Jennifer Shoals displayed a copy of her book “Grandmother Dreams: Conversations Across the Veil” at the recent Holiday Sale Crafts and Consultants Open House held at the community center in Grand Marais. Long into physical healing through her work as a public health nurse, Shoals is now promoting spiritual growth in this book and a second to follow.
“On an autumn day in 2005, I went on a strenuous hike through rugged terrain. As usual, I spent the first few miles striding through my everyday concerns, and then I fell into a comfortable state of walking meditation. Around mile seven I became aware that another presence from the dream world— the world beyond our five senses, was travelling with me. As I walked, this presence gave me the directive to start this book.”
So writes Jennifer Shoals, a retired public health nurse, divorced mother of two, cancer survivor, active mom in the Cook County High School Booster Club, and an active member in the greater Cook County community.
After that first encounter in 2005 it would take Shoals the next three years to deepen her meditative conversations until it became easy to reach the dream world (the world beyond the five senses), writing on a laptop as she simultaneously traveled into the next realm. During these writing/transformative sessions Shoals interacts verbally with Universal Wisdom and spiritual Teachers who come to her and present information to her that she shares in the pages.
“According to these Teachers,” said Shoals, “it is time for humans to open to the world that exists beyond five senses, and to use this increased awareness to live in harmony with each other and the planet. Grandmother Dreams outlines some of the ways we can open to this ancient wisdom.
“It is time for humans to realize and accept that which is beyond the perceived physical realm—to expand across the veil,” she writes.
Through this process Shoals has learned much about herself and the realm that surrounds us all.
“The lessons I learned while writing Grandmother Dreams have helped me to heal significant traumas in my life, and given me a beautiful connection to the spirit world. This connection has allowed me to improve my relationships and helped me to see my true purpose—which is to encourage others on their spiritual journey,” said Shoals.
“This isn’t an easy book to read,” Shoals said.
She is right, although the writing is clean, clear and crisp, the concepts are many, the sentences layered with multiple meanings. Although it is only 160 pages long, it’s not something that can be read in one sitting. Not read and fully digested, anyway.
One of Shoals’ spiritual guides explains, “Your role is that of activist. You are to effect overall relationships toward the greater good. In this case, it is the evolution of human consciousness.”
Shoals writes in reply, “I feel hesitant, of course to make myself vulnerable, but also excited to get started on something meaningful. I do have a question: I am curious about who I am talking to right now. You have shown yourself as me, and I am wondering what part of me this is.”
“I am the part of you that brings the rain and fertilizes the soil. I am the mystery and the passion. I am the un-self. I am your spirit.”
At the book’s end Shoals explains, “I have pined for the spiritual realm at the expense of physical maintenance. I now see how important it is to have both a robust spiritual and physical presence. They work together and support each other—the fuel and the engine, fine-tuned and traveling the soul path. The goal is to travel this hoop over and over, making it ever smoother, a conduit for Life Force, energizing the planet and the universe, bringing God in closer and closer contact with the human soul.”
At one point Shoals worries that when published, she will be “preaching to the choir.” That is, she knows this book will be accepted by people who already use alternative medicines, believe in eastern mysticism, spirituality, meditate and open themselves up to new ways of looking at and living in the universe. Her goal then, is to expand that choir, to let new voices into the conversation.
“I appeared as the infinite night sky of stars, and I was given the name Star Sky Forever. When I feel judgment about someone, I ask myself, ‘Could that person be a star in my sky?’ Because the stars are infinite, the answer is always ‘yes.”’
Grandmother Dreams: Conversations Across the Veil can be picked up at local bookstores or purchased online at Balboa Press at www.balboapress.com. Shoals is currently working on a second companion book: Traveling Light, Moving Our Awareness Beyond the Five Senses.
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