Confession of a Ghost. 19. 22. Welcome to Hell

“CONFESSION of a GHOST”
a novel by Alexandra Kryuchkova
in the “PLAYING ANOTHER REALITY” series

22 BEFORE/19 AFTER. HOUSE No. 8

*****WELCOME to HELL*****

***
Somewhere in the Universe


The Guardian and I got into a small boat and sailed under the witchy black dome of Heaven along a narrow gorge at a high mountain range.

“Won’t you leave me as before, Angel?”

“I’ve never left you … House No. 8 is not only the Sphere of Death and Magic, but of extreme situations as well, it’s the line between Life and Death. We also include here earthly carnal passions that people confuse with Love. The Sphere of others’ money, inheritance, legacy and important changes-transformations.”

“Saturn is the Master of this Sphere, he limits in something. It means I’ll have neither legacy nor earthly passions.”

“Saturn loves wisdom and encourages hard work. The wiser you become, the more opportunities you get. Often indicates legacy or large capital not from relatives, or from those who are much older, or during the last period on Earth. Saturn is a slow planet. Any global changes are delayed. In times of crisis, you’ll feel at the bottom of a bottomless well.”

“Why are people given problems and crises?”

“Signs of a dead end. They go in a wrong direction or stand still. Everyone’s task is to grow spiritually. House No. 8 in Capricorn is either a person who completely denies our World, or a very strong practicing magician. Here is another danger, since Saturn is quite merciless, ruthless and cold-blooded, doesn’t like calf tenderness and doesn’t stand on ceremony with anyone, including himself.”

“As many as 5 Spheres out of 12 have to do with Saturn!” I exclaimed.

“Yes, but Saturn is fair and wise, doesn’t take hasty steps, thinks of ten moves ahead. Before making a decision, you must be sure of its correctness. If Saturn shares one’s principles, he becomes one’s true friend. He looks for reliability and guarantees in all that surrounds him, he needs stone walls and solid ground under his feet. Saturn is the best manager of other people’s finances because of the increased propensity to be economical and extremely cautious, the oligarchs will calmly entrust their capital to you.”

“Yes, yes, yes,” I chuckled. “I’ll serve the oligarchs faithfully, and they’ll betray me!”

“The main thing is not to take revenge. Any thought has colossal power, and yours has triple, you are a born magician.”

“The Spider said I would be the granddaughter of a witch and the wife of a sorcerer.”

“You’ll become the wife of Pluto, at least of one, do you think I’ll let you marry a sorcerer?”

We reached a gloomy cave, on the rock at the entrance to which a lone lantern was burning. The Guardian said something to the Guard, and we were let through.

“Is every Rukh brought here before incarnation?” I asked as we passed through the labyrinth of intricate corridors, gradually descending lower and lower.

“Both before and after. Every Rukh sees its own pictures. Any state of mind, like energy, has no visualization and is not learned in images.”

“Wow! What a bright Rukh has come! With our qualities!” the devil exclaimed at the door, stretching out his furry paws towards me.

“Don’t break the law! The non-incarnated ones are untouchable,” the Guardian said, and the devil obediently stepped back, exclaiming maliciously,

“Welcome to Hell!”

In front of us, there was a gigantic stone desert with towering black withered trees, each of them was entwined with a web, in the center of which a soul was catched. Souls groaned, trying to get out – in vain. Devils the guards were scurrying back and forth, looking after the prisoners. Throughout the desert, here and there, mirages with life scenes that made souls groan even more flared up and faded.

I noticed other Guardians giving tours with their Rukhs before incarnation, as well as the souls of the incarnated and completely indistinct shadows.

“Who are they?” I asked, clinging tightly to the Guardian as I passed by the next dead tree.

“The disembodied are in the web, by the decision of the Court…”

“How is the Judgement going?”

“The soul is being scanned. Its entire life on Earth is subject to analysis. If the soul is full of destructive and negative energy, or some earthly passion outweighs the attraction to the Light, it has nothing to do with the Higher Spheres. Only completely calmed souls open the door to Heaven. Many Rukhs continue to wander Earth for various reasons. In brief, what the soul is attracted to, it will stay with it.”

“Are they, the negatively destructive ones, locked here forever?”

“Everything negative must be destroyed. Sooner or later.”

“Are they in their astral bodies?”

“Yes, but the connection of atoms, do you see? – is partially torn.”

“Where are their Guardians?”

“In the Higher Spheres. The darker the soul, the farther away the Guardian is from it. These Rukhs are abandoned, there is no Light in them. They themselves renounced it.”

