The Life Beyond the Veil Volume I The Lowlands of Heaven The Life Beyond the Veil series consists of five volumes: The Lowlands of Heaven The Highlands of Heaven The Ministry of Heaven The Battilions of Heaven The Outlands of Heaven Spirit Messages received and set down by the Rev. George Vale Owen. (1860-1931) Vicar of Orford, Lancashire, England. The Life Beyond the Veil Volume I The Lowlands of Heaven LONDON COPYRIGHT June 1920 PRINTED IN THE UNITED KINGDOM. This volume was printed in June 1920, April 1926, April 1929, March 1945, Sept 1947 and July 1949. It was also printed in the U.S.A. This Kindle ebook version was created by Geoff Cutler in December 2014 and no copyright is claimed in this publication. This edition contains the preface from both the first 1920 edition and the revised 1949 edition, as I found that there is slightly different information contained in each. Obviously the reader can simply skip one of these if they have little interest in the background of Rev. George Vale Owen. The Rev. George Vale Owen, Vicar of Orford from 1908 to 1922. The Church of St. Margaret and All Hallows, Orford, Warrington, Lancashire, England. Table of Contents Foreword (1949) An Appreciation Preface (1921) G.V.O. General Notes Mr. Vale Owen’s Comments About Those who Communicated Kathleen and Ruby Astriel Presence Form Preface (1949) How The Messages Came Introduction Chapter 1 The Lowlands of Heaven Chapter 2 Scenes that are Brighter Chapter 3 From Darkness into Light Chapter 4 The City and Realm of Castrel Chapter 5 Angelic Ministry Chapter 6 Astriel’s Messages1 Recommended Reading The Padgett Messages. The Judas Messages. Trilogy by Robert James Lees. Anthony Borgia and Monsignor Robert Hugh Benson. The Urantia Book. Other Books. Foreword (1949) The Greater World Association have undertaken to reprint the four volumes comprising the illuminating Scripts received through the mediumship of the Rev. G. Vale Owen. It has been a great loss to the Movement that these books have been out of print for so long, for it is generally agreed that no other communications from Spirit Realms have had such a wide appeal to the world at large. This is due partly, we know, to the extensive publicity given to them by that great newspaper Proprietor, Lord Northcliffe, who, ignoring general prejudice and cynicism regarding the possibility of such communications, published them serially in The WEEKLY DESPATCH in 1920-21, and spent a great deal of money in announcing their appearance. It is natural to ask: “How were these Spirit Messages received?” The answer is given by Vale Owen himself in the first book of the series. The Lowlands of Heaven. Then comes the next question: “What was this clergyman like?” Those who did not meet Vale Owen might well picture a dreamer, a man separated from the usual things of daily life—a saint or an ascetic. But although all who knew Vale Owen personally had no doubt about his spirituality, they would not agree that he was a man who “lived in the clouds”; rather he was one who needed human love and the gladness of physical life. We are very grateful, therefore, to the Rev. G. Eustace Owen for giving us a few details about his father which shows that he was a practical man with a sense of humour and a great tolerance for the weakness of others, which means that he was a very good companion as well as a good Christian. The Rev. Eustace Owen writes : “In his book WITH NORTHCLIFFE IN FLEET STREET, J. A. Hammerton alludes to the Rev. Vale Owen as ‘that typical visionary of the half-Christian, half- spiritualist sort.’ That view is held by many people who knew him through his writings; but it is not a true portrait. My father was a visionary without being a crank. While having a clear view of life’s spiritual basis, he was most practical and methodical in all his ways. “I remember how gently he dealt with others, how broad-minded he was in argument, his tolerance of opponents, and how he endured persecution with immense patience. Many an opponent’s sword was blunted by his understanding of the one who wielded it! Yet he could be severe when necessary. Cruelty in any form roused his indignation. To bullies and schemers he became a very Elijah! “I have never known anyone more direct in thought and words, or one who so detested shams. Beneath his graciousness lay the hardness of a good soldier of the Cross, so that he bore scorn and persecution without wavering. Quietness sometimes conceals a rare courage. “In the book HE LAUGHED IN FLEET STREET, Bernard Falk describes a meeting between Lord Northcliffe and my father, in ‘The Times’ office, when the former asked him to accept £1,000 for publishing extracts from the Script in the ‘Weekly Despatch.’ “He continues: ‘Vale Owen shook his head. For this part of his writings, he said, he could not take any money. He had been well paid by the publicity given him, and by being able to carry out the sacred duty of placing his revelations before the world. Knowing well Vale Owen’s poverty I was genuinely sorry to hear him refuse payment, but he was not to be dissuaded . The Rev. G. Eustace Owen adds : “All our family are pleased that the Script is not to be allowed to remain in oblivion. The rising generation particularly need the comfort and illumination of its message. We are all so glad that ‘The Greater World’ have so keenly and so boldly taken up this re-publication. May their confidence be justified and their labours blessed!” An Appreciation By Lord Northcliffe1 I have not had an opportunity of reading the whole of The Life Beyond the Veil, but among the passages I have perused are many of great beauty. It seems to me that the personality of the Rev. G. Vale Owen is a matter of deep importance and to be considered in connexion with these very remarkable documents. During the brief interview that I had with him I felt that I was in the presence of a man of sincerity and conviction. He laid no claims to any particular psychic gift. He expressed a desire for as little publicity as possible, and declined any of the great emoluments that could easily have come to him as the result of the enormous interest felt by the public all over the world in these scripts. 1. Lord Northcliffe owned the newspaper ‘The Weekly Despatch’, and over the period 1920 to 1921 serialised these communications. This created enormous public interest, the vast majority of it was very favourable, and Rev. George Vale Owen was even asked to go down to London to deliver a sermon on them. There did not appear to be any significant theological objections from the Church of England, and in fact it was accepted that these communications were genuine “inspirational writings”, that the Rev. G. Vale Owen was genuine, and that the writings were of great value. In spite of this they have all but disappeared from sight today. Preface (1921) THIS volume contains the first of a series of communications from beyond the veil, received and written down by the Rev. G. Vale Owen, Vicar of Orford, Lancashire. It should be clearly understood that these messages, while complete in themselves, deal chiefly with the “Sphere of Light” nearest to the Earth in which the Vicar’s mother, who is the principal communicator, states that she dwells, and that her impressions are chiefly individual to herself and are thus those of a newcomer and learner whose experiences are limited to a restricted area. Wider regions and greater heights and depths are explored, the inter-relation of this and the after-life is more fully explained, and both narrative and exposition of aims and principles are more vigorous, clear and comprehensive in succeeding messages, contained in other volumes of the series which follow this. That said, however, the high importance and far- reaching significance of this volume must be affirmed. It gives the most complete and most detailed statement of conditions in the after-life yet published. It must be read and studied in order to gain an understanding of the further messages. The narrative brings one face to face with a Spiritual Universe of unimaginable immensity and grandeur, with sphere upon sphere of the realms of light which stretch away into infinity. We are told that those who have passed from our earth life inhabit the nearer spheres, amid surroundings not wholly dissimilar from those they have known in this world; that at death we shall enter the sphere for which our spiritual development fits us. There is to be no sudden change in our personality. We shall not be plunged into forgetfulness. A human being is not transformed into another being. In the first sphere of light we find trees and flowers like those that grow in earthly gardens; but more beautiful, immune from decay and death, and endowed with qualities that make them more completely a part of our lives. Around us are birds and animals, still the friends of man, but nearer, more intelligent, and freed from the fears and the cruelties they suffer here. We find houses and gardens, but of substance, colour and atmosphere more responsive to our presence; water whose playing is music; wide-ranging harmonies of colour. We find everything more radiant, more joyous, more exquisitely complex, and while our activities are multiplied, our life is more restful.