Historical Background
The events described here are true. If I could make up such a story, I’d be a movie script writer.All quotes of “Serena” and others at meetings are verbatim from transcripts of recordings made at the time.Serena was considered by many, including myself, to be a "Jesus-like" messenger from God, an Avatar.
(An Avatar, as the term is used here, is spiritual being temporarily occupying a mortal body, while at the same time totally in contact with God the Supreme Being. The Avatar comes with a mission.)
This was her explicit claim. When asked if she was Jesus, she said: “No, but we come from the same family.
She was certainly unique. The body was that of an 18-year old high-school dropout. After the arrival of the Avatar, she spoke with such wisdom, clarity, love and humor, that even those who initially came to scoff and debunk became followers. Sometimes she sounded like Jesus, sometimes like Buddha, sometimes like Groucho.
This was the first meeting I attended. I'm the guy with the beard and glasses sitting at her feet grinning at camera. My wife, who transcribed most of these meetings is sitting on couch at right, also smiling at camera.
The Avatar arrived on Halloween night in 1974. She (it?) left at the end of 1975, or early 1976. “The other girl” as Serena referred to the personality of the body that was borrowed for that time, returned. As I understand it, she had no memory of the time she was gone or the people she met during that period. I have no knowledge of her present whereabouts.
The meetings started in Jan. 1975, with small groups in a mobile home on the commune where she “landed”. The group rapidly enlarged and moved to larger spaces in the homes of her followers. Soon, we rented a meeting hall in downtown Hendersonville, NC. (The Woodmen of the World owned it, and over the door were the letters W.O.W. Wow, indeed!) Meetings were each Friday night at 7:30 pm., and before long we were filling the hall with a hundred or more. The last meeting there was May 16, 1975. (She announced at Meeting 19 that she had received guidance that this was to be the last such public meeting.) There were no more large public meetings. The only public meeting held elsewhere and advertised in advance was Meeting 16 at Clemson University.
Many transcripts and tapes of the Serena meetings wound up in my care when Serena left us at the end of 1975. (My wife did most of the transcriptions and got carbon copies of her work.) Large 3-ring binders and racks of cassette tapes, recorded on Walkman quality devices, occupied my basement for many years. "The Serena Archives".
Sometime in the 1990's when the technology became available, I scanned the typewritten transcripts and converted the images to digital text files. These then required much editing/cleanup. The bulk of this book is the result. There is still much editing needed, as well as annotation. (For instance, it would be interesting to compile everything she said about such subjects as re-incarnation, the evolution of the soul, the Garden of Eden, life on other planets, and in other dimensions...to name a few.)
I solicit the help of interested readers. This “GITBOOK” permits user markup. I hope discussion groups will form around this material. This is a work in progress.
In about 2004, out of the blue, I was approached by a young woman who asked if I had known Serena. Her mother had been a follower. I said yes and told her of the Archives. She let me know that she was an audio engineer and volunteered to convert the cassette tapes to digital audio CD's. (What a coincidence!) Those CD's have been cleaned up and the files will be made available elsewhere on the internet. Her voice and delivery were unique. The accent was unidentifiable but exotic. My wife, when transcribing the material was amazed at her effortless, flowing speech. Never a hesitation, or backing up to rephrase something. It always came out smoothly. This was especially surprising, since she never had notes and was almost always speaking in response to questions from the group surrounding her.
I hope the reader will listen to some of them. Then, when reading some of her discourses in this book, you may "hear" her.
It is recommended that new readers read Meeting 16 First.
Note: When reading or listening to these meetings, please be patient and persist. These meeting transcriptions sometimes go for a while with side conversations amongst the audience members. Then, Serena will be asked a question...the answer may come in the form of an aphorism, or a parable, or a discourse on some subject such as the nature of the soul.Your patience will be rewarded.
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