{"id":387,"date":"2024-11-04T12:33:20","date_gmt":"2024-11-04T12:33:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mylisteningheart.org\/?post_type=episode_posts&p=387"},"modified":"2024-11-04T12:33:20","modified_gmt":"2024-11-04T12:33:20","slug":"episode-10-roma","status":"publish","type":"episode_posts","link":"https:\/\/mylisteningheart.org\/?episode_posts=episode-10-roma","title":{"rendered":"Episode 10: Roma"},"content":{"rendered":"

Roma\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/h4>\n

It was a long hot summer in Europe during 2005. There was a heatwave \u2013 a canicule<\/em> in France \u2013\u00a0 as the meteo <\/em>showed a huge orange\/red cloud hanging over most of the country night after night with no respite in sight.\u00a0 Temperatures never dropped below 25 degrees at night and hovered in the 40s during the day, and thousands of people died from dehydration. Those who could, including me, stayed close to the lake under the shade of trees only returning home to hot apartments after sunset.<\/p>\n

All the windows were open in my third-floor loft apartment and as the slightly cooler air would filter in from the lake and begin to circulate, I would play my piano.\u00a0 The music flowed softly out across the rooftops and into open windows like a healing balm for the flushed and flustered inhabitants of the quartier<\/em>.\u00a0 I had been asked to keep my windows open when I played; it was calming, helped frayed nerves and eased them into fitful sleep.\u00a0 I could not sleep much during this time and often drifted across to the piano late at night and allowed the music to flow as it chose.<\/p>\n

I made no plans to travel anywhere apart from a couple of work trips to Central Europe, which was surprisingly cooler than the heatwave which stuck over France.\u00a0 In early September, however, there was a change. Beth\u2019s daughter cancelled a family weekend trip to Rome, having found out she was pregnant, and Beth suggested I went instead.\u00a0 A few days before our departure, Beth was wracked with coughing. I felt we should cancel, but she was adamant.\u00a0 We had to go, I had to go,\u00a0 and she had to accompany me.<\/p>\n

An extraordinary amethyst crystal pendulum had been brought to her from a\u00a0 healer in Brazil known as John of God\u00a0 (Juao de Brezil),\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 and she was in communication with this crystal about the trip and other important events at the time.\u00a0 Very clear messages were being transmitted and received.\u00a0 She did not know why exactly, but we had to go to Rome.\u00a0 I had to go to Rome. No question about it.<\/p>\n

Our EasyJet flight from Geneva was booked for Friday evening and we checked in after a light meal. This was the weekend of September 11, with the disaster of 9\/11 of five years before still present in most people\u2019s memories.\u00a0 There was a delay.\u00a0 Technical\u00a0 reasons, we were told.\u00a0 We chatted to Kristin, a young woman from East Germany and waited patiently.\u00a0 Beth was really coughing and when the flight scheduled for midnight,\u00a0 was cancelled, I again suggested we forego the trip. The flight was rescheduled for the following day, and still she refused.<\/p>\n

We collected Beth\u2019s car from the parking garage and invited Kristin to come home with us, rather than spend a night at the airport.\u00a0 I drove us back to Thonon-les-Bains.\u00a0 We pulled out bedding and mattresses and slept, not in a hotel room in Rome, but at Lac Leman.\u00a0 The next morning after coffee and croissants up in the little town, Kristin and I walked and explored leaving Beth to rest and recuperate.\u00a0 We had a glorious and unexpected day, and by showing my young visitor around this mediaeval village where I had lived for seven years, I rediscovered its charm, quaint passages and surprises.\u00a0 We walked along the lake where we swam and had a lovely gentle time.<\/p>\n

Beth in the meantime was dealing with our travel arrangements. We were still leaving \u2018that evening\u2019 and would arrive in Rome around 10pm. One other unexpected thing happened on this unplanned day in Thonon.\u00a0 My friend Katherin, who had lived and worked in Rome for many years, popped in and gave me two instructions about \u2018not to be missed\u2019\u00a0 experiences in Rome, even though the time would now be very short.\u00a0 She wrote down:\u00a0 Tres Amicis <\/em>\u00a0a trattoria and its address, and a nearby Biblioteca \u2013\u2018Magica\u2019<\/em> no address, where she had visited a fascinating exhibition on esoterica some years ago. We were not to miss this little library.<\/p>\n

