Douglas James Cottrell
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| Douglas James Cottrell | |
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 Douglas James Cottrell, taken in Warwick, RI, 2005.
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| Born | December 30, 1949 Toronto, Ontario |
Douglas James Cottrell (1949 - Present) is a Canadian psychic or trance clairvoyant, healer and author. His deep trance meditation style is often compared to that of Edgar Cayce. In 2003 he dictated a book from the trance state, which was published the following year as Secrets of Life. He has been variously called a mystic, seer, prophet, "The Man With the X-ray Eyes," "Canada's Edgar Cayce," and "The Most Powerful Intuitive of Our Time."
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[edit] Biography
Douglas James Cottrell was born on December 30, 1949 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. His parents were working-class, operating a small business delivering kindling wood to people's homes. In 1968 Douglas married Karen, and in June of that year, they had their first child, Cheri-Anne. Although she appeared normal, Cheri-Anne soon began to express behavioural abnormalities, and by the age of two was diagnosed as severely mentally and physically retarded, prone to a convulsive disorder. Following the medical advice at that time, Douglas and Karen allowed Cheri-Anne to be institutionalized at Plainfield Children's Home in Belleville, Ontario, believing she only had a few months to live.
In 1975, a co-worker at the Toronto Star newspaper, where Douglas worked as a pressman, gave Douglas a book about Edgar Cayce, an American deep trance psychic from the 1930s, known mainly for his so-called health "readings". Douglas was a skeptic, and although he was highly critical of tea-cup readers, palmists, and tarot card readers, he found Cayce's ability to be credible. Fascinated with the information contained in the Cayce material, Douglas began to wonder what information could be revealed about his daughter, were Cayce still alive. At that time Douglas was unaware that others were demonstrating a similar phenomenon as Cayce, but he soon discovered such an individual, and in a most unusual way.
Douglas claims that while he was working in his basement, he had a strong urging to leave what he was doing, go upstairs and turn on the television. The program in progress was "World of the Unexplained" with Allen Spraggett, a paranormal researcher. Spraggett's guest was Ross Peterson, a medical intuitive from the United States who demonstrated Cayce-like clairvoyant abilities in trance. Douglas eventually contacted Peterson and he and Karen had their first of several consultations with him in Toronto. Even though Cheri-Anne was hundreds of kilometers away in Belleville, Peterson was able to discuss her conditions as if reading her medical chart. Cottrell was impressed with both the level of accuracy and amount of detail that Peterson provided. This inspired him to explore deep trance meditation in himself.
After taking courses in meditation from Peterson, Douglas began conducting experiments in intuition and remote viewing, aided by his family doctor and his chiropractor. In time, these experiments began involving more and more subjects, who returned with their friends and relatives. With verification provided by the medical doctor and chiropractor, Douglas's confidence and trust in this ability grew, and he was able to relax further and deeper.
In 1978 Douglas quit his full-time job at the Toronto Star to devote his time to giving deep trance meditation consultations to the public. By the late 1970s, he was giving four hour-long sessions per day, seven days a week. Karen acted as "conductor" for the sessions, guiding Douglas into and out of the hour-long meditation, and recording the session on tape (replaced in 2005 with a digital recorder). Since 1975 Douglas has given an estimated 24,000 such consultations (or "readings"). In 1998, the process began to catalog these sessions to preserve the information. He and Karen live in London, Ontario. They have four children: Cheri-Anne, Douglas, Louise, and Jason. Cheri-Anne died January 27, 2006.
[edit] Intuitive Abilities
One writer once referred to Douglas as "the only authenticated successor to the Edgar Cayce phenomenon." Douglas is not only unique in this regard, but he is among a select few who are able to genuinely demonstrate so many different mental/spiritual abilities: remote viewing, clairvoyance, prediction, prophecy, communication with disembodied souls, dream interpretation, aura seeing and interpretation, and spiritual healing. Douglas has said that to varying degrees anyone can learn to express such abilities, as they represent various creative aspects of the soul.
[edit] Deep Trance Meditation
When Douglas begins a deep trance meditation session, he first reclines in a chair, relaxes his body, and slows his respiration and heart rate. He breathes deeply, his eyes demonstrating REM behind closed lids. His metabolism suppressed and his body profoundly relaxed, Douglas is able to demonstrate very powerful and genuine intuitive ability. In the deep trance state, Douglas is able to dissociate from his conscious mind and ego, and access a deeper level of consciousness that describes itself as "the contemplative mind". This consciousness is unbound by time and space. This source claims it is not a single consciousness, but rather a collective of minds which encompasses the high self or soul mind of Douglas, and all other minds to which it is directed to communicate.