“Why weren’t they destroyed immediately, but torturing?”

“There are many reasons. First, there is the law of Balance or Heavenly justice-harmony. Secondly, some Rukhs are so hungry for earthly life that they can’t calm down and disintegrate into atoms, clinging in every possible way to the opportunity to get an earthly body for rent. Look, a shadow has come to the devil, and they are whispering about something. The sorcerer makes another deal with the Prince of Darkness. The most suitable for the task of the sorcerer Rukh will be sent to Earth as a settler. Thirsty for carnal passion will be sent for a love spell. Such Rukh is obliged to serve the Prince of Darkness. The more souls are trapped into the web, the better for Him, since He is fighting for the preponderance of the Evil Forces.”

“Having fulfilled the sorcerer’s wish, while in other’s body, a Rukh should lure another Rukh here, right?”

“At least one, yes. Negative energy feeds this desert like water feeds deserts on Earth. Mirages inflame thirst to the limit. Souls are shown what they can’t get rid of, what they want, but can’t have here.”

“Why are the souls of the incarnated wandering around here?”

“Some of them get here in a dream, some – in a dying state, others come purposefully, looking for friends.”

“Why?” I was surprised.

“Suppose, the offender is in the web, because the offended one didn’t forgive him. The offended one comes, they talk, and the offended one forgives the offender. It’s possible to find out what a person hasn’t completed on Earth and to complete it for him, or to do something from scratch to relieve his suffering. Sometimes it’s necessary to know something important.”

“Where is the Prince of Darkness?” I asked.

“Would you like to meet him in person? He has a battlefield on Earth, not here.”

Suddenly, someone pulled my arm. I turned around and saw an incarnated soul of a boy.

“Hello,” the boy smiled. “I know you!”

“How can you know me?” I asked and looked at the Guardian in surprise, but he just sighed.

“I’ve read your book,” the mysterious boy admitted, continuing to smile slyly.

“Mine? But I haven’t incarnated on Earth yet!”

“It’s already in the Library.”

“A book about ghosts?” I asked.

“No,” the boy grinned. “’The Book of Secret Knowledge’. And a few more. You wrote about me in them.”

“About you?” I exclaimed, wide-eyed, and looked at the Guardian for comments.

“The future is multivariate,” the Guardian replied evasively.

“But those books are in the Library,” the boy chuckled. “We all are in them. I’ve already incarnated.”

“Who are you? How many years have you lived there?”

The boy showed his age on his fingers and added,

“I have as many as 5 (!) planets in the 8th (!) House.”

“What’s your name on Earth?”

“For you, I’m just Ray.”

“Ray of Light?” I smiled at the boy.

He smirked enigmatically and … disappeared.


***
Library of the Universe


“I’m reading the wrong book,” I said in frustration, sitting down in an armchair in the Reading Hall.

“Mind you, it was your choice!”

“If the boy has 5 planets in House No. 8, is he a magician?”

“He’s clearly accented Pluto. You may say even 5 Plutos at once,” the Guardian sighed.

“What was he doing in Hell?” I was surprised.

“Probably he was looking for you to meet.”

“Brrr! Pluto in Hell was looking for me. That’s creepy! When you look at souls, do you see their heavenly passports?”

“I do,” the Guardian nodded and added, “but I don’t always look.”

“What else do you see about the boy? It’s important, tell me.”

“Selene with Lilith in conjunction. The struggle for the soul between the Forces of Darkness and Light throughout the incarnation. Suicide formula. You are very similar, but…”

“Isn’t he the same sorcerer whose wife I can become?”

“Read, Rukh, read,” said the Guardian. “Since childhood, you’ve been able to delve into the Tablets and pull out the fragments somehow related to your Future.”

The book opened at a page with the “Oracle” story, meaning that knowing the Future not always brought happiness.

“You’ll be an Angel. One of the Warriors of Light.”

“And Lucas? Will I meet him?”

“Undoubtedly.”

“At the sea?” I asked dreamily.

“In the valley,” the Oracle replied reluctantly, and after a pause he added, “by the hill of Megiddo… At the last battle…”


*****DREAMS*****

***
Moscow


“Hello,” Ray said thoughtfully, meeting me on the windowsill in the secret room. “Viewing things is canceled for today. I was told to take you for a walk!”

“I’m a ghost, not a dog!”

“Ghosts in chains are much more common than dogs. Where would you like to take a walk? Just don’t tell me about Athos or monasteries!”