We would not have much time in Rome, arriving at our hotel at almost midnight.\u00a0 We would have Sunday and Monday, catching\u00a0 the return flight to Geneva in the evening. We parted from Kristin who met up with friends, and we were able to get a meal across the street from our hotel, even at that time\u00a0 \u2013 and then tried to get some sleep. Despite ear plugs, I was acutely aware of the coughing across the room.<\/p>\n

The next morning over breakfast, we looked at my guidebook on Rome and at each other and surrendered to whatever would unfold.\u00a0 It was Sunday September 11 and there was a police presence and many tourists around at this lovely time in Rome. We set out.\u00a0 Now, of course in 1968\/9 I had spent at least two months in Rome, turning eighteen in the city and so had some memory of the layout and major landmarks.\u00a0 I had been traveling with the professor of architecture and a group of art and architectural students \u00a0and we had visited Italy for a period of four months over that time. I was easily able to guide us through the streets that Sunday morning.<\/p>\n

But at some stage, I was aware of a different feeling taking hold of me.\u00a0 More of a clarity, a knowing.\u00a0 I began to move with a sense of inner direction, of familiarity.\u00a0 There was purpose in the way I started to turn down cobbled streets, off the main route.\u00a0 I knew exactly where I was going, where I was guiding Beth.\u00a0 I was looking for a particular place.\u00a0 But what?\u00a0 I felt that I would know it when I saw it.\u00a0 And then, turning a corner into a small piazza, there was an unimposing entrance to a church and this was where I stopped.\u00a0 Looking up at the name on the edifice as we stepped through the portal.\u00a0 \u2018Santa Maria Sopra Minerva\u2019.\u00a0 Yes, this is it.\u00a0 This is my church.<\/p>\n

I strode down the aisle on the right-hand side of the church, which was empty apart from a handful of tourists admiring the beautiful blue mosaics in the ceiling vaults and pillars.\u00a0 I motioned to Beth.. \u2018Here it is\u00a0 \u2013 here is my organ\u2019, waving at an empty space next to the pillar looking up.\u00a0 \u2018This is where I play the organ\u2019, I said with total conviction.<\/p>\n

Beth nodded \u2018OK\u2019.\u00a0 So, this was why I needed to come to Rome.\u00a0 I have had another life here, a life which it is important for me to know something about now.<\/p>\n

And so we got to work.\u00a0 I found a number of other churches and chapels in the vicinity which resonated in the same way with me, but clearly Santa Maria Sopra Minerva was my favourite.<\/p>\n

This was a breathtaking experience as we scooted around, darting in and out \u2013\u00a0\u00a0 and then it was definitely time to eat.\u00a0 Sunday lunch in Rome and in one of the cool shaded alleyways there was a small trattoria with two small tables placed outside on the street.\u00a0 The wooden sign arched above the doorway said Trattoria d\u2019ai <\/em>Tre Amicis<\/em> al Pantheon<\/em>.\u00a0 <\/em>Without too much trouble, we had found the restaurant Katherin had instructed us to find. The trattoria had been around for a long time, perhaps in the family for several generations, and it felt like I had been there before many times.\u00a0 We had a long leisurely lunch and then returned to the hotel for a siesta.<\/p>\n

On the way back, we checked up and down one or two side streets to see if we could see the library, aware that it would be closed in any event.\u00a0 Nothing suggested itself as an entrance to a biblioteca,<\/em> and we went to digest and integrate this experience.\u00a0 That evening, the information of my past life became more defined as we focused.\u00a0 I had a list of all the churches and chapels in this area, with which I had had some connection.\u00a0 Apparently, my life was that of a musician.\u00a0 Not a famous personage but yes, a composer, and I performed and worked in these venues we had accessed today.\u00a0 I had lived a long life in the 18th or 19th century.<\/p>\n

I do not recall now, what I was feeling that night as I tried to get some sleep in Rome with its street life that does not cease. There was a sense of needing to find out as much as possible!\u00a0 We had one more day and I had many questions.<\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An extraordinary visit to Rome in September 2005, with my friend Beth. Receiving guidance on a previous life in Rome.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":388,"template":"","categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-387","episode_posts","type-episode_posts","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-part-2-music-and-my-soul"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mylisteningheart.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/episode_posts\/387","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mylisteningheart.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/episode_posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mylisteningheart.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/episode_posts"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mylisteningheart.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/388"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mylisteningheart.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=387"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mylisteningheart.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=387"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mylisteningheart.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=387"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}