Straight Talk From Heaven

A collection of transcriptions of channeling sessions with deceased spiritual leaders and famous intellectuals.

The McGinnises follow up their first book of psychic encounters (Psychic Readings with the Thinkers of Heaven, 2012) with this book of messages from famous deceased people, whom the authors claim they contacted in 2011 and 2012. Both psychic enthusiasts and skeptics will likely be intrigued by these accounts of beyond-the-grave communication with Benjamin Franklin, Marcus Aurelius, Mary Magdalene and others. The authors’ transcriptions are surprisingly conversational. For example, in a session evoking the spirit of Mary Magdalene, the authors ask her how she sees God. They write that she responded, in part, that “God is your sense of wonder, awe, and excitement. Think of every good thing you can remember that ever has happened to you. That is God.” The authors also seek to recontextualize present-day popular culture through the eyes of those from past centuries. When the authors ask Mary Magdalene’s opinion of Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code and other writings, she remarks, “I think imaginary writings are wonderful. They open a door.” Readers will have to decide whether to accept these testimonies as valid, but even if they are creations of the authors, they still, in a sense, “open a door.” For example, when the authors reach Virginia Woolf, she testifies that she wrote “about the way we help each other, the way we promote each other, and the way we nurture and deal with each other.” Readers of Woolf might tend to agree. The McGinnises’ accounts of visions and voices are undoubtedly intriguing, but the collection omits any introduction explaining the authors’ process for channeling these spirits. As a result, the book may find its best audience among those who already understand and believe in such practices.

A thought-provoking book of alleged utterances from late, great thinkers.