Party Line From The Other Side

2008-06-28T07:33:00.000-07:00

copyright 2008 by DJ Lyons

This is based on a dream I had in the wee hours of 6-28-2008.

Imagine if you had been a writer while you were still alive on the Earth plane. There is so much you still have to say and write about. But when you try to type on the computer keyboard, the keys won’t move. When you try to pick up a pen, your hand can’t manage to grasp it. You might have even been in the middle of composing a masterpiece; however, now there is no way to finish your writing. You find this incredibly frustrating. You long to find someone who can help you complete your tale.

Or imagine if you have a message you really want to get through to the members of your family or to a dear friend. Imagine that you don’t even know you are dead. You are standing right beside your husband or wife or son or daughter or friend. You talk to them or ask them a question. Perhaps you ask them, “Why are you crying? Talk to me.” No matter how loudly or how softly you ask that question, they never respond or seem to even hear your voice. You might even touch their arm or their face, but they do not seem to feel or be aware of your touch. Gradually, you come to the realization that they are never going to hear you, touch you, feel your love, or respond to you in any fashion ever again. You long to let them know that you are still alive – not in the same way that they knew you to be alive before – but you are still alive. You long to find someone who can hear you. Not only must this someone be able to hear you or sense you or even see you, that someone must additionally be willing to make the effort to contact your loved ones. Additionally, that someone must have the ability and the integrity to translate your words exactly as you speak them. Naturally, your loved ones must be open-minded enough to allow this person to trespass on their privacy in the first place.

Imagine you are an animal who has no human voice with which to speak. You also don’t have the ability to really understand the words spoken by a human being. You can get a sense of what those humans are trying to communicate by their body language, by the light and shadows coming out of their eyes, by the sense vibrations they emit, and by their tone of voice. Even so, that is never a perfect translation. Then you, the animal, dies in some ignoble manner. Perhaps a bulldozer operated by a strip-miner buried you in your den. Perhaps animal testing was done on you. Perhaps a hunter shot you dead. Perhaps you died in an earthquake or flood or tornado or hurricane. Perhaps you were a racehorse who lost a race after months or years of winning. You were immediately taken to a slaughter house to be killed in some brutal way. Perhaps you are a chicken or a pig or a cow raised to have no other purpose than to be someone’s dinner. Perhaps you were a wild animal forced to perform in a circus or zoo. Once you got too old or feeble or proud to do what they wanted you to do, you were tortured and then killed. Perhaps you were a dog or a cat owned by a human. They tired of you. They no longer found you worthy of their time or love or care. So they drove you to some remote location and released you. You try to fend for yourself. But in either a short time or a long time, you die in some fashion or another. Now that you are dead, you see that there are still so many animals who are suffering back on the Earth plane. You long to get someone with a voice to tell your tale. You want that someone to get the word out to other humans that animals deserve love and respect and care – not indifference or hatred or disrespect or neglect or torture. Naturally, that someone has to not only have a voice, they have to be able to communicate your words in such a way that they will be compelling and convincing. Additionally, there has to be some kind of venue where your words are not only communicated, but there has to be an audience who will read your words or listen to your words spoken or watch your words translated into a play or show of some kind; but also, that audience has to be motivated to take action in some way. What would happen if each one of those audience members or listeners or readers say something like, “That is terrible! Somebody needs to do something”; however, they never do anything themselves? In that case, all that effort will be for naught.

So imagine that after hours or days or weeks or months or years of searching, you finally enter this one special room. In this room are a relatively small group of people who all can hear your voice loud and clear. You are so excited. You explain what you would like to have happen. You tell this in the most compelling and convincing way that you can manage. Then you wait to see if anyone will volunteer. You may even have identified the one who you really hope will agree to be your voice as you have a distant relative connection or a past life connection or you find that particular person to be appealing in some manner. After a long silence, finally one hand is raised, indicating his or her willingness to devote the time and effort to do what you have requested. It may not be the one that you most hoped would volunteer. But at least there is one person willing to try. You remember that old earth adage of “Beggars can’t be choosers.” So you smile in relief. You hope that the one person who volunteered will be the one person who will do the best job.

To my way of thinking, when it came time for the Harry Potter series to be written, J. K. Rowling stepped forward. Also that woman who tried to sue her came forward. Perhaps some other writers stepped forward. J. K. Rowling was the only one who truly put in the time and energy and who translated the words the most accurately. So she was the one awarded the contract, so to speak.

