakened to their greater potential and some may even seek human accomplice to their cravings. We must be careful how we interact, and so it is good to exercise keen judgment and assume full conscious responsibility for all our thoughts and actions.

Nonetheless, the guidance to be of service, to be fair, and to be loving in this life, particularly toward the promptings of our own spirit, who seeks only our advancement, is surely the road to fulfillment in this life, and beyond.

With love,

Chuck