Reinterpreting Hell

In our culture, the lower astral worlds are dealt with through "accepted" religious context (hell, evil, devils) or through psychiatric treatment that labels experiences as hallucinations. Neither approach is very helpful. Religious interpretation leads to abandonment of beings caught in the lower worlds. Psychiatry discards experiences as fantasy and tries to eliminate them with drugs.

Brennan's approach: reframe "hell" as profound forgetting, not evil.

"That which has been called 'hell' or the 'nether worlds' will be cleared and clarified. For what is hell other than profound forgetting? The souls that are focused into hell are in great pain. They are there simply because they do not experience their light, and do not hold self-love."

— Heyoan

Various religions teach that hell is where God sends beings to suffer punishment for their sins. Brennan strongly disagrees with this interpretation. The beings in the lower astral are not being punished — they are in profound forgettingof their true divine nature.

They have extremely negative self-judgments and deep personal pain. They are disconnected from their innate goodness. They are lost in darkness — but the darkness is forgetting, not evil.

When light appears to beings in profound forgetting, they react in defense and attack. This is not because they are evil — it's because love and light are frightening to a being that has no self-love.

"If a being has no self-love, that being is lost in darkness, that being is very difficult to reach with love, because love and light are frightening to such a being. Therefore, when light comes to that being, it reacts in defense and attacks. Consider the possibility that those beings called 'devils' are in profound forgetting."

— Heyoan

Brennan learned a profound lesson from her first encounter with a "dark entity" — which turned out to be Bud, a man who had committed suicide. Bud wasn't evil. He was in deep despair and guilt. When Brennan called for him, he came to her for help.

"When in fear, you are going to see monsters. Most of the teachings in the world reflect this good versus bad dualism. There are black monsters and there are great wonderful angels. But here is a person who sank so low and had such trouble in his life. He felt so bad about himself that he killed himself; I called him and he came for help. It is very different."

The beings in the lower astral need help, not more negative energy projected at them. They need:

• • Lighthearted, loving acceptance — not fear or aggression
• • Recognition of who they really are — beings on the path to enlightenment
• • Unconditional love — to dissolve the darkness, not fight it
• • Help moving into the light — many are simply lost

They are already struggling with strong negative self-images. They do not need others projecting fears onto them. While they may try to frighten you, they do so because they are frightened of you!

Brennan offers a remarkable reframe of negative intent from lower astral beings. When they try to bring out your own duality and negativity, it could be seen as:

"Perhaps this is the only way they know how to make contact! When you want to make contact with someone the first time you meet, you look for common ground and common interests, right? So actually another way to look at the astral beings' seemingly devious maneuvers is that they simply want contact."

By understanding this psychology, you can deal with your own fear and negative impulses — and help the beings instead of fighting them.

"We do not become enlightened by imagining figures of light, but by making the darkness conscious."

— Carl Jung

This is the work: not to fight darkness with more darkness, but to bring consciousness and love into the dark places — both within yourself and in the astral worlds.

Brennan writes that in this new millennium, the duality humankind has held for thousands of years is coming out into the open to be healed and made whole. The extremes of "light" and "dark" are coming together into wholeness.

"You don't really believe that you must be punished to behave well, do you?"

— Heyoan

Heyoan teaches that the idea of fighting between forces of light and forces of darkness is simply dualistic thinking — and dualistic thinking is what gets us in trouble.

"Choosing sides means supporting duality. Choosing sides enhances the split and makes it worse."

The work is not to fight darkness, but to bring love and consciousnessinto the dark places. Darkness is not evil — it is forgetting. Light it up with love.