Leaving Annwn
Returning to Earth on a Mission!
by Owen Jones
Annwn is the ancient Welsh word for Heaven — like Valhalla is to the Scandinavians. ‘A Night In Annwn’ refers to Willy Jones’ NDE (Near-Death Experience) when he is reunited with his dead wife, Sarah. It changes his life and that of everyone around him.
ISBN: 9781068353857
1. An Evening Stroll
“The place looks so different these days, doesn’t it, Sarah?”
“Yes, my dear… life seems dismal and disappointing to so many people. I haven’t seen such a general feeling of depression since the time of the Great Plague. It is so sad, Willy”.
“Mmm, the last bubonic plague to strike Britain… So many of us worked for so long to help relieve the suffering in those days, but it seemed so much easier back then. There was more, er hope, I suppose than in these days”.
“People had more strongly-held religious beliefs in the 14th Century even though between seventy-five and two hundred million people died. Although many of the religious leaders were hypocrites, the people really did believe in God and an Afterlife. It’s not the same any more. People find it dispiriting to think that the daily grind is all there is to life”.
“Not only has work become less-well paid for most people, but there is a lot of uncertainty with Zero-Hours Contracts, firms going bankrupt and impoverished Social Services. Many people are not only working longer hours, or having two jobs, but they are still worse off than ten years ago. The poor and the needy feel abandoned and ripped-off by the State and the rich people who run it”.
“Winter is beginning to set in, yet look at all the people begging and even sleeping on the streets, Sarah!”
“Christmas is on its way, but the place reminds me more of a city of refugees on the edge of a battle zone”.
“There has not been such a financial discrepancy between the Have’s and the Have-not’s in Britain since the Victorian Era, but like I said, people had more religious belief – more hope – in those days. Mankind is in this sad state of affairs despite the massive effort Spirit is making to help
people see The Truth”.
“Sarah, there are Spirit Guides and Helpers everywhere, but so few of these poor people realise that they are never really alone especially when times are rough. No matter how long I do this work, it still gets to me. How long has it been now? Do you remember? You’re better at dates than I am”.
“You passed away only a short time ago, and you started helping right away, because you recovered from your life on Earth so quickly”.
“Just a few years ago! Sometimes, it seems much longer and yet, at other times, the period has flown past. I know that providing comfort to the afflicted is necessary and worthwhile, but… it can be so depressing too. Yes, I hate to say it, but sometimes, it cheeses me off that so few people actually listen when I talk to them. It makes me want to pack it all in… sometimes, just sometimes”.
“Many of us feel like that from time to time, Willy, but you have to keep your eyes on the long term. Even if you only get through to a few Souls, those people will tell others and word gets around that there is Life After Death. Every single one that you remind that reincarnation exists could rekindle the light in dozens of others”.
“I know, I know! That’s the only thing that keeps me going most of the time”.
“Well, it is true that not all of us see a project through to the end… a few Spirit Guides give up on their charges for one reason or another…”
“I, for one, am not surprised! It is demoralising when you are constantly trying to talk with someone, but they never, never, ever seem to be listening!”
“I know, but it’s usually not because they are not listening, but because they cannot hear you. Spirit Guides that give up should never have been selected for the job in truth though”.
“OK, I can see that, but there are those living on The Surface who do know about their Spirit Guides, but still refuse to listen!”
“Yes, there are those too, but you always have to remember that everyone – ‘Dead or Alive’, so to speak, has free choice. No-one can force anyone to do or believe anything. Persuasion is the name of the game, and some people are just not very persuasive Nevertheless, there are many other types of work that those people can do, as you well know”.
“Like working with animals, you mean?”
“Amongst others, yes. You still enjoy working with abused and neglected animals, don’t you?”
“Yes, of course I do, Sarah! You know, I do, but then animals are aware of us – it is more satisfying, as far as that goes”.
“Yes, however, you are talking to the converted when you’re dealing with animals. It is more challenging to work with humans, and ultimately, more rewarding too, but I agree that the work doesn’t suit everyone. You have… are doing well, but perhaps direct contact with people is not really your forte, which is why being a shepherd suited you so well”.
“Oh, I’m not giving up! It’s just that I understand how disheartening it can be for some. It is not an easy job, Yes, it is rewarding to see someone notice you, but it happens so infrequently these days”.
“This is indeed an extremely materialistic period in time, perhaps, the most materialistic ever. There are forces at work encouraging materialism because it suits their Earthly goals. These are very rich, selfish, amoral people, who will go to any lengths to grab more money and more power for themselves to the cost of anyone… However, they are Spirit too, so even with them, there is a chance that they will see The Light.
“I’ll tell you something. If you think that working to help the poor and needy is difficult, try making the rich and greedy change their ways. That really is depressing!”