“Let’s dance on the skating rink of the snow-covered Red Square on the Christmas Eve, when, according to Gogol, all the Evil ones are activated!”

Ray took my hand, whispered the number of the year, I closed my eyes and…

The music from “Last Tango in Paris” was playing there, the lanterns were shining Christmas-like, the magical snow was falling, the Kremlin chimes were beating, and people were spinning on the ice rink near a huge fluffy Christmas tree. I flew across the ice, imagining myself in skates and my favorite lynx fur coat, sewn in the style of a bat, and I was no longer afraid to fall in triple jumping, and people flashing through us didn’t bother me at all.

“What’s the music, Alice? From the movie thanks to which we met. You asked why the main character killed him. I answered he didn’t want to live, and the depth of my thought about cause-and-effect relationship struck you on the spot,” Ray picked me up, and we took off to the chimes.

“Do you want to stop Time,” I laughed, “or to turn it back?”

“I taught you to stop Time while still alive. Now it lost any sense. Let’s visit the Tower of Ivan the Terrible. Are you Glinskaya of the two of us? Grand Duchess Elena was accused of witchcraft because of the fires. You are witch spawn! By the way, she was killed with rat poison 438 years and a day before your incarnation. I hope you won’t drag me to the Ascension Temple to summon the spirits of ancestors at her grave!”

We enjoyed the view of Red Square from the Tower of Ivan the Terrible. An indescribable joyful feeling was breathtaking.

“I don’t want to upset you, Alice, but this Tower was built after the death of your Terrible relative.”

“It was here, a different one! This one, yes, was built later. Look, on Red Square, there is a souvenir fair. I liked wandering around it, soaking up the Christmas atmosphere!” I said, and we moved to the shopping arcade. “Do you see matryoshka dolls? They remind us of all our bodies, the astral one, the mental one and so on. And of the human races, from the highest to the lowest, where people are No. 4. And here is a treasure box in the shape of a hut on chicken legs! I had one at home. I bought it in St. Petersburg. I kept inside the enchanted ring you had given me. You knew everything that was happening to me thanks to that ring, didn’t you?”

“Are you serious?” Ray laughed. “And there, Alice, they sell donuts. Are you hungry by chance? Okay, it’s time for you to open your eyes wider. You see what you want, or what you are used to see on Earth in such context. Mentally let yourself see everything.”

I closed my eyes, formulated, and… when I opened my eyes, I didn’t even immediately notice the changes. Having looked closely, I was horrified, we were surrounded not only by people, but also by shadows. There were no less of them than people, and maybe more!

“Yes, Alice, these are devils, or demons, the unholy souls of the dead.”

“What are they doing here?”

“Here? They are everywhere! They have never even thought of leaving Earth! After the death of their physical bodies, they make a deal with the Prince of Darkness. He releases them from Hell to catch and recruit new ones. Devils prolong the life of their astral body by feeding it with negative energy. Otherwise, the body disintegrates into atoms. They still want to live. And here they try to inspire different things to those who are alive, put impious thoughts in their heads, incline to unpleasant deeds, push in the direction they need. At the moment of committing what the Prince of Darkness can show in the Court, energy is released into space, and devils eat it with joy.”

“Well,” I shuddered. “And you, do you serve here under a contract too? Or what?”

“Why do you want to know? I want to disintegrate into atoms. As soon as possible.”

“Ray, but I don’t want you to…”

“Hang like me, and…”

“Are you hanging there?”

“Do you think, I’m just sprawled out on a frying pan, like on a sofa, watching TV?” Ray chuckled.

“Would you like a ticket for an excursion to Hell?” a devil wandering around there suddenly whispered in my ear. I instinctively crossed myself, and the devil took a step back.
“Hey you! Earth is our domain! Either you play by our rules, or go to Heavens!”

“Let’s go,” Ray pulled my hand, ignoring the devil. “I’ll show you the frying pan without a ticket.”

“Ray! Do you want to drag me to Hell with you?”

“I told you, I was ordered to take you for a walk today. They won’t let us into Heavens. You’ve already walked on Earth. So only Hell is left, Alice.”

“Well, to Hell means to Hell.”


***
Ouranoupoli


“You’re a dream expert, Alice,” Dimitra said as she finished her coffee. “My husband has insomnia. Who helps with dreams?”

