by Esther Hicks
She speaks with spirits!” our friends said. “She’ll be here next week, and you can make an appointment with her and ask her anything you like!” That’s about the last thing on this earth that I would ever want to do, I thought, but at the same time I heard Jerry, my husband, saying, “We really would like to make an appointment. How do we go about doing that?”
That was 1984, and in the four years that we’d been married, we’d never had an argument or even exchanged cross words. We were two joyous people, living happily ever after with each other, and compatible on nearly every subject that came up. The only discomfort that I ever felt was when Jerry would entertain friends with one of his stories from 20 years earlier, relating his experiences with the Ouija board. If we were at a restaurant or some other public place when I sensed one of those stories coming on, I would politely (or sometimes not so politely), excuse myself and retreat to the ladies’ room, sit in the bar, or take a walk to the car until I believed that sufficient time had passed and the account would be over. Happily, Jerry eventually stopped telling those stories when I was around.
I wasn’t what you’d call a religious girl, but I’d attended enough Sunday-School classes to develop a very strong fear of evil and the devil. Thinking back, I’m not really sure if our Sunday-School teachers had actually devoted a greater proportion of our classes to teaching us to fear the devil or if that’s simply what stood out in my mind. But that is, for the most part, what I remember from those years.
So, as I’d been taught, I carefully avoided anything that could possibly have any connection to the devil. One time when I was a young woman, I was sitting in a drive-in theater and happened to look out the back window of the car at the other movie screen and saw a horrible scene from The Exorcist (a movie that I’d purposely avoided seeing), and what I saw, without hearing the sound, affected me so strongly that I had nightmares for weeks.
“Her name is Sheila,” our friend told Jerry. “I’ll make the appointment for you and let you know.”
Jerry spent the next few days writing down his questions. He said he had some that he’d saved up since he was a small child. I didn’t make a list. Instead, I struggled with the idea of going at all.
As we pulled into the driveway of a beautiful house in the heart of Phoenix, Arizona, I remember thinking, What am I getting myself into? We walked up to the front door, and a very nice woman greeted us and showed us into a lovely living room where we could wait for our scheduled appointment.
The house was large, simply but beautifully furnished, and very quiet. I remember feeling a sort of reverence, like being in a church.
Then a big door opened, and two pretty women dressed in fresh, brightly colored cotton blouses and skirts entered the room. Apparently we were the first appointment after lunch; both women looked happy and refreshed. I felt myself relax a little bit. Maybe this wasn’t going to be so weird after all.
Soon we were invited into a lovely bedroom where three chairs were situated near the foot of the bed. Sheila was sitting on the edge of the bed, and her assistant sat in one of the chairs with a small tape recorder on the table beside her. Jerry and I sat in the other two chairs, and I braced myself for whatever was about to happen.
The assistant explained that Sheila was going to relax and release her consciousness, and then Theo, a Non-Physical entity, would address us. When that happened, we’d be free to talk about anything we desired.
Sheila lay across the end of the bed, only a few feet from where we were seated, and breathed deeply. Soon, an unusual-sounding voice abruptly said, “It is the beginning, is it not? You have questions?”
I looked at Jerry, hoping that he was ready to start, because I knew that I was not ready to talk with whoever was now speaking to us. Jerry leaned forward; he was eager to ask his first question.
I relaxed as Theo’s words slowly came out of Sheila’s mouth. And while I knew that it was Sheila’s voice we were hearing, I somehow also knew that something far different from Sheila was the source of these marvelous answers.
Jerry said he’d been saving his questions up since he was five years old, and he asked them as rapidly as he could. Our 30 minutes passed so quickly, but during that time, somehow, without my speaking a word, my fear of this strange experience lifted, and I was filled with a feeling of well-being that surpassed anything that I’d ever felt before.
Once back inside our car, I told Jerry, “I’d really like to come back tomorrow. There are some things I would now like to ask.” Jerry was delighted to make another appointment because he had more questions on his list as well.
About halfway through our allotted time on the following day, Jerry reluctantly relinquished the remaining minutes to me, and I asked Theo, “How can we more effectively achieve our goals?”
The answer came back: “Meditation and affirmations.”
The idea of meditation didn’t appeal to me at all, and I wasn’t aware of anyone who practiced it. In fact, when I thought of the word, it brought to mind people lying on beds of nails, walking on hot coals, standing on one foot for years, or begging for donations at the airport. So I asked, “What do you mean by meditation?”