“I can imagine, and I know you try, Sarah. I couldn’t do it, I despise the super greedy… and I know that that’s wrong too, but I can’t help it”.
“No, not yet, my darling, but I know that you can see that if even one as advanced as yourself can’t stomach the super selfish, then it is not surprising that many of those who need our help can’t see us too… and there are people working on you too to help you get over your prejudice against the super greedy”.
“I know. People like you, for a start… and our Becky. She is so much like you”.
“We have worked together for a very long time… many centuries before we decided that she should be born our daughter on The Surface, and that we should become an Earthly team”.
“I remember you telling me that before, and I believe you, of course, but I never have understood how that useless husband of hers, er, John, wasn’t it, fitted into the picture”.
“Oh, John is one of Becky’s most promising students, but he was worried about being reborn on The Surface again, so Becky offered to allow him to join up with her on Earth to help him settle in. He did his best, love”.
“I suppose so. Not my type either though, I’m afraid”.
“He vibrates at a different – OK, lower – level to you. That’s why, and you know that, so you ought to try harder. And while we’re on the subject, that is why you can’t stomach the super greedy too – they just vibrate far too low beneath you. There is no resonance… you and they are out of harmony in the most basic of ways. The discord is so great that you can’t bear their company. They are mostly too base to understand you on that level, but they hate the things you say, which represent everything that makes them feel uneasy. People like you make them feel uncomfortable, so they retaliate against you – even try to hurt you.
“You need to learn to rise above that, because they can only hurt your physical body. Still, all in good time, eh? Walking through the centre of Cardiff after nightfall really is like being in a war zone, isn’t it?” said Sarah as they walked up the shopping precinct called Queen Street towards Cardiff Castle, suspended a foot off the ground.
“This is the most prosperous area of the city with its symbols of power – the government buildings and the castle – and yet look around us… it seems ‘cold’ too – impersonal, unhelpful, and unyielding… It will get much colder in temperature too over the coming months, before it becomes warmer again. I suppose many of the poor sods we see here will be back with us in Annwn by then though”.
“They aren’t ‘poor sods’, Willy, as well you know! They chose to be reborn to follow a course that interested them when they were in Annwn. It just so happens that these Dark Times are conducive to learning harsh lessons and many people are taking advantage of it”.
“Yes, I know. They actually came to The Surface to learn how to deal with sleeping on the streets…”
“Well, among many other things, yes, but that is one of the hardest lessons to learn. Not sleeping on the streets, I mean, but remembering that we chose our course on Earth ourselves before we came back up here”.
“It is hard to tell people that they are being blown up or sleeping rough because they chose to though, isn’t it?”
“Yes, and it is hard to remember that the super rich and greedy have chosen to play those rôles in their university course on The Surface too… they are only acting out a part in a play”.
“OK, point taken. I even know it and have done for as long as I can remember, but I cannot keep the idea in the front of my mind”.
“It is very difficult, my dear, but then being ‘dead’ doesn’t make you an angel, does? Deciding to study the Laws is one thing, but it is another to actually remember them, and then it takes lifetimes to learn how to live by them”.
“I know, but we will all get there in the end”.
“You could express it that way, although I prefer to think of it as ‘as one day’, because there is no end that I know of… eternity is infinite, surely?”
“I can’t argue with that, Sarah. One thing I do know, is that I am so glad that I have you on my side. I am a very lucky man. You know, I never get tired of talking to you – even when you are trying to teach me. That has to be a sign of a top educator, but I have always known that you are far more advanced than I. I even knew it when we were married in our little cottage on the Brecon Beacons and I kept you so busy that you were virtually housebound. I was cruel to you, but you never complained, you just got on with your work and held our family together”.
“You couldn’t hear what I used to say about you when you were in the pub!”, she laughed.
“Perhaps, but I’m not sure that I believe you on that score… You were always my guiding light, and I knew it even then, although I had forgotten that I had known you before in Annwn. Did you remember Annwn before we married on The Surface?”
“No, I can’t say that I did. I didn’t really know about Annwn then either. I called it Heaven like everyone else did, but I did feel a strong attraction to the mountains I could see out of our back-kitchen window… beyond our back-garden. I would talk to them when I was doing the washing-up or the laundry. I loved being in our garden most of all though. It made me feel free. I knew that you and Kiddy were on our little mountain tending the sheep not far away, and I wanted to be out there too”.
“I’m sorry for being such a pig, my darling”.
“You have said that many times since, Willy, and I know you mean it. I knew it wasn’t the real you doing it then too… You were only doing what you needed to do to get through the day. You were a good husband during hard times, and you never went astray or left us wanting”.
“They were hard times, but I can’t help thinking that these are even harder than then. Despite the religious aspect, we grew up after the Great Depression and the Second World War, they were times of great hope for the future. That hope is lacking now, sadly lacking, you might say.
