"Do Dreams and Former Lives Make Sense? Psychics Think So" by Diane Wood

This article originally appeared in the Cambridge (Canada) Reporter, July 1978

Would you like to find out who you were in a past life? Learn to make sense of your dreams? Or astral project your body?

The techniques to do any, or all of these things, will be available Saturday at a day-long psychic seminar in Kitchener.

Conducted by professional psychic and media personality Geraldine Smith, the seminar will feature three psychics leading sessions on their specialities.

It will be held at the Holiday Inn, 30 Fairway Rd., from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Pre-registration is necessary.

One of the sessions will be lead by Doug Cottrell, a 28-year-old father, who says he has been called everything from a charlatan to a crystal ball-gazer.

Goes into Trance
The Toronto man says he has achieved “remarkable results” with his “health readings.” By putting himself into a deep trance, he says he is able to give information on a variety of topics, including a person’s health.
He says his diagnoses have been proved accurate by chiropracters and doctors.
During the seminar, two people will be chosen form the audience for a complete “health-body scan.”

Mr Cottrell will also demonstrate the “laying on of hands” in which he places his hands on a person with an illness, and through some unseen power, causes various degrees of improvement or healing.

Also featured at the seminar will be Ken Dixon, a psychic whose speciality is dreams.

Mr Dixon, who believes that all the information a person needs to be happy, is contained in his dreams, will lecture on how to interpret dream symbols.

“Most books imply there are universal dream symbols. There may be a few general ones, but I believe most symbols are very personal. By learning to read them, a person can change his life.”

A special three-hour session at the seminar will be led by 45-year-old Rev Carole Young, a Chicago native, who will demonstrate techniques for remembering past lives.

Remembering Past Lives
Astral Projection
Mrs Young, who says she is aware of a past life she lived in 1786, says she believes people can be more effective in the present if they know the past. She will use several of her past life recall techniques for group regressions during the seminar.

All three psychics were in Cambridge Monday to promote the seminar and discuss their fields of specialty.

Mr Cottrell says he first became interested in the psychic field in 1974, when he was given a book about the famous “sleeping prophet” Edgar Cayce.

This gave him hope that there was help for his invalid daughter, who was medically diagnozed [sic] as being grossly retarded and highly convulsive.

He met with the trance psychic Ross Peterson, whose life story has been recounted in the current book by Allen Spraggett, “Ross Peterson, The New Edgar Cayce.”

Based on the information given through Mr Peterson in a reading, the Cottrells decided to remove their daughter from the medical institution where she had been placed at age three. She was then six.

They started the treatments suggested by Mr Peterson and say their daughter now attends school and shows much physical and mental improvement.

Just three years ago, Mr Cottrell was making a comfortable $25,000 a year working in the Toronto Star production department. Now he brings in about $200 per week by doing an average two readings per day at $50 a reading.
He says he charges that much in order to attract only “the sincere type of person,” rather than those interested in information about lotteries.

Typical Questions
What questions do people most often ask him? “Money, moving and marriage,” he smiled. “A lot of wealthy businessmen use me as a source of information.”

He said he also attracts many real estate people.

“Many policemen, businessmen, scientists, and physicists are using psychics” he added. “There have been some big breakthroughs in Russia.

“A recent report revealed that scientists in the Soviet Union can stop a frog’s heart just by thinking, and then restart it.

“If you take that a step farther, what about a man’s heart – the president’s of the United States, for example?”
Ken Dixon, who says he was “as psychic as a fish until age 30, believes if he can do it, anyone can. A former accountant and comptroller of a Toronto manufacturing company, he is now a specialist in several areas of the growth and esoteric fields as well as a trance psychic.

“I wasn’t psychic. I learned how to do it. Anyone can.”

He has conducted much research into dreams, and will discuss how to use them to live more effectively in the seminar.

Mr Dixon says dream messages appear in symbols for a reason.

“The information is usually telling us to change, and the ego doesn’t want to face that. It’s like a sugar coated pill.

“As a person develops however, he learns these symbols are helpful. They contain all the information necessary for health, wealth, and happiness.” Mr Cottrell, who has only been doing dream work for one year, says anything in a person’s life of major importance, is dreamt of ahead of time. He will be introducing some of his ideas in weekend workshops and special sessions at a hotel on Lake Simcoe that he is opening in September as a growth centre.

Mr Dixon was a founding member and first chairman of the Toronto Society for Psychical Research and director of The Mind Institute in Toronto.

People can also grow by facing their past, believes psychic Carole Young. She herself has regressed to a past life in which she saw her mother die in a rock slide as a child.

“I often take people back to their time of death because I think this dying practise [sic] is very constructive,” she said.

“It teaches you not to be so afraid or to feel so sad about death.”

Many of our present-day skills and talents, as well as negative attitudes and illnesses stem from past lives, believes Mrs Young.

By becoming aware of them, a person can make the decision to change them.

A counsellor in Chicago, Mrs Young says she uses psychic awareness in her work.

“I find people get inside themselves faster that way.”

She has a degree in psychology, but does not follow traditional counselling techniques. She was also ordained in 1973 in the Peace Community Church, Chicago.

Also included in Saturday’s seminar will be techniques on developing the ability of astral projection led by Geraldine Smith; and a session on how to develop healing abilities.

Mrs Smith will also discuss how to eliminate negative feelings through meditation. She will also explain the workings of the subconscious mind; and demonstrate techniques to alleviate stress, build energy, and develop psychically.