Introduction

This is the story of my journey home. It is an account of some incredible experiences that I have had, and those of others as well, following (and some preceding) the fatal crash of John Denver in his plane on October 12, 1997.

John was a man who made music his voice for the Earth, the children, and all who would choose a path of compassion and peace. He had a spirit of optimism that just wouldn’t quit, even when he sometimes hit bottom. Those were the times when he found solace in the music he created. He was eulogized as a man with “the voice of an angel, the heart of a soldier, and the spirit of God.”

To be honest, I used to think of John Denver as kind of a hokey guy who wrote simple songs about nature in the 70’s, even though back then I bought every one of his albums and listened to him constantly, as the draw was healing to my broken spirit. But it was as though he was not allowed to evolve past that point in the public eye. When the initial environmental movement lost some of its fervor during the Reagan years and they stopped playing his music regularly on the radio, it seemed to me as though his popularity declined and the Rocky Mountain Minstrel faded into oblivion. I guessed his syrupy-sweet image was too much to bear, especially after it seemed like just a front, when news got out of some of his more questionable activities. As Mr. Ron Weston stated in an article on the ABC News web-site: “It became fashionable…to put him down…John lived a principled life, despite his obvious flaws. That took guts because it made enemies…” He was seen by many as an object of scorn, rather than as a human being who was capable of imperfect acts. Before that, however, he was portrayed as too naïve, too idealistic, too good to be true. I have found, however, that he was anything but insipid or simple. He lived from the heart, and I realize now that there was-and still is-something more complex, and very special, about John. Something much deeper than could be known while he was still alive on Earth.

Perhaps it was, as Barry Neil Kaufman states in his book Happiness is a Choice, that “No single energy can be more impactful on this planet than the joy and well-being emanating from one truly happy and loving person. When we are committed to creating a peaceful new world, inside and outside, the old data become irrelevant. But we have to begin someplace…with someone. Why not with you and me and whomever else decides to pursue happiness with strength and passion?”

In spite of the stress, pain, and unhappiness he endured throughout his career, John understood that. That’s the message he was sending: You AND me, as opposed to you OR me. Because there is an invisible thread that connects us all, and whatever energy we send out travels all along that thread until it finally makes its way back to us, complete with all the energy just like it that it picked up along the way, so we end up getting just what we sent out, only multiplied many times over.

Some say that John’s greatest legacy to us was his music. Some say it was his humanitarian efforts on behalf of hungry children, endangered species, and the planet itself. Some say it was that he gave us, his fans, each other-which he truly did. However, I believe that John’s greatest gift to us is one that he could only give us after he passed on…and that is: Love, when unconditional, can transcend all barriers--including the most seemingly impossible one of all--death. If love can do that, surely it can heal this world, if enough people care. That love is what inspired him to do all the things he did and sang about, and it’s the same love that is now inspiring some of us to go out and (to quote a fan) “be his hands, his heart, and to continue what he began.”

It seems that John wants us to understand that he’s still alive, somewhere not really very far away, that there is another reality outside of this one, and that we don’t have to die to experience it-we only need to give ourselves completely to love. Songs he wrote and sang, like “The Flower That Shattered the Stone”, “Sweet Surrender”, “Higher Ground”, “Never a Doubt”, “Wandering Soul”, “Healing Time on Earth”, “It’s A Possibility”, “Eagles and Horses”, “It’s About Time”, “World Game”, “I Want to Live”, “Potter’s Wheel”, “On the Wings of A Dream”, and many others, say it quite clearly, if we only choose to listen.

Yet it’s not only about the music now. There’s another voice, another process that is unfolding before us. (And by “us” I mean the entire human race.) That voice is the sound of Synchronicity-a universal phenomena first coined by Carl Jung as a “connecting principle” and becoming more apparent in our daily lives as something more than just random coincidences. I see it happening to people that have no knowledge of what it really is. It also happens to those who have no connection to John Denver. I had a few minor instances of it before John died, but afterwards it just accelerated and took off like a rocket! Unable to explain it at first, it unnerved me somewhat. I felt as though I was living in the Twilight Zone. Now it feels more like “Oh God, For Real” as I am learning to appreciate the awesome sense of humor of the Creator, and that which He passed down to us! Yes, there is much work to be done during this healing time on Earth. The synchronicity is there to guide us, so that we know what our part is in getting the work done. If we follow our heart, we will begin to experience this connecting principle more and more, and it will give new meaning to our lives and prove to us that there is, indeed, an intelligent rhythm to all that happens, everyday, and that we are even the ones who help design it!

Well, I’d heard it proposed before. Then I began seeing it and living it. I am a true believer now. In hope. In faith. In miracles. In life after death. In anything being possible. Maybe after you read this story, you will, too.

I have many reasons for writing this book. First of all, I want to share with people the way in which I have had the opportunity to witness and experience for myself the awesome power of the human spirit, even after bodily ties have been disconnected. I feel that there was a purpose for John Denver’s death at this time, as much as there was a purpose to his life. As heartbreaking as it has been, there is a gift-no, a treasure-to be found here somewhere. The way all this has come together for me has let me know that telling my story is what I am supposed to do.

Yet this is not so much to espouse the many causes that John stood up for, and believed in. There are other places to find that information, and there is a list of resources at the end of this book. Rather, this story is being written as a testament to our eternal souls, our connection to each other and to the Earth, and to our responsibility, our part in how our future is to be carried out. And as I said before, we are not left to figure it out on our own, but are given signs, and sent helpers. We just need to recognize them, to open our hearts to them.