“Money is scarce…”
“It always has been for people like us!”
“Yes, but our generation could buy our own homes, kids these days can’t. We could travel… well, not you and me, because of the sheep, but it was easy because of the European Union, but kids now have seen that dragged away from them too. Not only that, but we could retire at sixty-five and the youth of today will have to work until they are seventy or even seventy-five. We had the chance of a free university education too, or our Becky did, and now even that’s gone! Expensive further education, low wages, difficult travel and rented accommodation – that’s what our kids lave to look forward to… AND and extra ten years of work.
“I’m not surprised they’re angry, me!”
“No, I know you’re not. You have a good heart… but a poor memory. Those kids, as you keep calling them, are taking advantage of the current times to learn the lessons that it has to offer, and they include hardship. Which is something the poor, or the relatively poor, have always had to bear, even in this rich country. It is much worse in most other countries, don’t forget”.
“I know, I know, but I can’t help feeling that it’s not right…”
“Well, it is right, otherwise those courses would not be available at this beautiful university that we call Earth”.
“I know, I do know, really. You are right, I know that you are, but I still cannot live that lesson”.
“You will, Willy, one day, you will – everyone will – but knowing it and living it are totally different kettles of fish. Let me give you a kiss, you great big softie. Have you had enough? Do you want to go home, my dear?”
“I have had enough, and I do want to go home, my dear. You can read my Aura, but you would know anyway… you know me better than I know myself, but I want to walk and talk a little longer. I want to learn the lessons you try to teach me… I want to be a successful student… to make you proud of me”.
“Please don’t talk like that, my love. I am proud of you. I always have been, and I cannot imagine that there will ever come a day when I will not be, but it is good for you to progress. You know what is right, but, as you yourself say, you cannot accept what you know, or, in your own words, you cannot yet live that life. Your beloved kids would probably say that you can talk the talk, but not yet walk the walk”, she said smiling into his face. Willy put his arms around his wife and kissed her.
“You always know just what to say”, he said squeezing her again and releasing her.
“We should be lending a hand, I suppose”, said Willy taking Sarah’s hand and walking on.
“Only if we want to”, she replied. “We are allowed to have time to ourselves too. There is no-one to say what anyone has to do or should be doing. No-one will ever criticise us even if we never help anyone ever again. You know that too”.
“Yes, but there are those who would be very surprised if you packed it all in and went to live on a deserted paradise planet, aren’t there?”
“Yes, I suppose there are!” she laughed, “but that sort of life wouldn’t suite you either, would it? Not in the long run. You and I are very much alike. We want to help… to make a difference… and what we, and the countless of millions of other Spirit Guides, do, does make a difference. You know it does. You could no more sit on a paradise island for the rest of Eternity than I could”.
“No, I guess you’re right again, but I am a bit world-weary tonight, and don’t have the strength to help at the moment, so can we just walk and watch?”
“Of course! However, that’s helping too, or it could be. What if one of these late-night shoppers saw us kissing just now? He or she would tell his or her family and friends and that would start people talking about ghosts and life after death, which is what we want – to spark thought”.
“We could become a legend – ‘The Kissing Ghost Couple of Queen Street’!”
“Oh, yes! ‘But then we would have to come back and do it again on a regular basis – what day is it today? Every Friday night, or every third week in November”, she giggled.
“I’d be happy to come back here every night, if it meant a kiss from you”.
“What, in the line of duty, you mean?”
“No, in the line of preference… You always were better at words than me”.
“I was only joking. Ooh, you are getting maudlin, aren’t you? Is all this misery getting to you again?”
“I suppose it is. Sorry, my dear. I should have known you were only joking… and if I didn’t know, I should have looked at your Aura”.
“You are run down, and you are taking all this to heart”, she said squeezing his hand with her right hand and indicating the rough sleepers with her left.
“Yes, you’re right, as always, my love, but I really don’t want to go home just yet. Let’s walk past St. John The Baptist Church and into St. Mary Street. I love that little church – it’s Fifteenth Century, I think. It’s like an island of Goodness in the surrounding shopping centre of Babylon”.
“I know what you mean. I like it too”. There was a trestle table outside the small isolated church, where two women and a man were handing out mugs of hot soup ladled from a huge tureen to anyone who asked for some. There was a pile of bread rolls to dip in it too, but no spoons as they had all been stolen on previous evenings. Diners were using their own mugs, which meant that most of the thick pea and ham soup went to those for whom it was intended and not to hungry shoppers. It also satisfied the current anti Covid-19 measures of not sharing cutlery or utensils, which could be used as a reason for not serving just anyone who felt peckish.
