Program Title: “Born to Remember the Past, Present and Future.” Our May 16, 2026 program will feature a talk by Carole Louie, award-winning interior designer, medium, past life regressionist and author, on her upcoming
book of the same title as this talk.
In the early 1990s, a series of formative experiences—including communications with her late father, a Chinese Buddhist—led Carole Louie to recognize her abilities as a medium and to pursue reincarnation research. Born to a Southern Baptist mother and a Chinese Buddhist father, Carole discovered her destiny to bridge the past, present, and future. Carole will share her explorations on how memories of past lives have shaped and expanded her worldview. Carole has dedicated much of the last 35 years exploring and often verifying other lifetimes she/her soul has lived and acting as a facilitator for others to pursue similar interests, seeking through her work to explore the spiritual dimensions of consciousness and reincarnation.
In this talk Carole will focus on three verified past lives she has experienced as her own: that of Lei Jingxiu, a Chinese architect and ancestor; that of Marco Antonio de Dominius, a Catholic archbishop; and that of James, son
of Joseph, brother of Jesus. Carole will also share recent insights attributed to James, including experiences involving alternate realities and extraterrestrials. Although these three lives are historically and culturally distinct, Carole will offer insights how each past lifetime connects recurring themes that inform her current incarnation and broader understanding of consciousness, spiritual evolution, and how living in alignment with Source guides all of us on our sacred journeys through every lifetime.
Another not-to-be-missed program for all who can attend! See you there!
About Our Presenter: Carole Louie is an Author, award-winning Interior Designer, Feng Shui consultant, Soul Medium, Advanced Regression Therapist, Master Hypnotherapist, and founder and Director of THE CENTER-RVA. She is certified in Past Life Regression Therapy through The Weiss Institute and Carol Bowman’s Past Life Regression Training. Carole is a Certified Master Hypnotist through the HCH Institute and is a Quantum Consciousness Facilitator with the Institute of Quantum Consciousness. She is the author of “I Remember,” a short story featured in the anthology From Ashes to Healing: Mystical Encounters with the Holocaust (2000), edited by
Rabbi Yonasson Gershom. Her books include The Not-So-Secret Life of Emily Elizabeth (2009); Conversations with a Hungry Ghost: Memoir of a Reluctant Medium (2017); The Legacy of the Lei Family Architects Lives On: The Story of Yangshi Lei (2019); Unstuck in Time: Memoir of a Time Traveler (2022); and The Cosmology of Reincarnation & Rebirth: A Brief History of Reincarnation and the Evolution of Past Life Regression Therapy (2024). In 2019, Carole founded the Reincarnation Symposium, which led to the creation of
IARS, the International Association for Reincarnation Studies, to connect experiencers, researchers and practitioners in the field. Learn
more at carolelouie.net.
Where/When: In person and online, through ZOOM (Meeting ID: 865 1815 1952, Passcode: 142841) and in person at Unity of Richmond, 800 Blanton Avenue, Richmond, VA 23221, on Saturday, May 16, 2026, 10:00 a.m.
to 12:00 noon, with Potluck Lunch at conclusion.
About Central VA IONS Community Group: Central VA IONS Community Group is an unincorporated association and a local community group of The Institute of Noetic Sciences, an international association based in Novato, California (www.noetic.org). Central VA IONS is not associated with any religion, religious organization, doctrine or set of beliefs or practices and is open to all. Central VA IONS is entirely dependent upon voluntary donations of its members and friends to support its programs, mailings and other costs, and a love offering is requested at each meeting from those attending in-person or online. Central VA IONS meetings are held each month at
locations announced in its program notices and are open to all. Our website is at www.richmondions.orgUpcoming Meetings:
Upcoming Meetings:
June 20, 2026: Robert Berringer, President and CEO of The Electronic On-Ramp, Inc.
July 18, 2026: Jen Bushman, New Mexico based medical intuitive, channel and visionary.
August 15, 2026: Price Wood, “Things we don’t understand, things we cannot comprehend.”
September 12, 2026: Sandy Ward, Richmond area psychic medium.
October 17, 2026: Mattie Coll, Richmond area pet whisperer and medium.
What if one of the most powerful catalysts for human evolution has been hiding in plain sight—so familiar we’ve underestimated it? In this experiential presentation, Emmy Award-winning composer and filmmaker Gary Malkin draws from the core arc of his TEDx message and his forthcoming book, The Resonance Revolution, to explore music not as entertainment or mood enhancement, but as an underutilized human technology for state regulation, emotional range, and collective connection. Through guided demonstrations—spoken wisdom set to carefully composed music, immersive contemplative media, group alignment experiences, and practices that cultivate comfort with silence—participants will investigate how music can settle overstimulated cognition and create conditions in which the analytical mind and the heart’s discernment work in partnership rather than tension. At a deeper level, Gary’s inquiry will address a civilizational threshold, i.e., that we cannot sustain outer peace without cultivating inner peace, and inner peace remains elusive without developing grief and trauma literacy. In a world shaped by unprocessed loss, polarization and chronic overstimulation, music may offer a reliable pathway toward the emotional maturity required for unity consciousness—not as ideology, but as lived experience. This session invites the Richmond IONS community into a grounded exploration of music as a bridge between science and spirituality, regulation and reconciliation, personal coherence and collective transformation, and ultimately, toward a world that works because we have become mature enough to sustain it.
The tug-of-war between spirituality and materialism has been a central issue of Western philosophy for at least 2,500 years, since Socrates and Democritus or even earlier. More commonly referred to today as the mind-body problem (whether mind begets body or body begets mind), the way we choose to answer this question has enormous implications for us, both individually and collectively, on a multitude of levels. Our distinguished 30th anniversary guest speaker, Ed Kelly, has been studying unusual manifestations of consciousness, through the lens of psi phenomena, for nearly 54 years, and has been responsible for several of the most groundbreaking and scholarly works ever published on the subject.
