Amalia: God bless you. Dear brothers and sisters, I am going to tell you about what I experienced after I returned to the spiritual world of God. I will touch briefly, too, on the earthly life I left behind, since what I accomplished in that life formed the basis for my experiences here in the world of spirit.

I had a hard life. I was married and the mother of a good many children. My husband was not kind to me. In fact, he often beat me. And later on, I had no support from my children. My husband had no religious belief. I did, however, and I was beaten for it. I had a very rough time with him. But even so, he couldn’t take my faith away from me. I used to pray for him and for my children. I used to go to church, too, and I always suffered for it when he realized that was where I had gone.

I held on to my belief and my faith in God right up to the end of my life. Nevertheless, I was always sad and not once did I ever feel at all happy – there was simply never any reason to. Only the strength of my faith carried me along; only my trust in a better life and in God’s justice was what gave me strength and got me through life. My husband and one of my sons left the earthly world before me, and so after my husband’s death I had a few years in which I could practice my faith as I wanted to – I was free to go to church without being punished for it later. Now I’d like to describe for you the things I have experienced in the spiritual world, and tell you how life has been for me here.

I was ill for a while and I had to be nursed. I knew that I had reached the end of my life, and I was glad that I would be allowed to leave the earthly world. I had already begun to sense that a better life awaited me. I had lived my life for God and for the Redeemer – I had entrusted my whole life, all my hopes, to them – and this was to be to my benefit. As I lay dying, my family and friends were all around my bed, and I could hear them saying it wouldn’t be long now. I could understand everything that was going on, but I wasn’t able to answer anymore; I just hadn’t the strength in me. Also, I could see more than just the people at my bedside. I could see beautiful figures coming toward me. One figure in particular stood out. He smiled at me in such a lovely way, and made gestures with his hands, which I couldn’t understand at the time. Only later did I find out what he – this angel – meant: he wanted to tell me by way of these gestures that in a moment he was going to lead me by the hand into the kingdom of God. But my thinking was, of course, still tied up with worldly concerns. Standing beside this kindly, affectionate-looking figure was another angel with rather stern features; he appeared to stand waiting, too. My eyes focused only upon the kind-looking angel, and I gradually realized that I did not have long to live.

Then I saw my husband and my son coming toward me. I found myself able to say their names out loud – my surprise was so great that I found the strength to call out both their names. My relatives, standing around me, said, “Look, she’s delirious; it won’t be long now.” I could hear them talking but I had no desire to answer them. All I wanted now was to hold out my hands to this wonderful-looking being, but my hands were heavy and had no strength in them, and I found I couldn’t move them at all.

Then I must have lost consciousness, for when I next opened my eyes I found myself in a very different setting: everything was bright, and there was light all around me. I was no longer in the narrow room I had been in before, and I couldn’t see my relatives around me anymore; even my husband and son were no longer with me. Quite different, very elegant-looking figures now stood all around me – beings I had never seen before, all gazing intently at me. The nearest figure of all, however, was once again the figure of the kindly angel. He smiled at me, and I smiled back at him. I felt so light. Effortlessly I raised both my hands, and as I did so he came over to me and took my hands in his. Next to this kindly angel stood, once again, the rather stern-looking angel I had noticed before; but he, too, seemed to be well-disposed toward me.

I was taken by both hands and helped to move forward a few steps. I looked all around me to try to see where I was, and as I did so, it felt as if a mask had dropped away from my face. Everything about me felt so light, and yet I still had a body, and the same hands, and I was still wearing clothes. I hadn’t yet had a chance to see what my face looked like in this new world. All I could do was react with astonishment at everything that was happening. It was the kindly figure who uttered the first words I was able to understand clearly, saying, “Dear sister, I was your guardian angel in your earthly life,” and, with a gesture of his hand indicating the other spirit with him, he continued, “This is your spiritual teacher.” And the second angel made a simple bow of his head.

