A three books review by Athanasios Komianos

That is exactly what I did after reading all three books of Tricia Robertson as the title above is her last phrase on her last book, I really enjoyed the journey. Ms Robertson provided me with a very pleasant surprise since despite all my readings and studies of the paranormal, I had never run across her magnificent work and insights. Ms Robertson former teacher of mathematics and physics is a long-term council member, past Vice President and Immediate Past President of the Scottish Society for Psychical Research.
She is a tutor for the Department of Adult and Continuing Education (DACE) at the University of Glasgow. In conjunction with Professor Archie Roy, she provided a session programme of 20, two hours, lectures per session for DACE in a series entitled “An in depth Study of Psychical Research.” This course has now been running for six years.  The paranormal- what is the evidence?’

Normally, I usually read the first book of an author and if I am impressed by the book, I then move on to purchase the rest. Luckily, this was the first time in my life that I purchased three books at once. As an exception to my habit, I acted upon my hunch and the universe paid me back. It must be that her teaching of mathematics and physics made it look like a piece of cake to present major issues of the paranormal in a simple, concise, and meaningful manner without losing her scientific background for a second. It is my motto that regression therapists should be strongly acquainted with all aspects of the paranormal, simply because they employ altered states of consciousness whereas everything might occur in a session. I strongly suggest to all newcomers to our profession, to at least read these three books that will open the doors to all sorts of paranormal phenomena that without a doubt bend the mind tolerance of the average person. One important aspect of her book is that most of the cases quoted have not been published before and that gives us new insights into already existing cases in the literature. But even her quoting of formerly published cases is very comprehensive, providing new insights and fresh perspective to their analysis. There is no boredom, or repetition in her writing but you will also find hilarious moments of the notorious British humor. But please do not misunderstand me. This trilogy is excellent not only for lay people but for experts alike.  I have to confess that I learned a lot from Ms Robertson, and I have to express my gratitude publicly. You also should consider the scholars that wrote a foreword or suggested her books, among them being, Guy Lyon Playfair, David Hamilton, Stephen Braude, Bernard Carr, Stanley Krippner, Roy Stemman, Victor and Wendy Zammit.  Let’s get to work now.

Her first book Things You Can Do When You’re Dead!: True Accounts of After Death Communication, was published in 2013 and covered research into apparitions, poltergeists, mediumship, reincarnation, psychic healing, and after death communications. She shares with us many cases that have not published before and she takes the effort to portray all aspects of the story so that the reader can reach a conclusion either for or against each case. I was impressed by the variety of apparitions that exist and the way they manifest in her cases. Some are transparent and some are solid to the flesh and bone. She takes the time to investigate the cases with a colleague (several times with professor of Astronomy Archie Roy) and sometimes with the presence of mediums. She always records the witness’s testimonies and makes sure that all witnesses are isolated so she gets as accurate an account as she can by checking for discrepancies and flaws. Her poltergeist accounts are just as impressive and exceptional as the apparition cases. She shares with us interesting cases of drop-in communicators and excellent accounts of mediumship communication. Finally, she shares with the public cases of paranormal healings ranging from laying on of hands and extending as far as distant healing cases.

Her second book titled: “More Things You Can Do When You’ Are Dead: What Can You Truly Believe?” was published in 2015. In this one she added several more cases of the topics dealt with in her first book, but she also went as far as to insert cases of inspiration, obsession, possession, and cases of materialization during seances. On the other hand, she cautions against the use of Ouija boards and warns us that “people are not always who they say they are when they come through”. What surprised her most in such cases is the fact that “a discarnate personality seemed to know about changing events on Earth since their demise.” As she says and I think all regression therapists would agree with this statement is this: “In some way human personality survives bodily death, we certainly cannot assume that a nasty person is automatically transformed by death into a much more benign, caring person any more than we would suppose a kind, loving, unselfish person is transformed by death into a villain. Nor can we avoid the possibility that some who die might linger on in a totally confused state, close to living human beings, and are able on occasion to trigger physical phenomena whose unpredictable and nonsensical nature is at least as alarming as the phenomena themselves.”
In closing her book, she comes with this frame of thought: “I propose that the preponderance of evidence would tend to suggest that you are a soul within a body, not a body with a soul. Once the ’old glove’ of the body has been discarded, the soul still exists with all its intelligence, motivation, intention and emotion. I feel that this has now been demonstrated and proven in my books as in a court of law, beyond any reasonable doubt, that once we have passed over there are indeed many, many, things that we can do when we are dead… bodily death does not totally destroy human personality. In some way that we do not yet understand, the death of a person does leave a non-physical legacy.”

White Crow Books did not stop there but instead went further and published her latest book which is even more mind bending than its predecessors. In “It’s Life and Death but Not as You Know It! From the Unbelievable to the Bizarre” she examines not only the topics aforementioned but also, she adds cases of retrocognition, precognition, Electronic Voice Phenomena, Thougtography to name but a few. She shares with us a lot of very compelling stories i.e., the Dutch clairvoyant Gerard Croiset’s amazing precognitive skills, or the case of Ted Serios who managed to project images on Polaroid film, or the impeccable and multi-faceted talent of performer Jesse Shepard.
Personally, I was most impressed by the eighth chapter by the title the Man of the Unholy Cross. A case that Professor Archie Roy kept in a drawer until everyone in the case would be dead. It is a case of a discarnate soul of deceased Nazi official who overshadowed the personality of a lady who visited her psychotherapist. It is undoubtedly a chapter that could fit in any book on Regression Therapy.
She sums up her story by offering some advice: “As far as your personal experiences are concerned, the test of any experience is the clarity by which you remember that event. The memory of it should be as clear in every detail ten, twenty, thirty, forty years later, as it was on the day of the event. Do not let anyone tell you what to think, weigh up the evidence for yourself. I again contend that to anyone with a sensible open mind the evidence shows, ‘Beyond any reasonable doubt,’ that physical death is not the end of your consciousness, your personality, the real you – whatever you want to call it.”

I hope you enjoy the journey just as I did…