The Astral Plane

In many ways it was the end of a day like any other day of work in an office of a cosmetics firm where Amber was a long term temp. What nobody else realized about that January day was that it was the eighth anniversary of her grandfather’s death, a day of sorrow for Amber. Before his death, winters with Grandpa meant sitting in front of a fire with hot chocolate made from scratch and his soothing, deep voice telling her stories.

It had been snowing all day. Amber was too restless to wait for the bus, so she walked through the slush from the office near Central Park on Fifty Seventh Street to her residential hotel in the east thirties. The hotel had felt like a safe haven for Amber until a recent change of management. Now some of the men at the front desk hit on her and some of the women picked arguments with her. It was the early 1990’s, and rent controlled residential hotels were being converted to high priced condominiums.

When Amber reached the lobby of the hotel, which was under reconstruction, the man behind the front desk said, “I’ve been waiting for you. When are you going to come to my room?”

Amber said, “I’m not going to your room. I would like my mail, though.”

A package had arrived from Astral Projections, Inc. She had been waiting for that. She had sent a check to them when she saw an ad in The Village Voice for a way to contact the dead. She missed Grandpa and couldn’t wait. She had never felt so much love from anyone as from Grandpa.

Amber tore the package open as soon as she was in her room. One page in the package described the astral plane: It is a realm between the material world of life and the spiritual plane. When human beings die, they go to the astral plane, usually for seven years. In the astral plane, there is still a connection to the material world while there is also a connection to the spirit world. The spiritual realm has heavenly parts, hellish parts, and everything in between. One’s place in the spiritual realm is dictated by what one did in life. The astral plane is a spiritual limbo where the results of actions in life aren’t felt.

The package also included ceremonial objects for entering the astral plane and a page of instructions on how a living person’s soul can visit the astral plane and later return to the physical body. The instructions were clear and easy to follow. They warned that staying too long in the astral plane would cause the physical body to deteriorate and eventually die.

Before trying to go to the astral plane, Amber checked her caller ID to see if Jack had called. He hadn’t. She was in love with him, but he came in and out of her life, so she didn’t know what his feelings were toward her. There was nobody else she expected a call from. She had fallen out of touch with everyone else she knew, even her parents.

Amber followed the directions to enter the astral plane, and soon she couldn’t see, hear, smell, taste, or feel anything with her body. She could sense emotions and could have thoughts, but without words.

The first thing she was aware of after losing touch with her body senses was hostility, a hostility like she felt from the hotel management, only much stronger. It was a wish by someone that Amber would die a painful death by her own hand. She then sensed a change. She felt the love of Grandpa. She didn’t hear words, but she could feel his presence, sense his emotions, and understand his ideas.

Amber’s feelings, if they had been put into words, would have been, “Grandpa, Grandpa, I know it’s you, but I can’t believe it! I’ve missed you so much.”

Grandpa’s nonverbal response felt like, “I’m sorry you risked your life to be with me. To die from going to the astral plane would put you at the spiritual level of suicide, and you would suffer greatly on reaching the spiritual realm.”

Amber’s responded, “Whatever happens is worth it to make contact with you again. I’ve never felt as loved as when I’m in your presence. But why did I feel hostility when I first entered the astral plane?”

“The hostility you felt on arriving was from a woman your father jilted before he met your mother. The woman, Ophelia, committed suicide when she learned your father had gotten engaged while she didn’t find another boyfriend. Ophelia is staying in the astral plane instead of going onto the spiritual plane in order to haunt your father’s family. She has manipulated you and your family to stop speaking to one another.”

Amber wondered, “Why am I facing the hostility now? I didn’t do anything to her.”

Grandpa answered, “The hotel you live in is owned and managed by Ophelia’s cousins. That created a connection she could use against you. The daughter of one of those cousins is in love with the same man you are, Jack. Ophelia doesn’t want you to win at love, and wants you to suffer the way she suffered. She also wants to help her second niece to succeed in love.”

Amber wondered, “So if I leave the hotel and forget about Jack, the curse will be lifted?”

Grandpa responded, “Yes. In the meantime, Ophelia will be forced to go onto the spiritual plane where she can’t have any influence on the physical plane. I’ve also stayed in the astral plane a short time after I was supposed to go on to the spiritual plane so that I could protect you. I will suffer some for that myself.”

Amber wondered, “Could I communicate to Ophelia that I mean her and her family no more harm? I’ll move out of their hotel and forget about Jack. It seems he isn’t faithful to me.”

Amber felt Ophelia’s intense sadness and deep grief as soon as she sent this thought.

Amber remembered the directions for leaving the astral plane. When she woke up, she was in a hospital bed, hooked up to an oxygen machine. Her parents were there and told her she had pneumonia.

Amber tried to share what had happened in the astral plane and what she had learned.

Her father raised his eyebrows. “Ophelia? How do you know about her? But she couldn’t have committed suicide over me! She was a beauty queen and loved to flirt with everyone.”

Amber gasped. “So you really did go out with someone named Ophelia. I’m telling you, I made contact with Grandpa and Ophelia in the astral plane. That’s the only way I could have learned that.”

Her father frowned. “That’s very odd, superstitious thinking, I believe. Maybe I mentioned her in passing and you don’t remember when. The pneumonia might have made you delirious.”

Amber squirmed. “It won’t matter if I leave the hotel, though. If I do, that will be the end of her vengeance. She also won’t run interference between us. She isn’t now. Can’t you tell the difference?”

Her father chuckled and put a hand on her forehead. “It’s good to be talking to you again, but when you feel less weak, you might want to go back to being more independent.”

He lifted his hand and smiled at Amber. “I can understand you wanting to leave the hotel, though. We’d be glad if you came back and lived with us in Queens. We’ll charge a much lower rent, too.”

Amber’s mother came up to the other side of her bed. “Yes, it would be good to have you living with us again. We could do things like go shopping together. Maybe you’d like to complete your college degree. I do feel like something is different, and I’m glad.”