When Cate Batts and the others involved in the Bell Witch saga were looking for a champion to tell their story in order to alleviate fear and superstition and relieve the pain of their descendants, I almost felt myself pushed into being the one who volunteered. God had to line up events in the Universe in such a way that I finally realized that this was part of my destiny. An effort was made in 1990, but I refused. I imagine they looked around to see if there was anyone else who would step forward to volunteer. When no one else did, they lined up circumstances in 1993 that gave me the clear message that this was a job that I had been selected to do. I devoted the next two years of my life researching and writing their words and that story. Then I had to wait until 2007 to find a publisher who would agree to publish those words. It had been a years-long gestation period; however, in early March of 2008, I finally gave birth to the book titled The Bell Witch Unveiled At Last! The True Story Of A Poltergeist written under my pen name of DJ Lyons.

Book number two is totally different. It is a collection of stories and short books I have written or brought through over the years. In the case of the Grandmother Lyons’ Tales, those are stories told to me by my now-deceased paternal Grandmother. I simply honed them and refined them to be audience-ready and reader-ready. The gestation period for that book is nearly over. I am having the manuscript edited by someone I trust. I am working on lining up an illustrator for the cover of the book. This book titled White Reindeer, Kudzu Monster, & Other Tales of Wonder should be published in late 2008 or early 2009.

I had already been thinking about the topic for book number three. I had even been working on a few chapters for that book. Then once again, God lined up circumstances in the Universe in such a way that told me very clearly that book number three is going to be a topic totally different from any book I would ever have imagined writing at any point in my life. I am not a political person. I am not a competitive person. I am not one of those people who typically would attempt to push my ways or my thoughts onto other people in any intrusive manner. I will write what I think or feel or know to be my truth. I will speak my words and my truth to people who are willing to listen. But once I put my words out there, I release the outcome of those words. People have free will and their own perception of how things are and how they should be. If my words happen to impact their life in some positive way, I am pleased. If not, that is out of my control. I cannot control how others will think or act or respond. All I can do is to expose them to some new ideas. What they do with those ideas is up to them.

Then on June 14, 2008, I was hired to be one of the two professional storytellers performing at the Louie Bluie Festival near LaFollette, Tennessee. I was performing the 45- to 50-minute one-woman theatre piece called “The Bell Witch Unveiled” based on my book titled The Bell Witch Unveiled At Last! The True Story Of A Poltergeist. In between my two shows, I browsed through the craft booths. I ended up talking to the Vice President of the Cumberland Chapter of the SOCM group (Save Our Cumberland Mountains). She talked to me about the negative effects of Strip Mining and mountaintop removal on people losing their homes. She gave me a brochure to read and one of their newsletters. We brainstormed some ideas about how a professional storyteller might be able to assist in their cause. As I sat down to an early dinner, I read through much of their material. Afterward, I returned to her booth. I asked her if they were also fighting the cause of the animals who lost their homes and their lives due to strip mining and mountaintop removal. She told me to watch the YouTube show called “The Bears of Shumate Hollow.” She also told me to read up on the flood of Buffalo Creek that killed about 125 people and caused over 4000 people in this 5000 plus population town to become homeless.

I told her about my STORIES IN A TRUNK program. As part of this program, in one day, I teach a group of 20 to 48 kids to put on a play for parents, friends, and the press. I act as the director and narrator. The kids serve as the actors. I created a bunch of one-size fits all animal costumes that the actors wear. These are ponchos with trunks or tails or others attachments that help them to look like the particular animal they are portraying. I originally made those costumes for a “Be Bully Free” program I created as conflict resolution is one of my passions. In fact, I was a conflict resolution teacher for five years in a local middle school until budget cuts forced the school district to cancel out many of their special programs. The Vice President of SOCM and I talked about how we could use those costumes in a play I could create about animals losing their homes and their lives. We agreed to talk again at a future time.

In the meantime, I went home and started researching on the internet. I watched Ed Wiley’s YouTube show called “The Bears of Shumate Hollow.” (http://youtube.com/watch?v=prrUXAgvol0) I read his Blog. I studied the details about the flood at Buffalo Creek. I started reading about a lot of other places where animals lost their homes or their lives due to strip mining, mountaintop removal, and other man-created disasters.

All of a sudden, I could see and feel that God had lined up the Universe in such a way that I knew that book number three was going to be called The Trail of Tears – Animal Style. I have that same driven feeling like I had when I knew I must devote my time and energy into bringing through the Bell Witch Unveiled book. I have already started communicating with a Black Bear from Shumate Hollow who was buried in her den along with her two cubs. She calls herself Sorrow Bear. She decided to stay on the outskirts of Bear Heaven rather than go to the more beautiful center as she feels she must do what she can to help all the other bears out there who also may lose their homes or their lives due to one of the many man-created disasters. A brother and sister cub, unrelated to Sorrow Bear, also lost their lives at Shumate Hollow. They also are in the midst of telling me their story.