“The Seven Youths of Ephesus. They lived in Ephesus, or, according to another version, on the outskirts of Amman, in the 3rd century. For refusing to worship pagan gods, the Emperor ordered to immure them in a cave, where they prayed to Christ. Two secret Christians wrote down the fate of the young men on metal plates and hid the plates in the cave before the entrance was walled up. In the 5th century, Ephesus was already Christian, but people hesitated due to distrust of the resurrection from the dead. The owner of the land on which the cave was located asked to dismantle the entrance in order to keep his sheep in it. The young men woke up, and it seemed to them that only one night had passed. One of them went to the city for bread, but when buying it he was detained and accused of concealing the treasure, since his coins had long been out of use. The bishop, who was present during the interrogation, went to the cave and found metal plates. All the young men were absolutely intact, unharmed and looked at the age at which they were overtaken by a wonderful dream. They confirmed the possibility of resurrection from the dead with alive bodies. The young men fell asleep again, but appeared in a dream to the Emperor with the request not to touch their bodies until the Second Coming. They are venerated in Orthodoxy, Catholicism and Islam. In Jordan, they believe that the relics are kept in a shrine on the outskirts of Amman in a temple in the form of an equilateral cross. I’ve been there.”

“Wherever you haven’t been to! And your heart remained on Athos. You know, today I woke up and saw a terrible creature hovering over me. I couldn’t move for fear! Then I forced myself to get out of bed and … woke up again, completely. What was that?”

“Earth is full of creatures that usually we don’t see. It’s possible to see them in a state between complete immersion in sleep and reality. It happened to me too, the souls of alive ones come to communicate. One day a man appeared, looked like zombie, held a knife in his hand. I remember his completely empty eyes. He leaned over me and wanted to kill me, but I woke up.”

“What would happen if you didn’t wake up in time?”

“They would have declared death in sleep. Hang the icon of the Virgin ‘Ostrobramskaya’ (Ostra Brama, or the Virgin of the Gate of Dawn) under the head of your bed. It protects everyone who is asleep from the Lower Astral creatures, in general, from their settlement – a split personality, and from any Dark Forces, including influences through spoilage, the evil eye and magic. In modern terms, it ensures the integrity of one’s soul, the astral body.”

“Listen, you are a well of knowledge! I’ve been working with icons for so long, but you always tell me something new!”

“They usually say that the Virgin in this image, against the starry sky and above the crescent Moon, accepts the good news of Her pregnancy with humility, therefore the icon helps those who want to give birth to a child. It also helps to find the lost ones.”

“Is this a Russian icon?”

“According to one version, the icon was given as a gift from Greece to the Lithuanian prince after the Baptism of Russia. According to another, the image appeared above the sharp gates, or ‘brama’, in the Lithuanian city of Vilnius. The Catholics celebrate the icon on April 14, the day of its manifestation, and the Orthodox celebrate it on December 26.”

“Have you ever contacted with zombie people?”

“Yes, it’s scary, because one ceases to be oneself. The gaze changes. Sometimes even the voice changes abruptly. Obscene words come pouring out. They have inhuman force.”

“The devils, can they move into anyone?”

“Saints are not possessed.”

“Consoled! So ‘Ostrobramskaya’ should be hung not in bedroom, but at the entrance to the house, like the ‘All-Seeing Eye’ and ‘Unbreakable Wall’. Other strong icons are ‘The Sign’ and ‘The Triumph of the Virgin with the Savior Not Made by Hands.’ The latter is a rare icon, it’s in the city of Vladivostok, it helps during wars, like ‘The Sign’. By the way, about the war… You said you had traveled to foreign countries on the eve of the wars in them. We are discussing the news. A Russian priest wasn’t issued visa to Athos, while his wife and child were issued. Do you understand what they are doing there?”

“Whatever they do, I still love you, and your Tower, and Ouranoupoli, and this sea. The rosary of St. Panteleimon, you gave me, the Athos icons and the ring of St. Anastasia will always remind me of you.”


***
Tower of Ouranoupoli


“Joice, I’ve been in Hell today!”

“It’s no wonder, darling, we’re all shown Hell within 40 days,” Joice smiled, visualizing a teapot and cups.

“Well, what a day! First, Ray took me to the magical atmosphere of Christmas and made me see the truth. I had no idea what the lack of Other Vision on Earth protects us from! They are swarming!”

“They also appear at summoning seances, taking on the images of departed loved ones. I hope you didn’t summon spirits.”

“No,” I said thoughtfully. “I can’t help feeling like I’ve been to Hell before. I knew everything there!”

“Before incarnation?”

“No, that’s the point! How and why did I get there? Today I’ve seen sorcerers coming to Hell to make contracts. What if I made a similar one? I have the same feeling in the Library, as if I had been in it during my lifetime.”

