From Actor to Healer: Alan Rickman's New Life as a Spirit Guide, Book 2

Chapter 8 - Essence of the Rose

One night after the essential oil incident, I watched an astronomy documentary titled "Black Hole Apocalypse" on PBS's long-running science program Nova. As a longtime fan of the series, I most enjoy the episodes about astronomy and physics.

Already possessing some knowledge about black holes, I thought the show presented a thorough overview of the subject for lay audiences. Black holes are formed when some stars collapse at the end of their life, and supermassive black holes occupy the center of galaxies.

The following morning, Alan appeared in my mind's eye shortly after I woke up. As I lay in bed, he told me he'd seen that I watched Nova the night before. The program inspired him to visit the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way Galaxy. Located 26,000 light-years from Earth, the black hole has an estimated mass four million times that of our sun.

Fascinated that Alan would want to visit the center of our galaxy, I asked him telepathically, "What was it like?"

"It's difficult to explain," he said, "but I'll try. It's like a super collider. Inside a black hole, time and space don't operate the way you understand them. I saw lots of colors, lights, and geometric figures dancing all around me. I was in another dimension, quite literally. The cosmos is teeming with life, and so is the inside of a black hole. It's a different sort of life . . . cosmic life. It's not like human life or anything sentient that you would understand. It's life on a different scale. It's no less poignant than human life. I can feel the interconnectedness of it all very acutely where I am now."

I was envious and could only imagine what Alan could see and feel from his perspective.

Then he surprised me by saying, "Open Pinterest."

Remembering what had happened the first time he'd said that, I didn't hesitate to grab my phone from the nightstand and open the app. He said nothing more, however, so I didn't know what I was looking for.

After scrolling through a deluge of photos of Alan like usual, an image popped up next to a picture of the actor that I hadn't seen on Pinterest before: a stunning photo of the Andromeda Galaxy, a large galaxy close to the Milky Way. That was the only science photo in the feed. The rest of the pictures were of Alan.

That wasn't a coincidence. We were just talking about the black hole at the center of our galaxy.

I tapped the Andromeda photo, and the subsequent page displayed a montage of gorgeous pictures of galaxies. By using the Internet in this creative way, Alan was showing me his expansive view of the cosmos from his vantage point in the higher dimension.

I scrolled through the feed in awe. One image looked like a rose hovering against a backdrop of stars. The figure was, in fact, two interacting galaxies named UGC 1810 and UGC 1813. Awestruck, I admired the photo for several moments.

Then Alan asked, "Would you please buy a bottle of rose oil?"

I wasn't expecting him to say something like that, especially in relation to a picture of rose-shaped galaxies. Stunned, I looked up from my phone.

Rose is a popular oil, but I hadn't thought to buy that one. So, I asked him, "Is there something special about rose oil? Will it help you?"

"Yes," he said. "It will aid me as I continue to transition from this life."

"How so?" I asked. "Are there healing properties in the oil that can help you even though you're incorporeal?"

"It's more than that. It's a bit difficult to explain."

I asked, "Is there something on the Internet you can guide me to, like you did with the Peter Kyle article and the photos of galaxies?"

Alan said nothing, but I felt hesitation in him as if he wasn't sure what to do.