What happens when psychological problems and physical symptoms stubbornly persist even with the most advanced methods of cure? This problem confounded many of psychotherapist Dr. Barbara Stone’s clients, who could not shake phobias, addictions, depression, anger, pain, chronic fatigue, and other physical conditions, no matter what they tried. Then, searching deeper realms uncovered links to traumatic past lives, and to spirits of the deceased who had not been able to move into the Light because of emotional turmoil. After treating the wounds of these past lives and earthbound spirits, the presenting problems disappeared.
This groundbreaking book describes these remarkable stories and the methods used to help people heal. The first half of the book has ten chapters of detailed case histories where the origin of the problem was an earthbound spirit attachment, followed by 10 chapters where the origin was a past life trauma. The second half of the book is a step-by-step "how to" manual describing Dr. Stone's Soul Detective protocols.
A resource for therapists confronted with these phenomena, this book is also for anyone struggling to understand the origins of persistent patterns of blockage or disease. Best of all, it brings the remarkable breakthrough therapies of Energy Psychology to bear on this difficult area, providing an abundance of tools and techniques for resolving issues whose roots lie in realms other than the present lifetime.
Excerpt
Chapter One
Mary’s Trip to School
“Something is not right,” Margaret asserted over the phone. Her voice was urgent as she continued, “All of a sudden, for the past three days, I have had no energy, can’t think straight, have no appetite, can’t sleep, feel totally exhausted, and my voice is hoarse. I’m supposed to start my new job teaching first grade in a couple of days. Can I come see you for a psychotherapy session?”
Margaret and I had worked together for several years on family issues, and these symptoms sounded nothing like the well-organized, highly intelligent schoolteacher I knew. I wondered what on earth could be going on and responded, “I’ll get you into my schedule right away!”
One session of delving into the invisible roots of these symptoms surprised and amazed us both. The process stretched Margaret’s belief system and led us outside the commonly accepted framework of reality—and our work also helped a little girl named Mary even more than it helped Margaret!
Background
Currently in her late forties, Margaret had suffered from a long history of Crohn’s Disease. She took a leave of absence from teaching during the previous year while attending to her mother’s final year of life. After her mother’s death, Margaret gradually rebuilt her energy and was very happy to land this new teaching job. She feared her symptoms might be another episode of Crohn’s Disease.
Margaret sensed that her energy field was not centered, because she could not think straight. When we checked the perimeters of her aura with dowsing rods (see Appendix B & C), her biofield was shifted backward, a condition consistent with feeling exhausted. We began with a quick centering exercise.
Detecting Root Cause
Then we set our intention to find and treat the root cause of Margaret’s disturbances. To access the wisdom of her subconscious mind, we used a form of Clinical Kinesiology called “muscle testing,” described in detail in Appendix D. The basic premise of muscle testing is very simple: a muscle tests strong to a true statement and weaker to a false statement. Muscle testing indicated that the best place to start therapy for these strange symptoms was an intervention to increase her vitality from a modality named NeuroModulation Technique (NMT) (see Appendix F: Treatment Modalities). We further muscle tested that a major source draining her vitality was an earthbound spirit.
Someone Else’s Problems
Naturally, Margaret wanted to know how an earthbound spirit worked and whether it was the same as a ghost or being possessed. Every time this issue comes up in therapy, I cringe inside as the thought flits through my head that perhaps my client might think that I have dissociated from reality. After all, I hold a Doctorate in Clinical Psychology, and I am about to tell my client that to get better, we need to do therapy with a deceased person whose energy field is attached to hers. Even though I have done soul rescue many times with very good results, the scientist within me still holds the whole phenomenon of earthbound spirit attachment in the light of examination until I see positive results in my client’s emotional life. Yet, to uphold my dedication to providing client-centered psychotherapy, I need to address the problem the way the client’s subconscious mind tells me it is configured, laying aside judgment of whether or not the situation has objective truth.