My guardian angel led me to the middle of a beautiful garden and directed me to an area covered by a large awning, where chairs and couches had been set out. I was offered one of the chairs. I felt such a pleasurable sense of relief – as if all the weight I had been carrying had now been lifted from me. I felt no fear at all – in fact, I felt very secure. I was so happy, I could have almost shouted for joy – and yet I couldn’t have told you why. I really hadn’t yet begun to register what was happening to me; I was still asking myself: “Is this all true or am I only dreaming? Am I really hearing properly? Am I really seeing properly?” – “You are hearing and seeing perfectly correctly,” my guardian angel said to me. “You are no longer in the world of people: you are in the world of spirit. You are in God’s realm. Do you understand what I am saying?” he asked me with a note of insistence in his voice. “You are now in the kingdom of God!” – “Yes,” I responded, “I understand... I believe... yes... it must be so.” After all, I had the proof of it myself in all the wonderful things I was experiencing. “But,” I asked, “do I really deserve all this?” And immediately I thought back to the painful times of before, and reflected: “I built my whole life on my trust in God and on his power. Yes, all this must be true. Yes, I am alive.”

“Now,” the angel said to me, “you must know that you will be compensated for all the wrong that was done to you. The heavenly world will reward you for all the suffering you have borne. You have had a very hard life, and no one took the trouble to comfort you in any way. But we will give you our comfort now – our comfort shall be yours to receive. In his Sermon on the Mount, Christ said, ‘Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted’ (Matthew 5:4). Your life was indeed a sorrowful one; and your heart, too, was filled with sorrow. But now we will comfort you, for yours was a holy suffering. You suffered because your family had no faith; indeed, you often wept because of it. We were not able to dry your tears in a way you could see or feel, but we can do so now – now you can be comforted by us.”

I looked all around me. Everyone there was a stranger to me, and yet they were all smiling at me. “You see,” said my guardian angel, “they are all here to comfort you.” And while he continued, saying, “They want only to comfort you,” I began to hear singing, and a crowd of the most delightful young spirit beings began to come toward me, singing and skipping, carrying various objects in their hands. In truth, I was now beginning to feel rather uncomfortable. I felt this was really too much kindness – I didn’t want to be comforted by so many. I didn’t need to be comforted anymore, I felt, and it seemed to me right to feel that way. After all, I was now living a blissful life and I simply didn’t need to be comforted any more than I had been already.

But my guardian angel had read my thoughts and said to me, “You must get used to conditions in this world first. You know, spiritual laws cannot be altered. Everything is now proceeding in exact accordance with our law.” At that I asked, somewhat ashamed, “But have I really earned so much? I know I made mistakes, too – I know for certain that I did.” – “Yes,” my angel replied, “you made mistakes, that has not escaped our notice, but we will talk about such things later. They are of no importance now. We wish first to properly comfort you. We will, moreover, give you the reward you have earned.” I had prayed so much and had indeed built my life upon Christ, so I responded, “If our Savior is pleased with me, then I am happy – I want nothing more.” – “But you shall have more.” And as my angel continued speaking, the group of angelic beings began to lay their objects on the ground before me.

Close by sat another rather striking figure – another divine spirit of God. He was seated on a particularly beautiful chair. I had not noticed him before. The beautiful spirit beings who had spread out all their objects on the ground were now gathering around him and whispering to him – what, I couldn’t make out. He, in turn, seemed to be giving them instructions. I watched as, one by one, they proceeded to show him the objects they had laid down. The special spirit of God gave his approval to everything, and I watched all this take place – just as my guardian angel had invited me to do. I was now simply to let everything proceed without any protest on my part. They all wanted to comfort me, this spirit of God explained, and, overjoyed, I decided just to let things take their course.

Then one of these beautiful young spirit beings came over to me and picked up one of the objects lying on the ground. It was a small vessel containing the most wonderfully fragrant precious oil. The others standing around fanned the air with their hands so as to be able to breathe in as much of the beautiful fragrance as they could. This spirit being poured some of the oil over my hands and proceeded to rub it into my hands and over my face and feet – I was being anointed with this wonderfully perfumed oil. Then the spirit withdrew.