One doesn’t have to like John Denver’s music to benefit from this book. It was his destiny to compose and sing, for through that vehicle he had a message to deliver to mankind. It’s not how the message was delivered that’s as important as the message itself. Perhaps the music is more for us who choose to continue to pass on that message, whereas the message itself is for everybody: Celebrate life. Take care of each other and our mother the Earth. Follow your heart, and don’t be afraid to stand up for what you believe in. Know that love can heal anything that’s broken. Know that there are endless possibilities out there. Know that you CAN live your dreams. And believe that Heaven on Earth is more than just a vision now-it is humanity’s destiny.

During the course of writing this book, I conducted extensive research into the various phenomena that some of my friends and I seemed to be experiencing. I found some books on coincidence and synchronicity-the term coined by Carl Jung; several works on the afterlife and ACD (after-death communication); various publications on the Medicine Wheel and Native American spirituality; ascension, prophecies, God’s plan to create Heaven on Earth (1 Corinthians 15:35-55), the extensiveness of the devastation that we the human race have permitted to occur on this beautiful, bountiful Earth; and even a selection of writings on the spirituality of John Denver. I listened to John’s music, as well as the compositions of many other lyrical visionaries. Now, however, there needed to be written a book that would tie all these things together, even if the connections only meant something to a small, intimate group of people. Because by sharing these experiences, I knew that people would be wont to look for the connections they may desire or need to find in order to make their own lives mean something.

For me, life has become a puzzle to put together, with that treasure I mentioned before to be shared and celebrated when the time is right. Each of us who participates has some of the pieces of this puzzle, and we must connect and work together in order to solve it. How are we going to create a sustainable future for ourselves, our children, and the generations to come? How are we going to make our lives truly meaningful and worthwhile and sacred? What is my part, my purpose for being here at this time?

Many times I asked myself what it could be that is making all of this possible. I mentioned that John seems to have found a way to reach through the veil-a way that maybe not all spirits are able to tap into. I came upon a story then, that I thought may provide a clue, with synchronicity again serving as a verifying factor, both for its author and myself.

I was browsing in a bookstore when one of the titles jumped out at me: Love is Stronger than Death, by Cynthia Bourgeault. I read the jacket and discovered that it was about a woman Episcopal priest (Bourgeault) and a Benedictine monk who met at the Benedictine monastery in Snowmass, Colorado, in the early 1990’s. When the monk died in 1995 they were able to continue their relationship, thus proving the validity of the title.

Synchronistically, right before I came across that book, I had received a newsletter from the Windstar Foundation, stating that in 1979 John Denver purchased some of the land from that monastery for his then-recently established non-profit education and research organization that he had founded with Aikido master Thomas Crum.

So, at that time, I thought perhaps it was the land itself that held the key to this mystery. I thought, maybe that place in Snowmass is more sacred than any of us really know. Maybe it serves as some sort of dimensional doorway or portal between worlds; and the fact that John was associated with it and with the raising of its purpose to new world-healing heights allowed him access to its magic as well. I believe that anything is possible! I know that for some reason, John wanted me to experience Windstar for the first time on the first anniversary of his death, and to be there alone at the exact moment of his death, when my plans were originally to be with a whole group of people somewhere else instead. But since then I have come to hear about many other after-death communication stories, such as The Last Ghost Dance by Brooke Medicine Eagle (in which John’s spirit-help is mentioned!), Signals by Joel Rothschild, Across the Universe with John Lennon, and more. So it is more than one factor that is allowing these incidents to occur. It is another law of nature set in place by our dear Creator, just waiting for us to tap into the gifts it has to offer. To further prompt the issue, one of the newsletter readers wrote me as well.

“Your newsletter discusses after death communication...Next obvious question, how EVER did you begin being in contact with the late John Denver? I think he was one of the finest musicians and songwriters that whole period of time produced, and I was saddened when he left us (or it seemed that way at the time!)

“For some inexplicable reason, I acted on an impulse to contact you....

“In closing before I can resume this topic a little later, one of the traits of your chart that makes you "atypical" from the classic Capricorn descriptions is several planets in the ‘chatty’ signs, Virgo and Sagittarius, which rules publishing. Pluto in Virgo is involved with both publishing (in your chart), long distance travel, and with the affairs of the dead, commonly matters of estate, inheritance and such. I never dreamed I'd see a chart in which these matters would converge in this way.”

Something else that will be addressed in a future chapter but that I wish to point out now, is the repeat occurrences of certain numbers such as 12, 22, 27, 31, 43, 47, 53, 444, 555, 677, and those that represent dates and times, such as 10-12, 12-31, 12-43, 5:27, 3:55, 3:22, 8-11, 9-27, etc. Whenever one of these special numbers come up, it will be presented in italics.

One other topic that has arisen in several discussions involving John, and one that I feel needs to be addressed before my real story actually begins, is that of his faults and human frailties-such things as his DUIs and substance abuse, his occasional temperamental outbursts and irritability, his incessant perfectionism, disagreements with people, his dietary habits, improper decisions that he may have made, etc. To these I reply, “What about them?” Who here is truly perfect? Who here can say they are any better than John or any other person? Those temporary conditions he carried are inconsequential now. Besides, his intention was always to radiate the love and compassion that he knew the Creator was the source of. He knew he had to work on perfecting the “jerk” in him. His humanness in no way negates or lessens the sacredness of this situation, and who John is now. The best way to move past any negative reflections that may arise is to allow the forgiveness that he needs from us to occur, and to recognize that, maybe, the work he is doing now from the other side is helping to make up for the mistakes he made while here-like the angel that had to earn his wings in “It’s A Wonderful Life.” God bless you, John Denver. This book is not only for you, but because of you. You have been such a tremendous inspiration to those who knew you, loved you, or just listened to you. This is my one small way of returning the favor and helping to keep your legacy of compassion, optimism, and irrepressible faith in human nature alive. Someday, when your work is finally done, may you truly rest in peace.