OTHERPLANE

Four years ago, I was an overweight, depressed housewife from a tiny English village. But in the space of a few months, I changed into a successful song-writer and author, lost 3 stones of unhealthy weight, overcame a life-long phobia of air travel, and since then I have appeared on 4 national TV shows, and completed over 60 radio interviews. All these things came about since I experienced a moment of subconscious recognition of a past life soul mate from the 17th century. And all these changes are due to one man, Garth Brooks. When I had this experience I knew absolutely nothing of the theory of reincarnation, and I wasn't expecting anything to happen. But when this recognition came, I had the definite sensation of a pain being drawn from my spirit, although at the time, I didn't know why.

It started one night when I found myself drawn to watch a concert on TV. The singer was Garth. I had vaguely heard his name mentioned before, but I certainly wasn't a fan, either of him or of country music, and I had never seen him before, not even a photograph. But in the first few seconds, something very strange and wonderful took place. Firstly my depression lifted. It was the most incredible feeling of release. Then I was suddenly totally and inexplicably certain that I knew this person, deep down to every last facet of his character. From that moment my whole outlook on life was changed, seemingly forever. There hadn't even been time to become a fan of his music, let alone of the man.

The song-writing talent appeared the very next day, and within weeks I was co-writing with Barry Upton (formerly of 'Brotherhood of Man') I have by now, had a song on a top ten album, and currently my song, 'I'm Still Falling', has been nominated by the UK Country Radio Awards, as Best Song of 1998. More odd things began to happen, for instance, I had the sight and feel of another warm hand closing over mine on several occasions. It was in no way threatening or frightening, quite the reverse, and I found that in itself strange. And still 'past lives' did not cross my mind. But something was nagging at me, and I needed some answers. At this point, a friend told me that to her, the answer was obvious - that I had known this soul in a previous life, and had experienced some trauma involving him. I was sceptical at first, but she was very convincing. She said that my depression had lifted because an old grief involving him had been relieved by his rediscovery. She said I should go to a hypnotist to find out. This WAS scary to me. I had never considered going for past life regression. But fight it though I did, eventually I felt compelled to give it a try.

And it turned out that she was right - I had known him, but not as Garth Brooks. According to my memories I had known him in a previous form, as a young Irishman called Ryan Fitzgerald. 358 years previously, this soul, as Ryan Fitzgerald, a man I had loved intensely, had been literally torn from my arms, and I had never known what had become of him. The reason for the huge sense of relief I had when I recognised him on TV, became obvious.

Ryan had come from Wexford in Ireland. I was called Madeleine, and she and Ryan fell in love and ran away to get married. Madeleine's parents did not approve of Ryan and eventually, after trying very hard to get rid of him in a variety of ways, they had him shanhaied, and Madeleine never saw him again.

After the hypnosis, I wrote an 80,000 word book in a few weeks. 'Ripples' is mainly the story of Madeleine and Ryan Fitzgerald in the 17th century, and of my own spiritual awakening. I had never written a book before. Initially, I sent the account to Garth Brooks' office. A lady there, Joan Cook, who has known him for years, called me to say that she believed the story to be true. This she said, was because I had written so deeply and so accurately about the character of Garth, evidently knowing much more about his inner self than the general public ever saw. She thought the only explanation for this could be that Garth had, in fact, once been the Ryan that I knew so well, thus proving that my feeling of knowing Garth's character was true.

I have also overcome a life-long phobia of air travel since the regression. Anyone who has known me since childhood would have bet you money that I would never have flown on a plane. The first time I actually saw Garth in the flesh, was at a concert in Croke Park, Dublin. Since that day I gradually lost 3 stones of unheathly weight, at a steady rate of 2lb per month. This was in spite of having been a yo-yo dieter for 24 years. That weight has stayed off. I think I lost it for two reasons. First, because my metabolism seems to have speeded up. Second, because I have resolved buried guilt from that past life, I no longer feel a need to punish myself, by eating food that I know is bad for me. But I have not dieted as such. Interestingly, Garth Brooks also has this problem, which I believe will be cured if and when he remembers being Ryan. I was also cured that day of chronic colic, something I have suffered from all my life. It was a condition that had baffled doctors. It has never returned. The pain used to occur in me, in the exact same spot where Ryan was fatally stabbed with a sword.

As for Garth, he made a statement recently on 'Oprah' that seems to indicate that he too believes in multiple lives. We have visited the sites I described during my regression, and they have matched exactly, even though I had never been there in this life. Sue McCarthy, respected editor of 'Southern Country', previously a firm sceptic, has done some research on other details, and come up with many amazing pieces of corrobative evidence. I don't remember calling my book 'Ripples', it was just born that way. But is has proved very apt. These ripples are still spreading out, and my book seems to touch people. Some have even contacted me to tell them that it has literally changed the way they see life - for the better, and no writer could ask for more.

My husband, and current life soul mate, Tony, is someone I would never hurt. The fact that he is not hurt by this recollection, proves that he understands the true nature of past lives. They are like beads on a necklace - only connected by the thread - the spirit. Each physical body is separate from the next, my body is no longer that of Madeleine, and Garth's body is not that of Ryan. There is only a spiritual connection between us. Tony and I have been together for 31 years. Tony knows me better than anyone. He believes my story totally.