“That is a heart-warming sight, isn’t it, Sarah? I’m glad that I saw that tonight before going home”.
“Look!” said Sarah, pointing to one of the women with her chin and smiling. “That lady there can see us, but she can hardly believe her eyes. Let’s give her a big wave and cheery smile”. Willy looked over and did as he was bid. The young woman’s mouth dropped open as she tried to signal to her colleagues what she could see. Willy and Sarah waited a minute to see whether the others would be able to see them as well, but moved on when it became obvious that they could not.
“Yes, that has made my day!” said Willy.
“Many people are trying to help, Willy, not only Spirit, although many Surface Dwellers are inspired by Spirit, even if they are well-intentioned anyway. Like those people back there. I looked for a banner to advertise their organisation, but didn’t see one. They probably weren’t looking for recognition… they just wanted to help”.
“Oh, I’m sure that there are people who just want to help. Definitely… In fact, we knew some in the village, didn’t we? Er, um… I forget their names now, but there definitely were some”.
“Yes, sure there were. There are nice people everywhere. Most of them just need a little nudge in the right direction so that they know that they are not alone. Does that sound familiar? We provide the nudge from our side to those who can see us, and they provide the same sort of nudge to people on their side. We are all working to alleviate suffering; the main difference being that they try to improve lives one day, or even one meal at a time, and we try to change whole lives, or outlooks. We try to teach that there is nothing to fear but fear itself, and that no-one can really harm you because of Life After Death and Re-incarnation”.
“I imagine that sometimes a warm meal on a cold night is of more help”.
“In the sort term, probably so, but it’s like a glutton going on a diet. They soon put the weight back on when they stop dieting. However, if you teach them to love exercise, or how much they are damaging the planet, you may change their way of life for ever so that they can give up dieting. It’s the same with compulsive shoppers… and drinkers… most addicts, in fact. They all go for the quick fix to their obsession rather than finding out why they are unhappy and fixing the reason for that instead.
“People treat symptoms instead of curing the illness, and so the problem keeps recurring, requiring another dose of what the patient is addicted to, and then another… ad infinitum, until they meet and listen to, someone like us”. Sarah smiled. She was not being sanctimonious or self-righteous, she was simply stating The Truth.
“Do you remember the sadhu Prahlad Jani – the Indian ascetic who claimed to have lived without food and water for several decades, because food was only an addition? Prahlad Jani made headlines by stating that he didn’t eat or drink, and to demonstrate his claim, he underwent observation, including being allegedly buried alive for a lengthy period of time. However, that is way beyond the ability of almost everyone who returns to Earth”.
“Yes, my darling, well, we can all only do our best, and at the moment I feel dead beat. I think I am ready to go home now and call it a day. Unless you want to carry on…”
“No, no, I can go back too. Tomorrow is another day, and we are not so close to our goal that finishing up for the day will make any difference. Besides, there are many more people still continuing the Good Fight. No, let’s just go back home. Ready? One, two, three!”
They were instantaneously standing in their small apartment above the cottage where they had spent all their married life on the small mountain that they called their own. The ground floor of the cottage was a Spiritualist Sanctuary and a village Community Centre now, but they had left the attic so that the donors of the building could use it as a refuge. Willy and Sarah had been using it for this purpose for three decades and Becky sometimes stayed there too. They preferred it to the hustle and bustle of the city of Annwn, or even the quiet of the surrounding countryside. It was their own little cottage, and they were its resident ghosts, whom most of the people who used the building regularly had seen several times.
“It has been a good day”, said Sarah, “so you have reason to be worn out. Let’s go and lie down to recharge our batteries”.
“I’m ready for that”, replied Willy as they disappeared into their bedroom and appeared on the bed. The room had all their old furniture, or at least all the items that meant anything to them, although whether they had been there or not would not have mattered to them, as they could easily conjure up anything that they needed or wanted. It had been their daughter Becky’s idea to put their stuff in their flat, and they hadn’t had the heart to say ‘No’. Kiddy, their old sheep dog bounded up onto the bed at their feet.
“There’s a good girl, Kiddy”, murmured Willy sleepily. “Good night, girl. Good night to you too, Sarah. Let’s see what tomorrow brings”.
They didn’t need to sleep in the way that Surface Dwellers had to – they didn’t have bodies that needed rest, but they did need time out. They felt the need to plug into the Universe from time to time, but not necessarily every day. They would usually go their separate ways when they ‘rested’, but not always, and they didn’t always go anywhere.
Rest to them was more like a meditation; a time to gather their thoughts; a time to strengthen their own individual inner peace.
—
Get more details in our bookshop
The ISBN of the paperback is: 9781068353857 (Leaving Annwn)
The first volume is called: A Night in Annwn and the second, Life in Annwn
Back to First Chapters to read another: First Chapters