A second figure came forward and started to plait my hair. “Is this really necessary?” I asked myself. Quickly I cast an eye over all the figures around me and at once realized how elegantly dressed they all were and what a noble bearing they all had. The thought suddenly came to me: “But of course, I have to change my appearance, otherwise I will be out of place among all these fine-looking beings.” Very ingeniously, part of my hair was plaited and part combed out and left loose. I couldn’t actually see how it looked, but the comments made by those present were enough to reassure me. I saw them look at me with surprise and tell each other how lovely I looked. There were colored ribbons, too, lying on the ground, and these were taken up and plaited into my hair as well. Again I saw astonished faces around me and heard voices saying how beautiful my hair was. And then the work of this spirit being – who was, as I thought she must be, an artist in such things – was finished. I felt sure that each of the beings around me had something they wanted to do for me – that each of them would embellish me in some way or another. First I had this precious oil rubbed into my skin, then I had my hair plaited. What was going to come now?

Next I was brought a pair of open shoes with ribbons, which were tied around my ankles in a most becoming way. Again the divine spirits around me all stared afresh and declared how lovely I looked. Finally a gown was brought for me to put on. I thought it tremendously beautiful! Indeed, I felt as if I now looked more beautiful than any of the angels around me – so wonderful were all the things I had been given to wear. I had never seen anything so lovely during the whole of my life on earth. I had truly been made into an angel! “Do they realize it is me they have dressed so beautifully?” I asked myself. But it was far from over. There were still plenty of ribbons lying on the ground, and these were taken up and twisted and wound round my arms, and draped across my body – again, all in a very artistic way.

The last word was given to the spirit being seated on the beautiful chair. He called to me to come over to him and asked me to turn around in front of him to show him all my finery. And truly, he found several things he wanted changed. Again the young spirit beings came rushing over, full of enthusiasm, and set to work to adjust my dress until the divine spirit was satisfied. When I stood ready, my dress and adornments complete, this beautiful spirit being embraced me, and then began to bid me farewell. I thanked him as he did so, and then he took his leave. What was I to do now in all this finery, I wondered to myself. I still felt rather awkward dressed like this, although in fact I was soon to get used to it.

Next my guardian angel returned to my side, and with him, my spiritual teacher. Together they asked all the beings present to come over to me, each in turn. One by one they gave me their hand, and all of them had a happy or kind word to say to me. They told me things I couldn’t at that point properly understand. They intended what they said to be words of comfort, but this comfort was no longer compassion – it had been transformed into joy. Each of them extended an invitation to me to visit them in their homes, and they talked of celebrations and festivals. “How can this be?” I thought to myself, “I can’t possibly accept so many invitations.” And I must say I still felt rather out of place. But this all changed when the young spirits who had all worked to make me so beautiful began to form a procession to dance a round dance, and, gathering me up behind them, encouraged me to dance with them for some distance. My guardian angel and my teacher followed, while the others stayed behind.

And this was how I was given a tour of my surroundings in my new world. “We are now going through all the planes which will be part of your new world,” my guardian angel said to me. “This is where you will be able to live in great contentment. Here you can carry on with your work to the glory of God, to the glory of our Savior, and to the glory of all the divine spirits.” I could only stare in amazement at this vast, new world. “Is my world to be so big?” I said to my guardian angel in astonishment. “I surely don’t need so much to be happy.” – “This is only a tiny part of happiness and joy,” he replied. I was constantly amazed by all the lovely things in this new world – a world filled with color and beauty! Truly, I was in a state of permanent astonishment, experiencing things I had never dreamed of finding in God’s world. But then again, I thought to myself: “If such things exist on earth, why shouldn’t they exist in the kingdom of heaven, too?” As my spirit companions were leading me away, we were overtaken by a pack of dogs. They were all barking, but when I looked more closely I could see that they were only playing.