“Quite possible! Many souls wander there in their dreams!”

“But why do I care? And on Athos, I talk about devils and magic.”

“There is a rare icon ‘The Prayer of Detention’. I saw it here once, a long time ago. It’s written only for the one who recite the Prayer of Detention, the strongest against black magic, compiled by the Athos monk Pansophios in 1848. They say on Athos that the Elder removed curses and witchcraft spells with the help of it. In prayer, the Elder referred to God and the Virgin, as to the Unbreakable Wall, as well as to those Saints whose specialization is protection from the Dark Forces. Neither the prayer nor the icon is canonical. Many Orthodox priests forbid reciting the Prayer of Detention, and you won’t find such icon in the temple. It depicts the Saints mentioned in prayer, Christ, the Virgin and the Archangel Michael. One needs to recite the prayer 9 times for 9 days in a row. Better yet, 40.”

“For some reason, your Saint Peter doesn’t go out of my mind.”

“Are you materializing the icon?” Joice smiled.

“Yes, a bit,” I laughed.


***
Library of the Universe


I tried to find my acquaintances in other visitors of the Library, but in vain. However, I couldn’t get rid of the feeling that I had been there before. As well as in Hell. I wanted to find in the diary at least some hints about my out-of-body travels in order to… what?

“I haven’t come to you in the astral body yet, have I? (I’m laughing). The other day, an employee said, ‘You came to me at night, and I promised to give you a dress!’ I asked, ‘What color?’ She replied, ‘Black.’ What a pity! But not white slippers, thank God! An acquaintance said, I came to her in the morning and told that I had been behind the 13th door and seen the seals. I wonder what kind of door it was (I have a lot of things connected with 13 in my life), and what seals?”

“I dreamt about Ray and me talking in a room where there was no one but us and the Mist. I asked, ‘Why can’t I be with you?’ He replied that it was necessary for that time. I wake up, and he called from an unknown number, ‘Hello, Alice! It’s the Dream Solving Bureau!’”

“I woke up at night feeling something behind my head and got scared. I tried to figure out what or who it was. I realized it was an animal. A cat. I said, “Come on, jump to me!” The cat jumped, lay over my head on a pillow, with the tail at my hand. Purring. I saw the cat from above, white-white, fluffy. I felt his warmth and purr and calmed down. At that moment, my mind turned on the brains, ‘Where did the cat come from? Whose cat is this? Does a cat live in your flat now?’ Such thoughts made me shudder, since I didn’t get out of bed, but I saw the cat from above. I saw myself also next to the cat! I woke up the second time – already in reality. This is an example of penetration into the Subtle World, when you wake up There and look with Astral vision, while your brain starts reasoning for compliance with earthly standards, and as soon as you say to yourself, “This cannot be in reality,” you immediately return to this notorious reality! My son said, ‘It’s good we have a cat here, not a monster, probably it’s your Moony’.”

“Sometimes you live several years in a few days. The Wheel of Life spins at a frantic speed, Time goes differently. The night from Thursday to Friday, I dreamt about R.A.M. Strictly serious, she approached me saying ‘thank you’ and left. I woke up wondering for what. Friday evening, our common friend called, ‘What are you doing tomorrow evening? Can you help us? We have to work. A person is in intensive care, R.A.M. asked.’ Of course, I agreed. The man said where he would pick me up at 5 pm on Saturday and what to take with me. The work would start at 6 pm for about 2 hours. I automatically connected to the person in hospital. I had seen him at our seminar. The first thing that came to my mind – why so late? Why Saturday and not Friday? Why from 6 pm to 8 pm? I could neither disconnect myself and nor explain what it meant to connect, what it felt like being connected, but it was like an energetic tension. At night, I was sorting out my pictures on PC, when suddenly I was abruptly disconnected from the person as if they shut me off like a water faucet. It made me feel uncomfortable. I thought all was over. In my opinion, even my physical body (and not just the astral one) somehow immediately went limp. I looked at the clock on the microwave and memorized the time. I thought next morning the friend would call me to say that… I didn’t turn off the phone at night. At 9 am I got the call about the funeral on Monday.”

“A heartbreaking dream. A station in the Mist with a lot of trains. A man I haven’t seen for ages, appears and asks me a question about the most painful point. I start talking so as not to be silent, but I don’t answer ‘yes’ or ‘no’, going all around the bush. He understands the answer. And it makes me unbearably painful to realize it.”