Douglas claims there are many dimensions or planes of existence that exist above and beyond this one. The astral plane is a realm inhabited by discarnate or disembodied entities; and it is from this dimension that automatic writers, mediums and channelers receive their information. Douglas claims to be able to reach further than the astral plane to access the Akashic Records, a non-physical repository of all knowledge and experience, throughout all time. Douglas believes this method of communication affords him the unique ability to filter out the subjectivities of emotion and expectation that color and cloud human perception of truth.
During a deep trance session, a conductor (usually his wife, Karen) directs Douglas to "locate" a client, giving him the client's name and location at that time. Then the client asks Douglas a series of questions. When a client asks a question during the session, Douglas is able to instantly retrieve information from the Akashic Records and provide it to the client.
The majority of his clients use this ability to find information on their health concerns, but other subjects have included spirituality, past lives, ancient history, modern mysteries, as well as finances, politics and economics. Douglas's ability has also been used (uncredited) in various fields of research, including medicine. His clients come from a variety of backgrounds and religious/spiritual affiliations. In the 1990s an effort was made to document Douglas's so-called medical intuitive ability to the scientific community with an elaborately constructed triple-blind test. Douglas performed a deep trance session in the presence of five medical doctors who were participating in the study. Each brought a briefcase, and each briefcase contained a selection of case files from their own medical practices. At random, they selected a few folders and asked Douglas questions pertaining to the health of their subjects. Douglas was so accurate that the researchers could not believe it possible. This study has not been made public.
[edit] Spiritual Healing
In the early 1970s, Douglas and Karen made the acquaintance of Rev. Alex Holmes', an Anglican priest, who performed Laying on of Hands spiritual healing. Douglas learned the technique from him, and, he says, through rigorous practice, guided by instruction in his dreams, Douglas was able to enhance this ability over time. Douglas enters a light state of meditation and places his hands over the chakra points of the client, or over the afflicted body part. Clients describe various sensations including heat, cold and tingling. Many of them report feeling as if they are being pushed over or feeling as if they cannot stand. In fact at several of Douglas's Miracle Transformation Events, people seem to fall into a state of unconsciousness under his touch. Some weep openly. A number have reported spontaneous healing from their conditions, some of which have been confirmed by medical examination. Douglas does not make claims about the results of such experiences, nor does he take credit for any healing which may occur. He says it is between the client and God.
[edit] Secrets of Life
Secrets of Life: Unique Insight into the Workings of Your Soul by the Most Powerful Intuitive of Our Time was composed in the summer and fall of 2003 and published in July 2004. It is 224 pages (paperback and e-book), published by Many Mansions Press.
In 2003, Douglas performed a series of deep trance meditation (DTM) sessions as research for the book. During each session, his eldest son (Douglas Matthew Cottrell) asked him questions about spirituality, God, spiritual abilities, karma, prayer, dreams, miracles, and even questions on longevity, prosperity, and the purpose of life. In effect, with each answer provided, Douglas "dictated" the content of what would later comprise the book. In total over a dozen one-hour DTM sessions were completed. Each was tape recorded and then transcribed verbatim. Douglas's son assembled the information into a cohesive publication.
From the Table of Contents: The Three States of Mind; God, Miracles, Death; The Pre-existence & Post-existence; Reincarnation; Spiritual Laws; Spiritual Beings: Angels, Guides & Ghosts; Spiritual Abilities; Meditation; Dreams; Prayer; Emotions; The Purpose of Life; Living a Long Life; Relationships and Soul-mates; Sex, Sexuality and Intimacy; Parenting and Child-rearing; and Success and Prosperity.
From the forward by Robert Appel: "This is indeed a special book from a truly extraordinary individual. The least you can expect from this work is that it will change your life. The most you can expect is that it will totally transform it."
[edit] Themes in Cottrell's Work
- God as an infinite, collective yet individual consciousness of love.
- Karma as the reason behind life's circumstances.
- The three levels of mind: rational, subconscious, and contemplative (or conscious, subsonscious, and super-subconscious).
- Reincarnation as the process of spiritual advancement.
- The power of thought.
- Prayer as little more than thoughts held constantly in the mind.
- The development of spiritual abilities.
- Meditation as the path to awareness and enlightenment.
- The connection of mind and body.
- Using dreams as a tool for self-knowledge.
- Human history is much older than currently believed (e.g. the prehistoric continents of Atlantis and Lemuria).
- Original sin was the separation of souls from God to the physical plane.
[edit] Publications
- Cottrell, Douglas James (2004). Secrets of Life: Unique Insight into the Workings of Your Soul by the Most Powerful Intuitive of our Time. Many Mansions Press. ISBN 0-9735067-0-9
