A Contemporary Woman's Account of Her Intricate Angelic Experiences

In this blog article I'm presenting the transcript of my interview with the book publicist with whom I would later become briefly involved as a freelance public relations/ publicity writer in 1997.  After having published my autobiographical case study book Testament and meeting Tany, I eventually noticed some apparent potential links with goddess Inanna mythology.  Her last name incorporated the 'ana' letter sequence.  'Inanna'/'Inana' was a 'goddess' residing on Earth and involved with the 'god-king-priest Bel-Marduk' according to some wisdom tradition accounts that have been handed-down through scriptures and archaeological relics for untold generations.  

This article chronicles the first time that Tany and I socialized together at a restaurant and she described her angelic experiences.  During that time in my life (February 1997) I was engaged in informing other people about Testament through radio show interviews.  I'd distributed the paperback first edition to interview participants, etc., and my weekly schedule included volunteering as a Southern California HIV/AIDS Hotline call taker after learning about virology and public support services in a training class.  The Hotline staff newsletter included the column item "Mark Russell just had his book Testament published.  It is available at the Bodhi Tree Bookstore.  Congratulations, Mark!"  

 
 
February 14, 1997 interview from microcassette #183
 
Q: I have to get a costume to wear to the party tomorrow — an Egyptian costume, if possible.  So I'm going to call around about that.  And then I said, 'I have to call and speak to Tany at Rogers & Cowan who handles books.'  I've been meaning to do that.  I did and we're going to have lunch today.  Can you believe it?  This has got to be it (a stepping stone to publicizing the book).   So I'm making her a little presentation kit now.  She wants to do something already even though I think I said I couldn't afford her . . . 
 
Tany's office was full of clients' books and on the wall was a Manet museum print and a John Lennon "Imagine" poster with his quote "You may say I'm a dreamer but I'm not the only one."  Tany returned from the meeting as I was at the window pointing out to her assistant the skywriting of a heart shape that an airplane was making. 
 
Meeting Tany at the restaurant, I first showed her my new state-of-the-art microcassette tape recorder.  There is a background chatter ambiance as usual for restaurant interviews.  Although there are forms of EVP messages with distinct characteristics in regard to audibility, some EVP messages may have been mistaken for background conversation and thus ignored inappropriately.  The EVP words are capitalized and in parentheses as usual with these transcripts.

Q: ("YOU KNOW") . . . Reading up about Michael, some people have called Him 'The Holy Ghost.'  Then He would be in everyone's life if that were the case.

T: He's always been in my life and I'm grateful to him for it.  And He's my dearest friend.

Q: Oh I mean the Spirit now.

T: Okay well —

Q: ("YOUR BRO") My brother?  Oh that's nice.

T: He's a sweetheart.

Q: ("EVERY") Everyone loves Michael.

T: ("HE'S A") He is the best.  He is the best.  But, anyway, here's the story that happened.  Some time ago I went to see a friend.  And on my way over to see her — I just called her.  She has two lines.  I called her on one line—her direct line where she normally picks up the phone—to say, you know, "I'm on my way."  She didn't pick up her direct line so I called her voicemail line.  ("WE'RE")  There are two separate phone numbers.  So obviously one number would've cancelled out the other number.  ("YOU'LL")  This will all make sense when I get to the punch line.  So I finally get to her.  And we're sitting here.  We're chatting.  We're talking.  We're doing whatever.  And all of a sudden her phone rang.  And she just has it ring and ring and ring.  I said, "Aren't you going to pick up your phone?"  She goes, "Oh no, I'm not worried about it.  I got 'star 69.'"  ("I")  You know, that's the call return —

Q: Right.