Earthbound Spirits
I explained to Margaret that some people die confused, afraid, or disoriented and do not know what has happened. Consciousness remains, so the person can see and hear everything. Not realizing death has come, the spirit might not follow the Light to reconnect with Source energy. These spirits who are bound to the earth plane often wind up feeling very depressed and lonely since hardly anyone will talk to them. To add to their isolation, when they try to get someone’s attention, the person just walks right through them. They cannot figure out what is wrong. Since the human body generates energy, and since the earthbound spirit no longer has its own power source, the attachment of the earthbound spirit to a living person will drain the life energy of the host.
This situation is different from a possession, where a spirit takes control of the mind and body of someone else. An analogy is that an earthbound spirit is like a passenger on the back of someone’s bicycle, increasing the load for the person pushing the pedals. In spirit possession, a discarnate being takes over the handlebars. I explained that Margaret’s sudden, unusual disturbances might come from the feelings of an earthbound spirit who had attached to her energy field. Also, this situation is different from loved ones who die, go into the Light, and then return in their new spiritual bodies to help people on earth. Since these heavenly spirits have reconnected with Source energy, their presence is warm and comforting, like the presence of angels, Beings of Light who were never in human form.
Mary
To find out more about Margaret’s earthbound spirit, we followed the “Soul Detective” protocol I developed, explained in detail in Section Three, pp. ___, which uses muscle testing rather than hypnosis to access the contents of the subconscious mind.
First, we muscle tested the statement, “This spirit is male.” The muscle went weak, indicating that statement was false. Next, we tested, “This spirit is female.” This time the muscle stayed strong, indicating the statement was true. Muscle testing further indicated that this spirit had been with Margaret for about three days.
Margaret wanted to know if the spirit was her Mother, an appropriate question since her mother had recently died. Muscle testing indicated this spirit was not her mother and instead was a seven-year-old child who died from an illness. Our hearts melted for this poor little girl who wanted us to call her Mary. Margaret had picked up Mary’s spirit at the new school three days earlier, the exact time when all of her symptoms started.
Good News
I asked Margaret to tell Mary that we had some good news for her. She was going to get a brand new body! Margaret’s heart opened up to this little girl, and she immediately made an intuitive connection with Mary. From here on, we no longer needed to use muscle testing to get information about Mary. Since Mary’s energy field was attached to Margaret, their mental fields were like two computers that were networked. Margaret could “open Mary’s file” and sense what was going on with her through mental telepathy.
Margaret reported that Mary did not know she was dead and insisted she was still in her body. We asked if she remembered being sick, and Mary did not remember any illness. But she did know that she was with Margaret. Although Mary’s responses did not match Margaret’s muscle testing that Mary had died from an illness, we went ahead with our Soul Detective work.
We next had Margaret look in the mirror to show Mary the body she was in. Margaret laughed and exclaimed Mary’s thought, “The body I’m supposed to have is not this old lady’s body!” We explained to Mary that since she did not have a physical body to generate energy any more, her attachment to Margaret was draining Margaret’s life energy. Furthermore, she was missing out on getting her new spiritual body. Then Mary got scared, as she realized she was dead and could no longer stay with the nice lady Margaret.
Clearing the Fear
Since Mary felt frightened, we offered to help her feel better by tapping on a series of acupressure points to relieve fear, calling it a “Tapping Game.” Mary consented, so Margaret tapped the points on her body to show Mary where to tap and then visualized Mary tapping on herself. Even though Mary did not have a physical body, since she was attached to Margaret’s energy field, she got the benefit of Margaret’s tapping.
We first had Mary tap under her lip to release the shame that was blocking her healing. Then we tapped under the eyes, arms, and collarbone to clear the fear from her Stomach, Spleen, and Kidney meridians. Mary felt calm after this tapping game. Now we were ready to help Mary find a guide to get back home to God. Since Mary did not know anyone deceased, we called an angel to help her get her new body.
Where are My Parents?
Mary wanted to know, “Where are my parents?” We explained that since Mary was not in her body anymore, her parents had buried her body, stopped talking to her, and thought she was dead. Mary insisted she wanted them to know they could still talk to her. We asked for the names of her parents, hoping to locate them and fulfill this request. Mary replied, “Mommy and Daddy.” At seven, she did not remember their given names.
