Miriam (Abdul) – Greetings my friends.
Luke – Greetings, welcome.
Miriam (Abdul) – This is Abdul, tonight I would like to tell you more of one of my lives many, many years ago.
This time it was as the opposite sex, I was a lady, and a lady of very high birth in Israel. Isn’t it good that we cannot see what all our lives are going to be in the future, we would be in such turmoil, I think it would frighten most people from coming back in to the physical altogether. But for this particular life I had a very, very happy time. I am going back now to the 3rd century and that is a long time ago.
Nothing at all like you have today, there was not the learning except for those who entered the temples or were taught by those from the temple in the privacy of their own homes, and only the very wealthy could do that. But each and every one had a certain knowledge that was passed down from the elders in each family, and whatever skills they had, were taken up by their family if at all possible. Sometimes it was very reluctant that they did this for there was not the freedom that one has now to be able to say that I wished to do this and to go out into the world. Not in this particular time it wasn’t.
For my life I was really spoilt and pampered, I was not particularly good looking but not very bad either. Because my family was so wealthy I had maids, and never did any work of any kind, and I think it was probably a life to compensate for some of the hard lives that I had had previously. My parents were not at all strict, they indulged me everything that I wished for. We traveled quite a bit, meeting with other nobility. We even traveled across the water. I am trying to think where we traveled across the water, it was quite a long journey but the land masses then were not defined the same as they are now, I cannot remember, it will come to me later, for I have only just decided today to tell you about this life.
I had three sisters and one brother, but they were all younger than I, the brother I am afraid had a very difficult life because he was the youngest he could not show the authority that any son should really show until he was well in this teens before this is accepted. Until then he was at the beck and call of his sisters, but I don’t think he really minded because we were not a bickering sort of family, we did not have to bully or put pressure on anything that we wished for. It was just that at times he thought when he was young that he should be giving the orders, but as I say it was not until he was in his late teens that it happened.
By that time there was only one sister left at home, the three eldest were married and living not too far away. My parents were Jews, and they were living in a non-Jewish environment but because they had vast wealth that had been handed down from their parents, they had no difficulty in settling wherever they chose, for at that time there was not the segregation that there is now between Jews and gentiles. We each kept our own faith, but outside the faith we mixed and were welcome, as we welcomed others, and in fact one sister was married to a gentile, after much persuasion for being the youngest daughter she was thoroughly spoilt, her name was Thraveda.
It was only the fact that somewhere, back in the ancestry of her husband, there had been Jewish connections, that the marriage was allowed. And also the undertaking that they did not enter into any one particular synagogue church but had their own place of worship built on the vast lands that the husband owned. We ourselves had our own place of worship but as we traveled we also worshipped at the local synagogues without any difficulty. My father was not a worrier, we was a keen business man and he had many wagons that traveled some overseas with merchandise buying at one place, selling at another, and accumulated more and more wealth onto what he already had.
But he was a generous man, at least to his own employees, we treated them well although they had to keep their place, but he looked after them when they were sick and they were nearing, no I would not say retirement, because they never seemed to retire, it seemed to me that they just went on and on serving in a smaller capacity until they passed over. But it mattered not, they were treated the same no matter how little work was done, for my father could afford to be generous.
My mother was a real beauty, she was indeed fated for her beauty wherever she went and often the girls used to be a little bit jealous for none of them matched up to the beauty that she had, but it was not until I was in my thirties I should think, that I realised that most of the beauty came from within.
It shone from her like a beacon, and it touched whoever saw her with tranquility and a peace that we never realised until we were older, but just accepted for it was our mama. It was only when I was married myself, had children and although I had taken on to helping my father in his business doing mostly bookwork, it was only when my children were beginning to grow up that I began to question religion in any form. I had taken for granted that what we were taught was the one and only. It was when my youngest sister was married, the first seeds of questioning were put into my mind.
I was not working so much for my father then, for there was no need, I had done it mainly to please him, and to train others, the children were not needing my attention quite so much. I had three children, and my sister listening to her husband talking, and then talking to me made me wonder of what happened when we died, as we all thought of it then.
Never for one moment thinking that we would have another life, it was during this time that my mother passed over and my father asked if I would accompany him, as his wife had done on one or two of his travels, and this my husband reluctantly agreed to, as long as I took the youngest child with me, which I did.
And it was on these journeys that my eyes were opened as to how other people lived, I saw more of the hardships that were endured, but this did not bother me so much as the different people who worshipped so many, at least it seemed many to me, different Gods. There were times when we came to places where they were burning what they called witches, and I had never even thought of what a witch was thinking about, was talking about, but just that they were mad and inventing the things that they said.
I did not see many of these but they were all so convinced that they really could see people who were not living and they could hear what these people said, they could hear from people they could not even see. I found it very, very confusing, there was one time that my father would not indulge me in any way, he was adamant that I must not worry myself or think about it, but to continue the way that I had been brought up. It was only some years afterwards when I was talking and listening to more of my younger sister’s friends, when I talked with people who were wandering, they were wandering the deserts, they were talking about a Messiah, they were talking about so many things that had no explanation, healing that was done without any medication whatever.
Miracles that occurred and could not possibly have been something from the mind, but these people said they had to be very, very careful of where they spoke for it was frowned upon in most of the churches, and many of them were taken away, never to be seen again, of course I understand now what had happened to them, but at the time living as I did, I did not. I did have one, and only one spiritual experience, which at the time I did not understand. It was when one of my children was very, very ill, and while sitting at his bedside praying that what was being given was the right thing and that he would get better, I saw a vision of my mother but not as clear as one can see now when they have more faith.
At the time I thought it was because I was thinking of my mother who had such a gentle touch about her, and longing for the peace that she used to radiate, it was not until a long time later, that I realised I had opened up sufficiently to see her, for I know now that she would always have been there when needed. My son did recover and the turning point was that night, but I did not associate the two for many a long day. My other sister, the one just younger than me, she never married, much to my father’s disappointment, but I realise now that she was finding it very difficult to adjust to the woman’s body that she had, when really she would have loved to have been a boy.
One can only wonder at the karma of each person who takes on the physical body of one sex, while preferring the other as they grow older. In my sister’s case, although my father was upset at her not getting married, she was a great help to him in helping him with the business. For she had a brilliant mind, and as he was growing older, she eventually took over the business entirely, and managed it with great skill. Her only difficulty was when she traveled, as my father did, she had to take either my husband or brother in law or very close friend with her, for there were still many who would not do business with a woman.
Eventually the business passed on to the grandchildren, and was still flourishing when I passed though the veil, so many, many years ago. My name at the time was Esther, and it really was a delightful life that I lived, so very few unhappy times.
Looking back of course we did not have the education today for it was not needed, women were not expected to do anything outside the house, except perhaps to oversee the gardens and the servants, and even then in our case we just delegated to those in charge of the servants.
It may have sounded a very selfish life, but I think you will find that you also have had your good lives, as the majority of people have. Through all the series of lives they have had, unless they are progressing more on a spiritual path from the very beginning. I hope you have enjoyed listening to this as much I have talking about it, if I had thought earlier about what I was going to say, there could have been a lot more detail, but it was just a spur of the moment, and we saw that you were tired, and we thought if nobody talks you would fall asleep.
Now I shall have to leave you and perhaps think of another life for some future date, perhaps it should be a bad one next time, or I should say a difficult one, but I know that you enjoy listening to what we are doing and to what we have done in the past. So goodnight my friends, until another time.
Luke – Thank you, and bless you.