T: ("SO") you know how that works.  Hit star 69 and you get your call back so you don't have to worry about the phone and somebody not leaving a message.  So, anyway, so she goes back — you know, the phone stopped ringing.  She goes back to her phone.  Nobody — well obviously — because she — they called her on her direct line where there is no voicemail.  So she went back to that line.  She hit star 69.  And she had it on 'speakerphone.'  And what do I hear?  It's my voicemail at home.  My machine.  And I said, "Are you calling me?"  She goes, "No, I'm calling star 69."  And, you know, I said, "That's me.  That's my voice."  She goes, "That couldn't be because you're over here.  How did you make that call?"  I said, "Exactly."  Now we're getting into this — you know, this funny business.  And she goes, "Well that couldn't be because" you know.  She goes, "The only way that would have happened if maybe your cats hit" — because I have two cats at home and they're always playing around the phone and the answering machine — "They probably hit the ("THE RE") redial button. I said —"

Q: Is one of them black?

T: No.

Q: Oh.

T: No.  They're gorgeous.

Q: All my friends have black cats.

T: Oh.  Lovely.  Anyway —

Q: Or is this one white?

T: Gray.  They're both gray.  They're sweetie-pies.  Michael has seen them.  And — ("LO[VE]") so, anyway, she goes, "Well then they probably just jumped on the redial button."  I said, "I don't have a redial button."  She goes, "Well the only way that this could have happened is, you know, if you had somebody there."  She didn't feel that was it.

Q: But Michael said to me — he said that —

T: Did Michael tell you about this?

Q: He mentioned something like 'something weird going on' and he said you had the idea that something was trying to communicate with you.

T: Exactly.

Q: ("AND HH" "WILL")  How did that ("WE") — what impression — I mean what led you to that?

T: So, anyway, so that was one instance.  Okay?  ("I — I")  When you can't figure ([DIFFERENT EVP VOICE] "I") something out you kind of let it go and you move on with your life.  Anyway, so sure enough — so that was one night.  The next night I went to see the movie "Michael" of all things — okay?  Now it gets interesting.   I'm sitting there watching this angel movie.  'Oh my God' — because I couldn't let go what happened the night before.  ("I" "I WAS")  You know I was — I was trying to figure out how did that happen?  And I thought you know what, even if I did have a redial button there's no way that the redial would have been the (or "THE") — her direct number ("BELL") because remember I called two numbers.  And the fr[iend] — You know what I mean?

Q: You don't have to convince me.

T: Okay, good.  Okay, you know.

Q: (laughs)  Not after all I've been through.

T: Yes.  ("I")  So I'm watching "Michael" and like a bolt of lightning as I'm sitting there in the theater it just dawned on me — wait a minute.  What if it's an angel?   And it just hit me ("LIKE") — you know what?  It wasn't even a question any more.  I knew it had to be an angel.

Q: See, that's another thing I'm revealing in my book is that these leaps in consciousness also are a gift from God actually.  Our whole — when we have these moments of consciousness.  ("BA")  They too are a gift.

T: Really.  It just —

Q: Because why else would you have had that leap — ("OF") intuition?

T: 'Wait a minute.'  Yes.  It just hit me.

Q: Right.  ("C" or "SEE")

T: It came out of left field.  I didn't see it coming.

Q: That's what happened to me.  ("TIMID" "BUT")

T: But I didn't even question — 'Nah, it couldn't have been that.'  It was almost like that was a firm belief in my mind.  So of course I came home vehemently after the theater and I just swung open the door.  I felt like such a fool — [it] was like I was ready to deal with it.  But of course me I'm the biggest chicken . . . I was like you know really anxiety-stricken.  And, anyways, nothing happened.  I ended up sleeping, you know, that night not in my bedroom.  I slept on the floor of the living room because I was ("YOU KNOW") scared — with all the lights on.  I flooded the house.

Q: No.

T: Left the TV going.  The whole nine yards.

Q: Oh my gosh.

T: So — but that was — okay so that was one night.  Then the next day — you know it's work and I'm at the office.  And I'm coming home.  And I get the mail in my, you know, my regular mailbox.  And one of the things I get in the mail is this postcard.  It's just a regular flyer — something about blue angel.  And I thought, 'Nah, it's just, you know, just a coincidence.'  ("I")  So I threw all my mail on the bed and I left the bedroom for a second.  I came back in and guess what was on the floor.  My blue angel postcard just on the floor.  ("IT'S LIKE")  Out of all the mail that could have fallen on the floor, why just this one piece?  Okay?  So I thought, 'Okay, somebody's trying to tell me something.  Let's let it alone at that.'  Then later on — now the week is going on.  ("RIGHT")

Q: Michael has done that with me before too.