After a moment of disappointment, we scrambled to figure out how we could grant Mary’s wish, and an idea appeared. Margaret and I prayed for Mary’s guardian angel to talk with the guardian angels of her parents and to send them a dream with three messages:
• Mary was all right.
• She was going to heaven to get a new body.
• They could talk with her anytime they wanted to.
Going Back Home
After this prayer, Mary felt ready to go to heaven. To help with this important passage, we called an angel of protection, Archangel Michael, and also all of the guardian angels for Mary, Margaret, and myself. When angelic presence is invoked, the quality of light in the room changes, becoming both brighter and softer at the same time. Radiant joy was present in the room as we invited Mary to take the hand of an angel and go home to God. Tears welled up in our eyes at this numinous moment. As Margaret felt Mary’s spirit detach from her and go upwards, Margaret felt lighter and more energetic.
Cause of Death
I asked Margaret to check inside whether she needed to know anything else about the situation. Margaret saw an intuitive flash of Mary being hit by a vehicle on the way to school. Not realizing she was dead, Mary had just gone where she was supposed to go—to school. We muscle tested that this accident happened ten years earlier. Since this cause of death differed from our muscle test that Mary died from an illness, we re-tested her cause of death. Again, the muscle held strong for dying from an illness—but it also held strong for dying from an accident.
Puzzled by this contradiction, Margaret did some internal intuitive detective work to figure out how both of these statements could be true. Margaret then relayed her sense that nobody knew this child’s vitality had been compromised by an underlying illness in her blood. The accident would not have killed a healthy child, but because of Mary’s weakened condition, it was fatal. While her parents must have deeply grieved her death, if they had not lost Mary from this accident, they would have had to watch her die a slow and painful death, perhaps from leukemia. Their suffering would have been increased. We wished we could have comforted the parents with this insight and hope they will find this book.
Results
At the end of the session, we dowsed Margaret’s aura again and found it was totally centered and much larger than her original biofield. Although she still felt tired—she had been working with very difficult emotions—she no longer felt the exhaustion she had arrived with nor any of the other presenting problems. Margaret realized that much of what she had been feeling would be the way a seven-year-old might feel in Mary’s situation. The confusion could have come from head trauma in the accident. The poor appetite and insomnia could have been signs of depression from feeling abandoned by her parents—an emotional issue that resonated with Margaret, who had been adopted. After the session, Margaret’s skin tone took on a rosy color, and she looked refreshed, vital, and joyful. Her heart was filled with peace, knowing that she had helped this child even more than she had helped herself!
The next day, Margaret emailed,
I went to my classroom today with a friend to get things in order, and we accomplished a tremendous amount in an hour and a half. I did not get to rest, and I am still going at around 10:30 tonight! Thank you for all your work!
Further Questions
This whole process brings up some very important questions:
• How many people remain earthbound when they die?
• Why don’t they all go back home?
• Why did Mary attach to Margaret and not to someone else?
• Will Margaret pick up other spirits?
Although some of these questions may always remain a mystery, the experiences that came through this pioneer work with my clients have led me to forge theories about what might be happening.
Doing classical scientific research on these questions would be difficult, as most of the data would have to be gathered from the deceased, and the scientific model usually excludes the concept of life after death. Here are some theories that grew out of my review of the literature and my own phenomenological research:
• Sometimes a person is not able to let go of someone who dies, like a parent, a partner, or a child, so the deceased person remains earthbound to try to comfort the one who is grieving.
• People who come to the earth to be of service to others sometimes broadcast this intention on the spiritual level, and spirits who are in need take them up on their offer. Margaret is a very compassionate woman and loves children. Her heart goes out to these little ones who are suffering, and she wants to help them. But helpers will burn out if their own life force is drained by “hitchhikers.”
• The person who picks up a spirit attachment usually carries an emotional wound similar to that of the earthbound spirit. This wound in the host may be the portal through which the attachment enters. Margaret was adopted, and many children who are put up for adoption carry deep emotional wounds from not knowing why their birth parents gave them up. Likewise, Mary did not know why her parents had stopped talking to her, so she too carried feelings of parental abandonment. The web of life connects all beings in the Universe, and each person’s healing affects us all, making the healing process easier for everyone else with a similar problem. Mary’s healing helped heal Margaret’s heart.