My guardian angel and my other companions would say to me, “Look! Look over here! And look over there! Just look at that!” I could not but feel happy. All my sadness had vanished. Indeed, I couldn’t stop myself from singing and laughing along with the rest. I no longer had that feeling of there being a big gulf between me and the others. I had suddenly begun to feel on an equal footing with everyone else: I could sense their kindness and their warmth and the sincerity of their feelings toward me, and I really felt there was a bond of trust between us. This all happened quite suddenly. I was forever staring and exclaiming at the things they showed me.

The animal world was also a part of this wonderful new world of mine – the most magnificent horses, for example. “Who are these horses for?” I asked. “Have they nothing to do?” – “Oh, certainly they have,” came the reply. No sooner had I spoken than one of the young, beautiful beings accompanying us darted out from the group and swung himself up onto a horse. I watched him as he rode the horse at a gallop and then came back to join us again. “Count the number of horses! Count them! And then count how many we are!” called out another of the beautiful, young beings with us. I counted them – and there it was! There was exactly one horse for each spirit present. Indeed, they had arrived on horseback. To someone from earth these things seemed almost incredible, but heaven is full of such wonders. “Yes,” they said, “heaven is indeed a place of wonders. If only people on earth knew something of the beauty that we have here!” – “Do you live here, too – where I am going to be living – in this town, or this area, at least?” I asked them all. “No, no,” they answered. “Our world is far larger than yours. The scope of our work is much more extensive than yours as well. But we will certainly see one another again.” And they added, “You know, our work is to do as the Redeemer wills. For has he not told the people of earth of the great bliss and beauty of heaven? And so it is our job to show these splendors to those who return home, and, indeed, very soon we shall be visiting another region of heaven to delight yet another soul returning home.”

I talked with this group of spirits for a while, and then they announced that their work with me was over. By this time we had left the garden and the canopied area, and had begun to make our way through the new world where I was now to be living – a world which seemed to me to be of limitless dimensions and infinite in its beauty. “This is not all there is,” they said, laughing. But I must say I truly couldn’t imagine anything beyond this.

They bade me farewell, shook my hand, and mounted their horses. We – my guardian angel, my teacher, and I – wanted to return together to the covered area in the garden, but we were not allowed to walk. We could have simply floated off with the rest, but just as the others were leaving, a carriage drawn by horses arrived, and my two companions and I were invited to step inside. And that is how we were taken back to the bower in the garden. This garden was to be part of my home. For the time being, I would go out to do my work and return here afterward. As yet I had not seen my house – there had been so many new things for me to marvel at and admire. I felt as if I had been in this blissful world for a long, long time. In fact I had lost all sense of time – hence my feelings of having been here for so long, but it hadn’t been all that long. I felt the deepest sense of contentment – a feeling quite unbound by space or time. The world I was now living in seemed to me infinite in its size and its beauty.

“Where you are standing now, he himself once stood!” I was told. They meant the King of the spiritual world. “There is nothing he has not seen or experienced – he is familiar with every aspect of life here. Everything you can see with your eyes, he has seen with his eyes, too.” These words made me so happy, and I asked, “When will I be allowed to see him?” – “It will not be that long,” my teacher told me. “Will it be possible for me to give him my hand?” I wanted to know. “Will I be able to kneel down in front of him? Will I be allowed to thank him for all that he has done for us – for the whole of humanity? Will I be able to do that?” – “I will see to it that you will,” my guardian angel answered. Could my happiness have been any greater? No, indeed not.

And so we had returned to the canopied area of the garden, and our carriage had already left. My teacher and my guardian angel stayed with me to show me the house – and after that, I was told, I would be free to begin my spiritual work. The house was not all that big, but to me it was like a small castle. It was so beautiful. I discovered I was not going to be living there on my own but would be sharing it with a number of other well-favored brothers and sisters. We each had our own set of rooms, which gave us our own personal space, but we didn’t live in any way cut off from one another, and we made a point of coming together to discuss things as a group. And so I was taken to the house. What things there were there! How I marveled at it all; it’s beyond words!

My guardian angel then said to me, “This blissful place will be your home. You will be able to live very contentedly here, and these brothers and sisters will be living here with you. You will all be of support to one another and you will all do what you can to add to one another’s contentment and joy. You will help to make one another’s happiness more complete.” These were wonderful words to hear.