T: Huh?  Okay.  ("BUT YOU")

Q: Postcards.

T: ("OKAY")  You see what I mean?  And — and at this point I'm still anxiety-stricken.  I'm still not — barely sleeping in my bedroom.  I'm sleeping with all the lights flooding the apartment — ("THE") the noise going on.  Because I didn't want to be in the vibration of the quiet.  You know what I mean?

Q: ("YEAH" "WELL")  You didn't know how sweet 'He' [God] was or you wouldn't —

T: I mean you know.  I knew it was an angel but still I didn't want to deal with the confrontation.  I was talking to a girlfriend.  She goes, "Yeah but" — she goes, "You heard about the angel Gabriel?  Even in the Bible it says 'Fear me not.'"  And really ("UM-HUH") — but, you know — but of course ("I'M") because they're coming from a different plane it's scary stuff.  ("VIOLENT")  It's different.  ("CRY")  It's a different business.  ("BUT")

Q: Right.

T: So sure enough I, you know, kind of let it go.  The rest of the week I went on.  All week everything was normal at work.  And then by the time I was heading home I was always going through anxiety attacks, going 'I —' ("GOT TO" "YOU KNOW") it wasn't like going home to my home anymore.  It was like I was sharing it with somebody I didn't even know.  So sure enough — ("YOU WERE" "COPY LAW") um — ("BUT YOU") oh.  So one morning — ("AGAIN" "YOU KNOW") I had this dining table set.  Just like ("KI[ND]" — better than this obviously.  ("BUT")  Something with four chairs and on one chair of these four chairs I always put a blanket on it.  And me, I'm very methodical about everything in every place and every place for everything — you know, that type of thing?  I'm crazy that way.  I'm very systematic.  You know what I mean?  I had this blanket on the same chair for the longest time.  And then one day I came into my dining area and ("THE CHAIR") the blanket was on the wrong chair.  I mean it's know big deal when you think — but I knew ("RIGH[T]") because I'm so anal about these things ("I") 'wait a minute.'  So I let it — I let it go.  And then I went on with my merry day.  I went to the office.  But as I got in the car that morning to start the ignition to go to work that morning — this is on a Friday now.  This is the culmination of the whole week that started one weekend at my friend and now I'm on the end of that week getting ready to enter ("TRY") the next weekend.  ("CHAIN")  I get in my car and, Mark, you're not going to believe what happened.

Q: I believe it.  Is it a . . . ("STORE")  Yeah.

T: I get in my car.  And I turn on the ignition.  And I'm sandwiched between two parked cars.  We're all parked on the ("RIGHT" "YOU KNOW") street.  A residential street.  Apartment buildings and stuff.  What do I see?  A license plate.  And you know what the license plate said?  Guess.

Q: Angel?

T: Close.  "Treat me like an angel and I'll take you to Heaven."  In other words, stop running away from me.

Q: Exactly.

T: Right?

Q: ("BUT SEE")  Now —

T: 'Accept me.'

Q: Right.

T: At that point I just burst out in tears on my way to the office at this point.  And I just finally broke out and I ("YOU KNOW") you know in a prayer request to God just basically said, ("OK" "NOTHING") 'I know something's going on.  Somebody's trying to give me a message.   I'm ready to accept it now because I'm not going to run . . .'

Q: He wants you to help me with my book.

T: You think so?  I don't know.

Q: Definitely.

T: But anyway so I kind of put out this prayer.  ("GO")  And then that was on Friday morning going to work.  And then the next day I felt kind of relieved going home.  I was okay about it because I felt, 'Listen, let's do a formal introduction ("YOU KNOW") but just do it easy.  And do it in broad daylight so I can handle' — I mean I was getting silly about it.  ("I")

Q: Well it's much more far-ranging than you think.  In terms of the synch — you're very good at finding synchronicity.

T: Yes.