• A person who dies may not realize what has happened. They cannot figure out why people stop talking to them and walk right through them. Psychiatrist George Ritchie’s pioneering book Return From Tomorrow (1987) is a fascinating account of his death in an army hospital at age twenty and his return to life nine minutes later. While dead, heartrending loneliness set in as he realized other people could neither see nor hear him. His subsequent encounter with the Son of God and travel through other dimensions of time and space transformed his awareness. Raymond Moody heard Dr. Ritchie’s remarkable story in 1965 when Moody was an undergraduate philosophy student. Coming from a well-respected physician, the account had credibility. Later, Dr. Moody began investigating near-death experiences. His book Life After Life (first published in 1975) contains over a hundred case studies of near-death experiences. The fact that this book has sold over 13 million copies indicates the hunger people feel to know what happens after we die.
Invisible Roots continues in the next chapters with more examples of healing that came through releasing spirit attachments. Readers, please feel free to form your own theories of what might be going on in these true case histories. (Names and identifying details have been changed to protect confidentiality. All stories are used with permission.)
Professional Reviews
Invisible Roots: How Healing Past Life Trauma Can Liberate Your Present
Book Review by Louis Siron,editor of the journal for the International Association for Regression Research and Therapies
At 326 pages, Invisible Roots is loaded with tons of information on healing our lives both at the soul energy level and the physical. Throughout the book, Dr. Stone provides valuable and useful information on multiple healing levels and approaches. This book will appeal to both the lay person, who may be a beginner in learning of the real energetic nature of the human body, or the clinician looking for more ways to improve and complement their skill set.
This book is a delightful and interesting read starting with the stories of Dr. Bernie Siegel, whose foreword piece sets the stage for the rest of the book. His stories involve angels, near death experiences, spiritual healing, spirit guides, messages from the other side, synchronistic events, and past-life memory. What a great introduction for Dr. Stone’s work.
In the introduction to Invisible Roots, Dr. Stone provides her background, how she was led, kicking and screaming like so many others such as Dr. Brian Weiss and Dr. Michael Newton, into this new realm of thought, belief, and healing. Dr. Stone coined the phrase Soul Detective, which is a very apt name to the type of work she does and addresses here in Invisible Roots. Her protocols remind me of a keen detective at work, asking simple yet highly methodical questions to zero in on the root cause of her clients’ issues.
The book is divided into three sections: Earthbound Sprits, Past-life Trauma, and Root Causes. The first two sections, Earthbound Spirits, and Past-life Trauma consist of ten stories each. Within each story is a story of healing as well as an inside look into her methodology and protocol for healing. Root Causes, Section 3, is really the meat and potatoes of the book. Here is where you will find the many and varied causes of dis-ease and issues of ill health and how to effectively deal with them. This section is divided into 3 parts detailing Levels of Healing, what she calls Intuitive Level issues, and working with couples and their past-life issues brought forth into this lifetime.
Part 1: Levels of Healing identifies and explains the 5 levels in the human energy system, how they are interrelated, and how issues originating on any one level have a trickle down effect that eventually manifests in the physical body.
In Part 2 she discusses Intuitive Level Issues, comprised of such things as Curses and Hexes, Earthbound Spirits, Energetic Cords, and Soul Loss. For each issue she provides case examples and clearly written protocols for healing. The inclusion of the protocol is clearly preferred to the approach of some authors who stop short of telling the reader how and instead advertises some special training the author has to offer.
The 3rd part of Section 3 details working with couples on past-life issues and provides the protocol for doing so.
Last but not least are 6 appendices containing more valuable information in the way of energy treatments and balancing and sources to investigate for training for some of the methods she uses in her cases.
All in all Invisible Roots is a valuable addition to any clinician or lay person’s library. Thank you Dr. Stone for your contribution towards the healing of humanity, both incarnated and otherwise.