As I put out my sensors and continue to research, I can feel and sense that there is a long line of animals of all different species wanting me to tell their story as well.

Am I the only one capable of doing this? No. There are many out there who could also do this work.

Am I the only one willing to do this work? I honestly don’t know. I imagine that there must be others. At least, I hope there will be others. One person alone cannot cover all that needs to be covered. There are so many thousands, perhaps millions of animals who are suffering. What I do know is that what those other people share will be filtered through them in a totally different way than it will be filtered through me. God uses what talents He gave each of us in a very unique way.

Currently, I see that The Trail of Tears – Animal Style will turn into a book, a Blog, some pages on my http://www.askdjlyons.com website, a STORIES OUT OF A TRUNK program, a YouTube show, and a one-woman theatre piece. There may be other venues in the future. I know God will alert me should that be the case. For now, I will stick to bringing through the rest of the messages from Sorrow Bear and from Brother and Sister Cub. Then little by little, I will bring through the messages from those other animals seeking a volunteer to tell their animal tale.

I definitely am willing to serve as a volunteer. I hope there will also be others who will additionally volunteer. We must each do what it is in our heart to do to help alleviate the pain and suffering of others. All the other people on Earth deserve our care and respect. All the animals living on Mother Earth deserve our care and respect as well.

For more information, visit the following websites:
Bell Witch Unveiled Website:
http://www.bellwitchunveiled.com/index.html

Buy Bell Witch Book at the best price:
http://www.bellwitchunveiled.com/Buy_Book.html

Details about one woman theatre piece called “The Bell Witch Unveiled”:
http://www.bellwitchunveiled.com/One_Woman_Show.html

YouTube Show about Bell Witch Unveiled:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=TWRCdloVcEY

Ask DJ Lyons Website:
http://askdjlyons.com/index.html

Details about Book 2 titled White Reindeer, Kudzu Monster, & Other Tales of Wonder:
http://askdjlyons.com/white-reindeer-book/table-of-contents.html

Blogs about Bell Witch Unveiled:
http://askdjlyons.blogspot.com/
http://askdjlyons.wordpress.com/

Blog about Trail of Tears – Animal Style:
http://TrailOfTears-AnimalStyle.blogspot.com

Webpages about Trail of Tears – Animal Style:
http://askdjlyons.com/animal_trail_of_tears/index.html

Contact DJ Lyons to book a performance or to share ideas or to ask questions:
askdjlyons@yahoo.com or askdjlyons@rocketmail.com

Have a wonderful day. Best Wishes to you and yours,
DJ Lyons
E-mail me: askdjlyons@yahoo.com or askdjlyons@rocketmail.com
Websites: http://www.bellwitchunveiled.com/index.html & http://askdjlyons.com/index.html

DJ Lyons is researching and writing Book #3 titled "Trail of Tears - Animal Style"

2008-06-24T20:37:00.000-07:00

DJ Lyons is currently researching and writing her third book titled Trail of Tears - Animal Style. To contact DJ for more information, e-mail her at: askdjlyons@rocketmail.com

Book #1: The Bell Witch Unveiled At Last! The True Story Of A Poltergeist by DJ Lyons. This book was published in March of 2008.

For more information, visit: http://www.bellwitchunveiled.com

To buy the book, you can conduct a price comparison to get the best deal on this webpage: http://www.bellwitchunveiled.com/Buy_Book.html

As a professional storyteller, one of the many stories she performs is a one-woman theatre piece titled “The Bell Witch Unveiled.” For more information or to book a performance, e-mail DJ Lyons at askdjlyons@yahoo.com

Her show schedule for this show is listed on this webpage: http://www.bellwitchunveiled.com/One_Woman_Show.html

Book #2: White Reindeer, Kudzu Monster, & Other Tales Of Wonder by DJ Lyons. Publication Pending in late 2008 or early 2009.

For more information, visit: http://askdjlyons.com/white-reindeer-book/table-of-contents.html

Book #3: See 1st paragraph above. For more information, visit this webpage:
http://askdjlyons.com/animal_trail_of_tears/index.html

Stay tuned for more details in the next Blog.

Best Wishes to you and yours,
DJ Lyons
E-mail: askdjlyons@rocketmail.com or askdjlyons@yahoo.com