Then I began to remember my family. I felt I must think about my husband, my son, and about all those who were still in the earthly world. “What will happen to those who are still living on earth?” I asked myself. “Where are my other relatives and friends? Where is my husband? Where is my son? After all, they couldn’t possibly be here, in this part of the spiritual world – they didn’t believe in God or in the King of the spiritual world. They must be living some way away, not in these blissful parts at all.” That much I knew.

My teacher and my guardian angel remained a long time with me. When I say “a long time”, I mean I felt as if it was a long time. But I really had no sense of time now. “You may go to see your family if you wish,” they both told me. “We can go together.” My first thought was: “Goodness, what a joy this is going to be.” But then I suddenly felt myself overcome by feelings of sorrow. “What will they say when they see me looking as I do now? What will they think? My husband – who was such a bad-tempered fellow, so quick to get angry – will he be like that here, too? My son, who refused to have anything to do with religion, who was so determinedly indifferent to everything – what will he have to say to me?” – “Don’t worry, don’t worry,” my teacher said to me. Indeed, I very much wanted not to worry. But a wave of sadness came over me, just like in former times. I was to enjoy a life of great happiness, separated by a great distance from all my family. Hadn’t I, after all, lived my whole life for them? Hadn’t I made all those sacrifices for them – and now my world of bliss was to be far removed from where they were. My guardian angel, picking up my thoughts, said to me, “Wait a while. You will have plenty of opportunities to give them your support. After all, here we support one another, we help one another. It is true that your husband and your son won’t be able to share this good fortune with you, but in due course you will be able to ease their burdens. Before we go to them, however, the great meeting must take place.” The great meeting with Christ – how I looked forward to it. Just the thought of it took all my fear and sorrow away. I wanted to continue to put all my hope in Christ. I had decided I would kneel down before our Lord and ask him to show mercy toward my husband, to release him from at least some of his guilt, and my son as well. I wanted to entreat him to do this. At least, this was what I had planned.

A feast was to be arranged, which was intended also to remind those in the beyond of Christ’s life on earth, and at which our Lord wished to meet his faithful followers. We set off in order to assemble at a specially chosen place. Christ was to arrive – and speak to us there!

The time for this came, and we made sure we all looked as nice as possible. We duly went to the appointed place to see and hear him. When we arrived, he was already there, surrounded by a large number of divine spirits, whom I took to be his guards. They were magnificently dressed in glittering robes, but their expressions were less friendly than, for example, that of my guardian angel. Majestic, commanding respect, they had something about them one could well have found quite frightening. My guardian angel told me, “They are the divine guard. Yes, indeed, they are the divine guard.” Their bearing was, however, perfectly peaceful, and they carried no weapons. They commanded respect purely by their presence – tall and broad-shouldered as they were. They were also dressed quite differently from us. “I will tell you more about these things later,” said my teacher. “For now let it be enough for you to know that this is the divine guard.” I was quite happy just to be told that. I was busy enough simply admiring everything I could see.

And then I caught sight of the huge crowd of brothers and sisters that had now gathered, every one of them wanting to see him and speak to him. “I can’t imagine they will all be able to speak to him,” I said to myself. “No, that can’t be possible – the guard will make sure of that.” Then suddenly I began to feel very unsure of myself, and I reflected: “Oh well, it will be enough if I just kneel down and think: ‘Forgive all who have caused you pain, and forgive us all our sins! Forgive my husband, and my son, and all my children for not knowing how to believe.’”

“It won’t be possible for you to step forward now,” my teacher said to me. “But you will be able to stretch out your hands to him. You will certainly have a chance to do that. When? There is no hurry. Bliss always awaits us! There is no today and no tomorrow for us. We live in eternal bliss, though there is always a future for us. You have looked forward to this meeting, and you will equally look forward to the next, and that, too, will be another great occasion.”