The answer was short, and the words felt good as I heard them: “Sit in a quiet room. Wear comfortable clothing, and focus on your breathing. As your mind wanders, and it will, release the thought and focus upon your breathing. It would be good for you to do it together. It will be more powerful.”
“Could you give us an affirmation that would be of value for us to use?” we asked.
“I [say your name] see and draw to me, through divine love, those Beings who seek enlightenment through my process. The sharing will elevate us both now.”
As the words flowed from Sheila/Theo, I felt them penetrate to the core of my being. A feeling of love flowed to me and through me like nothing I’d ever felt before. My fear was gone. Jerry and I both felt wonderful.
“Should we bring my daughter, Tracy, to meet you?” I asked.
“If it is her asking, but it is not necessary, for you, too (Jerry and Esther), are channels.”
That statement made no sense to me at all. I couldn’t believe that I could be this old (in my 30s), and not already know something like that, if it were true.
The tape recorder clicked off, and we both felt mild disappointment that our extraordinary experience was finished. Sheila’s assistant asked us if we had one last question. “Would you like to know the name of your spiritual guide?” she asked.
I would have never asked that, for I had never heard the term spiritual guide, but it sounded like a good question. I liked the idea of guardian angels. So I said, “Yes, please, could you tell me the name of my spiritual guide?”
Theo said, “We are told it will be given to you directly. You will have a clairaudient experience, and you will know.”
What is a clairaudient experience? I wondered, but before I could ask my question, Theo said with a tone of finality, “God’s love unto you!” and Sheila opened her eyes and sat up. Our extraordinary conversation with Theo had ended.
After Jerry and I left the house, we drove to a lookout point on the side of one of the Phoenix mountains and leaned against the car, staring off into the distance watching the sunset. We had no idea of the transformation that had taken place within us that day. We only knew that we felt wonderful.
When we returned home, I had two powerful new intentions: I was going to meditate, whatever in the world that meant, and I was going to find out the name of my spiritual guide.
So, we changed into our robes, closed the curtains in the living room, and sat in two large wingback chairs, with an etagere between us. We’d been encouraged to do this together, but it felt odd, and the etagere helped to mask the strangeness for some reason.
I remembered Theo’s instructions: Sit in a quiet room, wear comfortable clothing, and focus on your breathing. So we set a timer for 15 minutes, and I closed my eyes and began to breathe consciously. In my mind, I asked the question: Who is my spiritual guide? and then I counted my breath, in and out, in and out. Right away, my entire body felt numb. I couldn’t distinguish my nose from my toes. It was a strange but comforting sensation, and I enjoyed it. It felt as if my body was slowly spinning even though I knew that I was sitting in a chair. The timer rang and startled us, and I said, “Let’s do it again.”
Once more, I closed my eyes, counted my breaths, and felt numb from head to toe. Again, the timer rang and startled us. “Let’s do it again,” I said.
So we set the timer for another 15 minutes, and again I felt numbness overtake my entire body. But this time, something, or someone, began to “breathe my body.” From my vantage point, it felt like rapturous love, moving from deep inside my body outward. What a glorious sensation! Jerry heard my soft sounds of pleasure and later said that, to him, I appeared to be writhing in ecstasy.
When the timer went off and I came out of the meditation, my teeth chattered like never before. Buzzed would be a better word for the experience. For nearly an hour, my teeth buzzed as I tried to relax back into my normal state of awareness.
At that time, I didn’t realize what had happened, but I know now that I’d experienced my first contact with Abraham. While I didn’t know what had happened, I did know that whatever it was—it was good! And I wanted it to happen again.
So Jerry and I made the decision to meditate every day for 15 minutes. I don’t think we missed a day in the next nine months. I felt the numbness, or feeling of detachment, each time, but nothing else extraordinary happened during our meditations. And then, right before Thanksgiving of 1985, while meditating, my head began to move gently from side to side. For the next few days, during meditation, my head would move in that gentle flowing motion. It was a lovely sensation that sort of felt like flying.
And then, on about the third day of this new movement, during meditation, I realized that my head was not randomly moving about, but it was as if my nose was spelling letters in the air. “M-N-O-P” is what I realized it was.
“Jerry,” I shouted, “I’m spelling letters with my nose!” And with those words, the rapturous feelings returned. Goose bumps covered my body from head to toe as this Non-Physical Energy rippled through my body.