Our December 13, 2025 program will feature a talk by Mary Ruberry, artist and author, on her book, Messages from The Tara. We know that we are beings of Light and Love, yet often we find ourselves engulfed in the 3-D world of distractions and busy-ness, and lose sight of our true nature. As we move into the New Golden Age, humans are transitioning away from leading with the rational mind and instead leading everyday life from the heart — or “heart mind.” Mary will discuss simple techniques for overcoming challenges to achieving a Pure Heart in the quest to live heart-led. She will also discuss what the great Tara has imparted in her divine messages to help us transform from outmoded paradigms and into enlightened patterns of thought that align with Nature. Some of the topics addressed by The Tara include: Free Will, Sadness/Depression, Unity Consciousness, Ego, Emotions, Patience, Time, Energy, and the Higher Self/Divine Will. She will also detail elements of the New Age that we are entering, and gives advice about how to navigate the changes. The Tara explains her inspiration as follows: “I am giving you these messages to help those who want to rise above the commonplace. There are luminous individuals who can make a significant difference in this present time. I want to reach those people as much as possible to: (1) encourage them on their path, in their leadership role, (2) show them clearly and simply how to peel away modern thinking and habits that hold them back, and (3) I want to spur them on to new patterns of thought, new ways of perceiving, new ways of leading, new practices to replace those that do not work.” The Tara’s insights are profound indeed and Mary is thrilled to have the opportunity to share some of her wisdom with you (from her book: Messages from The Tara: A Book of Wisdom for New-Age Leaders). She will have books to purchase if you are interested.
The Druze are a unique and deeply spiritual community whose roots trace back to 11th-century Egypt, yet whose cultural and metaphysical traditions remain largely hidden from public view. In this engaging and thought-provoking presentation, Khattar invites us into the heart of Druze identity—where culture, ethics, and the soul’s journey through multiple lifetimes are intimately intertwined. This talk will explore the foundational beliefs of the Druze faith, including its esoteric origins, its emphasis on unity and divine knowledge, and its strict tradition of spiritual secrecy. We’ll examine how Druze culture has preserved its distinct identity across centuries, despite political upheaval and geographic dispersion. At the center of the presentation is the Druze belief in reincarnation—known as taqammus—a concept that is not metaphorical but lived and accepted as fact within the community. Khattar will share compelling stories of Druze children who recall past lives with astonishing detail, and how these memories are investigated and often validated by elders. We’ll also compare Druze reincarnation with similar beliefs in Hinduism and Buddhism, and reflect on what these ideas suggest about consciousness, memory, and the continuity of the soul.
Nelson Marquina, MSc, PhD, DC, President, Founder and Chief Science Officer of Laser Biotech International.
If you were told you only have a few months left on earth, what would you do? What enormous decisions and intimate details would fill up your weeks, days, minutes, and seconds? Now, imagine if those final months belong not to you, but to the person you love most in the world. Susan’s life changed forever on the night of December 15, 2016 when her daughter Jessica was rushed to the Pediatric Emergency Room. The doctors feared it was appendicitis, a scary and potentially life- threatening condition. Within 24 hours that diagnosis would change to something no one ever could have imagined… Stage 4 colon cancer. Jessica had just turned 17. Jessica escaped her body, after a 17-month battle, on the day after her high school graduation, but the “everyday angels” who crossed their path throughout the journey, and the messages from Jessica after her “death” have been extraordinary. Winks from Heaven chronicles Susan’s journey after Jessica’s death, and the extraordinary stories of everyday angels who showed up to guide her path. Immediately, Susan began receiving heavenly “WINKS” of hope. But what began as a trickle exploded into a flood of communication–from strangers, sayings, symbols and signs with miraculous messages from beyond the veil—Message threads which knit her entire journey together and prove miracles can and do show up for ordinary people. And the most important message of all? LOVE NEVER DIES. Susan has collaborated with the Department of Perceptual Studies at the University of Virginia and has received endorsements and support from literary luminaries including Mitch Albom, Bob Goff, Bill Guggenheim, Dr. Eben Alexander and Dr. Bruce Greyson.
James G. (Jim) Matlock, Ph.D., North Carolina Research Fellow with the Parapsychology Foundation and author, on his book Signs of Reincarnation: Exploring Beliefs, Cases and Theory (2019), and on his current research projects in this field. In Signs of Reincarnation, Jim provides the first comprehensive look at the belief in reincarnation and the evidence for past lives from historical records, anthropological studies, and contemporary research. Jim will discuss various ways the evidence may be interpreted and show that although reincarnation entails a rejection of the materialist notion that consciousness is generated by thebrain, it does not require the acceptance of any radically new concepts or the abandonment of well- established findings in mainstream psychology or biology.Jim’s book offersstudents,scholars, and anyone interested in the possibility of reincarnation an essential grounding in beliefs, cases, and theory, while opening doors for future research into the extension of consciousness beyond our present lives.Beliefs in reincarnation are widespread across the world. Most Westerners know that Eastern religions like Hinduism and Buddhism teach reincarnation, but fewer realize that reincarnation is a tenet of several Shia Islamic sects, the ultra-Orthodox branch of Judaism, and many indigenous tribal societies. The details of the beliefs vary, but, interestingly, all are associated with the same set of signs, including memories of previous lives. Jim also will share with our group evidence of reincarnation from groundbreaking research he is conducting currently involving links between autism and past-life memories (“PLM”), describing two cases where PLM were displaced onto invisible companions. We are pleased to welcome Jim as our guest speaker.