We were all filled with joy. At first we were quite unable to speak. Everything was so quiet – we were all caught up in feelings of sheer astonishment! We felt compelled to drink in all this beauty with our eyes. We did not utter a word, overwhelmed by the beauty of our Lord and the divine splendor he brought with him. Suddenly the silence was broken. The guards began to cheer, and we all joined in. Amid all this cheering, the divine guard, together with Christ, their King, made their way through the crowd and then disappeared into the distance.

No one who experiences these glories for the first time can fail to be touched to the depths of their soul: it is a sight that remains with one for a very long time – a truly unforgettable experience. Wherever one goes, this picture reappears before one’s eyes – again and again. Then I suddenly understood what my teacher had told me: “We have no past, we have no future, and yet we do have the future.” It is an experience of such a lasting quality that one is left feeling one can relive it forever. When I tell you these things now, it is hardly possible for you to grasp them, but you will experience them one day for yourselves, just as I experienced them myself. That was my first meeting with Christ.

The blissfulness of this experience was not to hinder me from beginning my work, however. I still wished to go to my husband and my son. With my two companions I went to see them. They were not together, but not that far apart. They reacted with astonishment and could only say, “Oh, mother.” Their responses were a mixture of surprise, emotion, and grief, and they were unable to say anything more. I thought my husband could well have reacted with anger, much as he had before. But he seemed to have lost a good deal of his former roughness, either of his own choosing or because he had been made to do so. All I could see now was how much he was suffering, and the same was true of my son: both of them were in a pitiful state and terribly distressed. I, too, was unable to speak, and so my two friends eventually took me by the arm and led me away.

I thus returned to my world of bliss. But I talked to my teacher and told him that I still wanted to help my husband and my son. “It is good that you want to do that,” he told me. “We will certainly go back and see them again, and you will also be able to visit them on your own. You will be able to talk with them and to help them. They have to remain in their present sorry state until they have atoned for a certain measure of the wrong they have done. But during that time you will be allowed to ease their suffering with your visits. They will both look forward to these visits; their hope and trust will increase as they realize that their time of release will eventually come, and they will become stronger and more able to endure the difficulties they face now. And for that reason it is important for you to talk to them about the liberation that awaits them.”

And so I often went to visit them and was able to help them forward, step by step. Later on, my other children arrived in the spirit world, and it was up to me to give them support and intercede for them, and I was successful in easing their suffering, too. In this way I extended my duties. I was required to leave my world of bliss and descend among the souls in distress, to bring them relief. I was not alone in this work; many, many other spirits work alongside me – help comes from all parts of the heavenly world, and the suffering are given the support they need. This is to remain my work for some time to come.

And so I carried out my work, and my teacher stood beside me. For a long time I remained ignorant of a great many things – particularly where spiritual law was concerned. At first I was not really interested in why such and such was the case – the main thing for me was the experience of bliss, being at home with God and with Christ. That meant everything to me. But my teacher explained, “You have to be able to share your happiness and good fortune with others; you have to help those who have less. As soon as souls become strong in a spiritual sense, they have an obligation to give some of their strength to those weaker than themselves. We have brought you our comfort; now it is time for you to offer your comfort and support to those who are less well-off. You should do what we have done for you, within the limits of what you are able to do.” I received regular instruction of this kind, and my teacher would always explain to me what my given tasks were to be.

This is what I wanted to tell you. Divine spirits descend to help and to serve, to lead those souls in greatest distress toward the world of bliss, just as Christ had to leave his kingdom to enable the people of earth to return to the world of bliss. Just as it is his wish to raise up his own, his followers do likewise – those who have placed themselves in his service – each ready to do his bidding and to proclaim his word and his will.

And so, dear brothers and sisters, I will now return to my world of bliss. I did not come alone but with others, and I leave you with God’s blessing. Through what I have told you, I have been able to raise the atmosphere among you, and lend you a little support, so that one day you also may have the experiences I have had. So, I say farewell in the name of all the holy spirits of heaven. God bless you.

Personal account given by ascending spirit-being Amalia, received in German through the medium Beatrice Brunner in the hall on Münchhaldenstrasse in Zurich, 5 May 1965