Jerry quickly took out his notebook and began writing down the letters, as my nose wrote them in the air: “I AM ABRAHAM. I AM YOUR SPIRITUAL GUIDE.”
Abraham has since explained to us that there are many gathered there with “them.” They refer to themselves in the plural because they’re a Collective Consciousness. They’ve explained that, in the beginning, the words “I am Abraham” were spoken through me only because my expectation for my spiritual guide was singular, but that there are many there with them, speaking, in a sense of the word, with one voice, or a consensus of thought.
To quote Abraham: Abraham is not a singular consciousness as you feel that you are in your singular bodies. Abraham is a Collective Consciousness. There is a Non-Physical Stream of Consciousness, and as one of you asks a question, there are many, many points of consciousness that are funneling through what feels to be the one perspective (because there is, in this case, one human, Esther, who is interpreting or articulating it), so it appears singular to you. We are multidimensional and multifaceted and certainly multi-consciousness.
Abraham has since explained that they’re not whispering words into my ears, which I am then repeating for others, but instead they’re offering blocks of thoughts, like radio signals, which I’m receiving at some unconscious level. I then translate those blocks of thoughts into the physical word equivalent. I “hear” the words as they’re spoken through me, but during the translation process itself, I have no awareness of what is coming, or time for recollection of what has already come.
Abraham explained that they had been offering these blocks of thoughts to me for quite some time, but I was so strictly trying to follow Theo’s instructions—which said, “When your mind wanders, and it will, release the thoughts and focus on your breathing”—that whenever one of these thoughts would begin, I would release it as quickly as possible and focus back upon my breathing. I guess the only way they could get through to me was to spell letters in the air with my nose. Abraham says that those wonderful sensations that rippled through my body when I realized that I was spelling words was the joy they felt upon my recognition of our conscious connection.
Our communication process evolved rapidly over the next few weeks. The spelling of letters in the air with my nose was a very slow process, but Jerry was so excited about this clear and viable source of information that he would often wake me up in the middle of the night to ask Abraham questions.
But then, one night I felt a very strong sensation moving through my arms, hands, and fingers, and my hand began thumping on Jerry’s chest as we lay in bed together watching television. As my hand continued to thump, I felt a very strong impulse to go to my IBM Selectric typewriter, and as I put my fingers on the keyboard, my hands began moving quickly up and down the keys as if someone was quickly discovering what this typewriter was all about and where the specific letters were placed. And then my hands began to type: Every letter, every number, again and again. And then the words began to take form on the paper: I am Abraham. I am your spiritual guide. I am here to work with you. I love you. We will write a book together.
We discovered that I could put my hands on the keyboard and then relax, much in the same way that I did during meditation, and that Abraham (whom we will now refer to as “they” from here on in) would then answer questions about anything that Jerry would ask. It was an amazing experience. They were so intelligent, so loving, and so available! Anytime, day or night, they were there to talk to us about anything that we wanted to discuss.
Then, one afternoon, while driving on a Phoenix freeway, I felt a sensation in my mouth, chin, and neck, similar to the familiar feeling of getting ready to yawn. It was a very strong impulse, so strong I couldn’t stifle it. We were rounding a corner between two big trucks, and both of them seemed to be crossing the line into our lane at the same time, and I thought for a moment that they were going to drive right over the top of us. And in that very moment, the first words that Abraham spoke through my mouth burst out, “Take the next exit!”.
We exited the freeway and parked in a lot underneath an overpass, and Jerry and Abraham visited for hours. My eyes were closed tightly, and my head moved up and down rhythmically as Abraham answered Jerry’s stream of questions.
How is it that this wonderful thing has happened to me? At times, as I think about it, I can hardly believe that it’s true. It seems like the kind of thing that fairy tales are made of—almost like making a wish as you rub the magic lantern. At other times, it seems like the most natural, logical experience in the world.
Sometimes I can barely remember what life was like before Abraham came into our lives. I have, with few exceptions, always been what most would call a happy person. I had a wonderful childhood, with no major traumas, and along with two other sisters, I was born to kind and loving parents. As I mentioned, Jerry and I had been blissfully married for about four years, and I was, in every sense, living happily ever after. I wouldn’t have described myself as someone filled with unanswered questions. In fact, I really wasn’t asking many questions at all, and I hadn’t formulated any strong opinions about much of anything. Jerry, on the other hand, was filled with passionate questions. He was a voracious reader, always looking for tools and techniques that he could pass along to others to help them live more joyous lives. To this day, I’ve never known anyone who wants more to help others live successful lives.
