As related in my previous book, THE RETURN OF THE PRODIGAL SON, Elwood Babbitt has been more than instrumental in the reinforcement of my own spiritual force, and I must say, in all humility, that, even though I began the search in the late sixties, the year 1978 has been the start of a long and arduous process that began with my first encounter with this great soul, and has been going on without respite for the past 20 years.
It happened quite unexpectedly with a magazine article about a clairvoyant and medium who lived somewhere in Massachussetts, USA. The article itself was in the gutter press, and not very explicit as to his talents and abilities. However, a photograph of the medium accompanied the article, and for some unknown reasons, I was attracted like a magnet by the deep eyes that seemed to look so far away.
On a stormy 1978 November day, along with my younger brother, I travelled the three hundred and twenty miles that led to Wendell Depot, Massachussetts and, after a very difficult trip, I found myself hugging two wonderful people (Elwood and his wife) who welcomed us in their house, as if we were family. A chronic health problem was the sole reason for my visit there, and I was far from thinking that this trip was only the first of many other trips that would eventually become the greatest adventure of my life.
As related in his book 'VOICES OF SPIRIT, "Elwood Babbitt was born in Orange, Massachussetts, on November 26, 1922. His father, Roy, S. Babbitt, a tool maker for the Starnett Tool Company of Athol, was a convinced spiritualist who occasionally had psychic experiences of his own...
It is plain, then, that Elwood Babbitt had an environment that, except for his mother's opposition, was favorable to the development of his own sensitivity. He states that, from early childhood, he saw 'spirit people,' and that, for a long time, he was unable to distinguish them from physical ones. He spent a good part of his time playing with spirit children, and he remembers being very much upset when, one day, he walked right through one of them...
Elwood also remembers that, about this time, he began to have the experience of finding himself outside his body. He would go to bed, and then, a while later, find himself looking down at his own body sleeping..."
When Elwood was sixteen, he had a very serious accident. He had just gotten his driver's license, and was driving a Model A Ford Roadster, when he was pushed off the road by an oncoming car that swerved to the wrong side of the road. Elwood turned into a driveway, but there was a chain across the entrance, and this chain hit him in the throat. It fractured his Adam's apple, tore the ligaments of his throat, put a hole in his windpipe, and displaced vertebrae in his spine, thus producing degrees of temporary blindness that was not cured for several months."
To summarize the story, let us say that Elwood was brought to the hospital where doctors gave him a few hours to live. During the night, his grandmother who had died some time before, materialized before him, and told him that everything would be all right, that his eyes, ears and throat, seriously damaged during the accident, would heal, and there would be no sequel. He saw a huge golden ball of light that went down from his head through the whole body, and, as the ball glowed and faded away, he heard a voice that said 'Peace,' and then he went to sleep. The accident had occurred June 7, 1939, and on the 12, Elwood took leave of the hospital, leaving the doctors dumbfounded. It is around that time that he became aware of his spiritual purpose. This experience had sharpened his spiritual perceptions, and, as he said, it gave him a stronger health. Since then, with the exception of a few occasional colds, he has been sick only one time, and this, a few months ago, when he was hospitalized and came back to health in a very short time.
The war had just started and he wanted to enlist, but his mother wanted him to finish school first. It is only in 1941 that he was finally able to join the Marines. He fought in the Pacific, and he happened to be stationed at Pearl Harbor when, on December 7, 1941, the Japanese attacked the American fleet. Elwood saw the attack even before it started. However, he felt that the simple soldier he was would have no chance of convincing the authorities. Nevertheless, he told his fellow-soldiers that they would be attacked before eight o'clock in the morning. The next day, as they were just leaving for breakfast, there was an explosion, followed by the most ferocious air attack of the war. He was, actually, an eyewitness to the destruction of the aircraft-carrier ARIZONA, and, when it exploded with twelve hundred men aboard, he saw the spirit of those men in the form of a white cloud hovering above the ship, while a luminous and whitish substance enveloped them and drew them into it.
After the war, he went to college, but he felt estranged in the academic environment, and after a few months, he decided that college was definitely not for him. He came back to Orange, where, besides working as a bus driver, he concentrated on the spiritual work he had undertaken.
When asked at what time he had decided to develop and use his own clairvoyance on a practical basis, he replied that it was at the age of sixteen, shortly after the accident that had nearly cost him his life. He had a great desire to be in atonement with God, and he wanted to be in harmony with the spiritual forces surrounding him. His clairvoyance was not a means to acquire wealth and fame, which he has avoided up to this day.
