A blast from the past!

Rita S. Berkowitz

This is a saying we all use from time to time when we encounter either a person or a situation that reminds us of something in our past.

There are admittedly individuals who can be a channel to our past in a very different way. I suspect one can be a skeptic for so long, until, of course, you begin to experience it for yourself.

At the age of five my grandfather, Poppy, passed away and I loved him dearly. I have a vivid recollection, sitting on the curb in front of my house, seeing his image form in the clouds and he then spoke to me. I can only assume at a young age, my parents leaving out in the middle of the night with only the words "Poppy is in heaven", one's imagination could run rampant.

But as I grew older, it never went away. I would always feel his presence; I would hear him whisper to me and from time to time, I would wake up feeling as if I had been thrown down on the bed, an act of playfulness we shared in life which became his hallmark.

For years it was our secret. And as the years passed and my parents passed on, the connection to them has never been stronger.

And it didn't end there. The more and more involved I became active in genealogy, the more and more I realized this was a far deeper journey than just names, dates and places. It was a spiritual journey, one that brought me closer with the essence of my being and with those who came before me.

As Colette Baron-Reid, a highly acclaimed intuitive and spiritual teacher says, "Life is only worth living if you awaken to the fact that we are spiritual beings having a human experience and not the other way around. There is a spiritual dimension all around us. So what some see as paranormal is normal to me and what some see as supernatural is very natural to me".

Despite the fact that we have all be skeptics at one point or another, there are truly people who have the ability to connect with those on the higher side of life.

So what does this have to do with genealogy?

I remember back to May of  2000 when I, along with Family Tree DNA, began a project, suggesting DNA testing as a methodology for connecting families when the paper trail had ended abruptly. I remember well the initial uproar that ensued for the first 72 hours after the announcement! Yet today, the genealogical community has not only embraced DNA testing as a modality, they have been instrumental in its growth and development as a sizable industry into itself.

So here we are, in 2009, nearly a decade later, and I am going to jump out on a limb, once again, and suggest that genealogists may well benefit from "mediums" who may be able to channel information that could assist in piecing together family histories, especially in those cases where research has reached a brick wall.

Time and time again, the spiritual community will mention how integral knowing our ancestry is to one's spiritual growth. I'm not sure the genealogy community as a whole has embraced this concept yet, nor have have we given some thought to how it actually might be able to benefit us.

One can only wonder, does genealogy and spirit connect?

The more and more I delve into the subject and the more and more I read on the subject, the more and more convinced I am that there is another dimension to our world and there are a growing number of individuals who are tapping into that dimension in far greater numbers than ever before.

While the profession can be traced back to the oracles of Delphi and beyond, it is evident today that more and more are turning to mediums to connect with loved ones on the other side. Truth be told, I've actually had a reading recently, for the first time I might add, and can say, without a shadow of a doubt, that I can no longer be a skeptic.

So, I decided to do some further research into the link between between medium-ship and communicating with our ancestors. In so doing, I stumbled upon an individual who I thought might be a bit more convincing to the large numbers of skeptics, especially for this media.

Rita Straus Berkowitz, is a second generation holocaust survivor, her mother and one other sibling from Lviv, once Poland, now in the Ukraine, survived World War II.

Rita has both studied and taught at the Arthur Findley College in Essex England, as well as lectured and demonstrated her skills in colleges, New Age Centers and Spiritualist Churches in the United States and Canada.

She is an Ordained Minister in the Spiritualist Church and pastor of the First Spiritualist Church of Quincy, Massachusetts. She is also a Certified Medium and has completed a Master of Science in Psychological Counseling.

As an author, Rita has penned Empowering Your Life with Angels and is the co-author of The Complete Idiot's Guide to Communicating with Spirits. Trust there may be a number of us on line purchasing that one!

What is so unique about Rita is she has impressed large audiences throughout the world by drawing portraits of loved ones from the higher side of life.

So, not only is she an acclaimed medium, she has a unique gift as an artist. One would suspect that a spirit portrait could be that truly tangible evidence of survival and life on the other side. This is why Rita is known throughout the world as "The Spirit Artist".

Rita describes medium-ship as follows:

“A medium is a person whose senses are so acute that they register the presence of beings belonging to the non-physical world; and interpret the wishes and information which such beings desire to impart to people still in the body in this physical world.”

While most of the work a medium is asked to perform is to connect with loved ones who have passed over, to help bring peace and closure to those in grief. In a recent interview, we discussed the potential value of her work in the field of genealogy. When I asked, she admitted that only a small percentage of her clients have come to her genealogical purposes.

Think about it?

What if a medium could help in channel an ancestor who could bring forth that one tidbit of information that could help break through that old impenetrable brick wall?

What if a medium could bring forward an image of an ancestor where nothing else exists? What if that image happens to reflect features of their descendants?

What if a medium could bridge misunderstandings from the past, allowing for forgiveness, and breaking free the blocks of the past that may have carried down generationally?

Not convinced? Just take a look at some of her work in the slide show below. It is uncanny. And if you are intrigued enough, you may be interested in watching this video on her site which dramatically imparts exactly how she works with her clients. It is amazing, in my opinion.

Rita offers private sittings, classes and has trained many professional mediums. She is able to work remotely and her fees are quite reasonable. Her portraits can be provided in full color or charcoal.

As is common with mediums, one must be prepared to accept that it is not always the person you want to come through who does.  It is usually the one with the most important message for you for that moment.

So, genealogists, are you ready for a blast from your past?

For more information, please visit Rita's web site, www.thespiritartist.com.

I am also very interested in hearing from anyone who has already or will be using used a medium for their research as well as  anyone who has had a personal experience of their own in connecting with an ancestor in a spiritual way? Have you, perhaps, experienced an ancestor who has gone to great lengths to make themselves known to you? I have some funny stories to share.

Please feel free to share your stories in the comments below or in an email to me personally. I am not through with my research on this subject.

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