As we spoke a while longer, at one point Tany commented: "This is how we're having lunch today.  There are no mistakes."   When I mentioned her resemblance to the actress Diane Keaton, she responded, "I get that all the time.  I don't get it."  Tany always dressed fashionably and today was wearing what is called a 'choker scarf.'
 
On the following night, a Saturday, I went to the party that Mike's partner Steve had arranged to celebrate the publication of Testament.  Party attendees included my book attorney Jonathan Handel, my neighbor Andy and longtime friends Fiona, James and Marie.
 
Just before giving my brief lecture, I had a few second thoughts about the costume I'd thrown together when there was nothing Egyptian available at the costume rental store.  I'd decided to engage in this planned interlude because of the discomfort so often being expressed when I spoke about my paranormal experiences.  This would be a way to encourage them to listen to me without the usual social consciousness considerations and accompanying lack of enthusiasm for the path I'd chosen in life.  I thought it essential to get everybody to sit still and prepare themselves to focus on what I would say so some selected songs played prior to my beginning the lecture such as "Breakfast at Tiffany's" and "Gods of Aquarius".
 
Tany and I thereafter would share a meal at the nearby Century City restaurant Dive!, a restaurant with an exterior design incorporating a yellow submarine reminiscent of the one seen in a 1968 animated feature film with songs by The Beatles.

During our lunch at Dive! restaurant, at one moment a French fry dropped on the table between us — an unusually blatant anomalous manifestation when another person was with me.   Soon after that—during my stint as a freelance publicity writer helping the publicist with her new independent company enterprise—I was privileged to have the chance of interviewing several of her author clients.  Upon pondering what long-term employment opportunities to consider for myself, I soon decided to restrict all of my public relations/publicity efforts solely to fulfilling my fundamental personal goal of informing the public about Testament.
 
The gamut of paranormal manifestations in my life as chronicled in my online case study book and autobiographical blog articles includes a diverse variety of synchronicity 'messages' and 'signals' sometimes involving symbols and metaphors.  Personally, I'd read a few of the extant Inanna mythology tales yet to this day I'm not certain how any of this might be interpreted in relation to my acquaintance with Tany beyond providing a subtle reminder that each human being represents a 'consciousness unit' reflecting a Divine 'All That Is' and it is always important that our decisions in life reflect this blessed awareness.  At the time of my involvement with her, some introspection was due to two incidents in close proximity where I'd nearly been severely injured in what is usually referred to as 'chance occurrences.'  The first one had occurred at the building of the public relations firm where we first met.  I was on the stairwell of the parking garage when workmen were transporting what could have been a dangerously protruding large metal pole that I had to avoid by moving out of the way.  The second 'near-accident' occurred on the Santa Monica Freeway.  Fortunately, I'd been able to barely avoid a collision by swerving my car into another lane during my drive home.  The two incidents heightened my nervousness about the potential of there being some current metaphorical parallel to the extant Inanna underworld descent myth as it is known today.  This is how the current synopsis of the myth synopsis begins at brittania.com —

A similar, very complex myth, "Inanna's Descent," relates how the goddess Inanna (Lady of the Date Clusters) set her heart on ruling the netherworld and tried to depose her older sister, the queen of the netherworld, Ereshkigal (Lady of the Great Place).  Her attempt failed, and she was killed and changed into a piece of rotting meat in the netherworld.  It took all the ingenuity of Enki (Lord of Sweet Waters in the Earth) to bring Inanna back to life, and even then she was released only on condition that she furnish a substitute to take her place . . .

At the time of my brief involvement with the book publicist, I decided that it would be best for me to fulfill my need for finding a new source of monetary income without any shareholder corporation or 'publicist' affiliations as had constituted my past employment in recent years.  I didn't want there to be any potential 'conflict of interest' to my new work as metaphysical author.  Throughout the years since 1997, there have been a couple automotive accidents and these incidents made it more obvious than ever how such occurrences can happen to any person at any moment by mere 'chance,' potentially due to some slight momentary distraction for a driver or simply finding oneself 'in the wrong place at the wrong time.' 

 other images in the Dive! restaurant video

(click on montage for a magnified view)