Although Elwood charges for a life reading, I bear witness to the fact that he lived a very simple life in the humble home he inherited from his mother. Now, he lives in Wilton, Maine, and he remains the same unselfish individual. Charging for a life reading is his means of living and, at the same time, a kind of moderating ticket. It ensures, up to a certain degree, that only those who really need the information will ask for a reading, and if you have to pay for it, you will appreciate it even more. Just imagine the crowd outside his home, if it were known that he gave life readings for free. One thing I am sure of, he will never refuse to help someone, even if that someone has no money.
In 1966, Elwood met Chs. H. Hapgood, a scientist who was then at the Keene State College Society for Psychical Research, and then started a friendship that would last up to Charles' death in the late 80s. In 1967, began a series of readings where, manifesting through Babbitt, the Christ Spirit expounds on different subjects, and various entities, including Jesus, his father Joseph, Luke the physician, Judy the teacher and Pontius Pilate, talk about the life of Jesus, and give a different account from what we find in biblical books. Following this series of readings, Charles Hapgood wrote TALKS WITH CHRIST in 1981, followed by THE GOD WITHIN, in 1982. As mentioned at the beginning of this book, these two books have been of great help in reinforcing my own spiritual force, and the wisdom of their teaching is far beyond anything that has been written up to this moment.
In TALKS WITH CHRIST, the Force that comes through is not a person. Although it is best personified in the man Jesus, the Christ Spirit is a universal Force that manifests through him, as it can manifest through every one of God's creatures. In all communications with the spiritual world, it is important to understand that the identity of the communicator has no relevance to the quality of the message. Although it is good to know the communicating spirit had credentials while on the earth plane, it is the message that counts. If you receive a message from Mark Twain, you expect that message to be witty, and in the style that has made him famous. So, TALKS WITH CHRIST originated from a Force of which Jesus was an important part in the book, but only because Chs. Hapgood, the person receiving the reading, had in mind Jesus, the Christ, when he first thought about reaching these Higher Forces.
To expound a little more on this, let us say that whatever entity, or vibration, is reached, through a medium or otherwise, it is right there within the self, for each of us is the Universe. So even though one communicates with the Christ Force through a medium, he is only addressing a part of himself that, for lack of personal development, he could not reach otherwise. In the same manner, when communicating with the Vishnu Force, or Krishna or God, one is only reaching this higher part of himself, the God Within.
In all communications from spirit, one must understand that the higher the vibrations, the wider the Force, and the least individualized it will be. This is why, in THE GOD WITHIN, the Force manifesting as Vishnu is even more an impersonal Force, as it originates from the inner core of what we term creation, (not creator). It takes an enormous amount of energy to draw that Force to the lower vibrations, and even though Edgar Cayce was able to reach higher dimensions of life, Elwood is the first to have reached the spiritual force called Vishnu, whom, in Christianity, we refer to as God.
A few years ago, I had the privilege to receive an impromptu reading from the Vishnu Force, who came, as He said, to reinforce my own spiritual force, and give me the reassurance of my own mission in the world. Just recently, and also through Elwood, I had a very interesting talk with Nostradamus who confirmed a former family relationship with him, and gave me the reassurance of his own spiritual help in the future.
There could not be a more down-to-earth person than Elwood Babbitt. Through the years, he has become a good friend and a mentor, and it is because of his simplicity and outgoing personality that I returned, year after year, to receive a little more of that Dr. Fisher wisdom, that he so generously channels for all of us to use and share with others. Elwood is now [as of 1999] living in Cabot, Vermont. He hasn't changed since the first time I met him. He still has his boyish look, and now in his late seventies, he gives readings and lectures all over the country.
This is not the story of a hero, or anyone special. We are all special in the eyes of God. It is the story of a man who loves humanity, who bears no grudge against anyone, who is eager to help those in need. It is the story of one who has 'dared to see the vision and endure.' The reward has been a transcendance that allows him to reach, or to be in balance with the Higher Forces. This is how he brings us all those wonderful teachings that are contained in the books, TALKS WITH CHRIST, THE GOD WITHIN, FLAME OF TRUTH, and the most recent one, PERFECT HEALTH, which has been written under the supervision of five spirit doctors, and will certainly be the book to read in the coming changes.