Abraham has explained that the reason why Jerry and I are the perfect combination for doing this work together is because Jerry’s powerful desire summoned Abraham, while my absence of opinions or angst made me a good receiver for the information that Jerry was summoning.
Jerry was so enthusiastic, even in his first interactions with Abraham, because he understood the depth of their wisdom and the clarity of their offering. And throughout all these years, his enthusiasm for Abraham’s message hasn’t waned in the least. No one in the room ever enjoys what Abraham has to say more than Jerry.
In the beginning of our interactions with Abraham, we didn’t really understand what was happening, and we had no real way of knowing whom Jerry was talking with, but it was still thrilling and amazing and wonderful—and weird. It seemed so strange that I was certain that most people I knew wouldn’t understand; they probably wouldn’t even want to understand. As a result, I made Jerry promise that he would tell no one about our amazing secret.
I guess it’s now obvious that Jerry didn’t keep that promise, but I’m not sorry about that. There’s nothing that either of us would rather do than be in a room filled with people who have things they’d like to discuss with Abraham. What we hear most often, from people who meet Abraham through our books, videos, audio series, workshops, or Website, is: “Thank you for helping me remember what I’ve somehow always known,” and “This has helped me tie together all the pieces of truth that I’ve found along the way. This has helped me make sense of everything!”
Abraham doesn’t seem interested in forecasting our future, as a fortune-teller might, although I believe that they always know what our future holds, but instead they’re teachers who guide us from wherever we are to wherever we want to be. They’ve explained to us that it’s not their work to decide what we should want, but it is their work to assist us in achieving whatever we desire. In Abraham’s words: Abraham is not about guiding anyone toward or away from anything. We want you to make all your decisions about your desires. Our only desire for you is that you discover the way to achieve your desires. My favorite thing that I’ve ever heard spoken about Abraham came to us from a teenage boy who had just listened to a recording in which Abraham was addressing some questions that teens had been asking. The boy said, “At first, I didn’t believe that Esther was really speaking for Abraham. But when I heard the tape, and heard Abraham’s answers to these questions, I then knew that Abraham was real, because there was no judgment. I don’t believe that any person could be so wise, so fair, and without judgment.”
For me, this journey with Abraham has been more wonderful than I can find words to explain. I adore the sense of Well-Being I’ve achieved from what I’ve learned from them. I love how their gentle guidance always leaves me with a feeling of self-empowerment. I love seeing the lives of so many of our dear friends (and new friends), improving through the application of what Abraham has taught them. I love having these brilliant and loving Beings pop into my head whenever I ask, always ready and willing to assist in our understanding of something.
(As an aside, several years after our meeting with Sheila and Theo, Jerry looked up the name Theo in our dictionary. “The meaning of Theo,” he joyously announced to me, “is God”\ How perfect that is! I smile as I reflect back on that wonderful day, which was such an extraordinary turning point for us. There I was, worried about interacting with evil, when I was, in fact, on my way to having a conversation with God!)
In the early days of our work with Abraham, our audiences wanted us to explain our relationship with Abraham. “How did your meeting occur? How do you maintain your relationship? Why did they choose you? What is it like to be the speaker of such profound wisdom?” So, Jerry and I would spend a few minutes at the beginning of every speaking engagement or radio or television interview trying our best to satisfy those questions. But I always felt impatient with that part of our presentation. I just wanted to relax and allow Abraham’s Consciousness to begin flowing, and to get on with what Jerry and I felt was the true reason we were standing there to begin with.
Eventually, we created a free Introduction to Abraham recording that people could listen to at their leisure, which explains the details of how our Abraham experience began and evolved. (We’ve now posted that 74-minute Introduction as a free download at www.abraham-hicks.com, our interactive Website to explain who we are and what we were doing before meeting Abraham.) We both very much enjoy our part in the process of getting Abraham’s message into a format that can be heard and utilized by others, but to us, Abraham’s message has always felt like the main event.
This morning, Abraham said to me, Esther, we are aware of the questions that are radiating from the mass consciousness of your planet, and here, through you, we will joyously offer the answers. Relax and enjoy the delicious unfolding of this book.
So I’m going to relax here, and allow Abraham to immediately begin writing this book to you. I imagine that they will explain to you, from their perspective, who they are, but more important, I believe that they will help you come to understand who you are. It is my desire that your meeting with Abraham will be as meaningful for you as it continues to be for us.
— With love, Esther