The ‘meeting my husband’ story

This is one of those stories that has multiple moments that you could say were “the start”. We have “Start” numbers One, Two and Three.

Start One is past lives and thousands of lifetimes of learning and giving support to people. Mostly using healing and intuitive skills. There is Way too much of a story to tell here, about that. Just know that the healing and intuitive work we did had taken a ‘hot minute’ to learn and perfect.

 Start Two. Arniya age 3, (then called Jacqui) was sitting on the kitchen bench talking to her mum while mum peeled the potatoes for dinner. Arniya asked if her friend could come and play. Absentmindedly, her mother asked which friend? Arniya replied, “John”. “And how do you know John? Mum asked. Arniya’s reply made her mother both laugh and pay attention to her small child. Arniya said, “John? Oh, I know him from Waaay back.”

Arniya went on to recount a long story about another lifetime, living in a village in the jungle. She was giving a lot more detail than most people would expect from a 3-year-old. Mum had heard about past lives as a concept, but had never been sure about what to believe. At first, she asked questions to keep the child happy, but as more details started to come out, she started to realise that this was a true story. She asked about her life and what life had been like.
Arniya described the food and houses, how the village life worked, and the social structure of who did what for whom. She talked about her healing and mystical work as the village’s shaman. She told her mother about John and how he had been her guard and that they fell in love. “This was not a good thing then,” said Arniya, in a very serious tone. “Eventually, we were killed for that. But it’s ok, because he will find me this lifetime and we will move to Norska (childhood name for Scandinavia) and do the work we should have done then.” When Arniya saw the look on her mum’s face, she said, “Oh, don’t worry, mummy, we will come back home after a little while and be with you again, so it will be ok, ok?”

For years, John would visit Arniya, in spirit form. The Family referred to him as “John ‘from way back’ ,Arniya’s pretend friend”. This went on till well into her teen years. During this time, Arniya would often play with the twin boys who lived next door. If John visited, they would talk to him, as they would any other friend. Arniya met one of these boys years later, when John and Arniya were married. The boy recognised John and said he looked better with short hair. (they weren’t wrong)
I should explain that this alternative belief was not normal in the family.

The Third Start:

It started in 1993 at a woman’s meditation group in Wellington. An older woman approached Arniya and asked, “Are you pregnant?”. Arniya was, a little surprise by this comment said- “ahh no?” The woman went on to say “well if you’re not, be careful, because there is a baby in your energy fields and it would be very easy for you to get pregnant right now.” Arniya said ‘thank you’ for the information and went to get a cup of tea to wash this news down with. Arniya says she also made a mental note not to wear that top again and perhaps exercise more.

As she walked across the room, she was stopped by another woman. The second woman said, “I don’t mean to be rude but, are you pregnant?”, Arniya was dumbstruck by this repeat of the comment. Finally, she asked “Are you with the woman over there because she just asked me the same thing?” The second woman said, “No we’re not together, but she probably saw the same thing as I did. There is a baby in your energy fields and it would be very easy for you to get pregnant right now. If you’re not pregnant, and don’t want to be, be careful,” Arniya said “Ahh ….ok?” Heading for the door to get out of there a third woman stopped Arniya The third woman said “Hey, did you know there’s a baby in your energy fields? You should be careful, if you don’t want to be pregnant.” Arniya stared at her in stunned silence. After a moment, she said “Ah, Yeah thanks, I’ve heard. I have to go home now.” Arniya ran straight home and meditated with the baby. She explained to the baby that having a baby right now would be too difficult with everything else that she had planned for her life path. She also said she wouldn’t have a baby without the child’s father. The baby said “so all I have to do is find my father?” “Yes I guess so” said Arniya.

Arniya had told her mother about her Soul mate from the time she could talk, so aspects of who he was were already common knowledge. At three years old, Arniya had sat on the kitchen bench while her mother peeled the potatoes and explained that her husband was Scandinavian and was called John. She knew what their life together had been like in other life times and some of what it held for them this time around.

Two months after the meditation night, Arniya had a very vivid dream where “the baby” came back. This time she had ‘John Vestergaard’ with her. She said “I found dad! Let’s go!” Arniya told her that when she was older (much older), she and John would explain why both her parents had to be physically in the same place to help her to incarnate. Right now, it wasn’t going to happen. Not happy about this, the baby left Arniya and John alone to figure out some details.

John stepped forward and said “Hi, my name is John”. Arniya replied “Hi, I’m Arniya”. Between them, they decided that for them to recognise each other, something pretty amazing was going to have to happen. So still in the dream, they planned the day they would meet each other. Sitting on big arm chairs (after all, one should always dream in comfort!) with a movie screen in front of them, Arniya and John created a movie of the day they would meet.
They decided it should be on the shore of Lake Taupo at dusk. It had to be at a talk about Lemuria. There had to be specific people and crystals, a German Shepherd dog, and two ducks. John had to give Arniya a piece of peacock ore crystal and tell her he thought she was his Soul mate.

Arniya woke up from this dream thinking she must have eaten something strange before bed to have such a ‘full on, weird’ dream. She told her flatmates about it and was duly teased about having high expectations of men riding in and sweeping you off your feet.
After this, Arniya continued to have dreams where she and John would talk about their future life and past lives together. They went through all their healing lifetimes together and pulled out the ‘best bits’ to create the foundations of the healing Arniya does today. They planned their future and got to know each other.

Meanwhile, John was in Denmark, knowing what Arniya looked like, that she spoke English and feeling a pull to the southern hemisphere. He started to study English and knew he had to get to New Zealand somehow. Then he met some people who were running a tour group to NZ to meditate for the land. John was making the final decision to borrow the money needed for the trip to New Zealand.

In August 2000, Arniya returned to Wellington from an ‘O.E’ in England to be with her mum during a cancer journey. On the other side of the world, John got a phone call saying his loan to come to N.Z was being approved October came around and Arniya was having a bonfire with all her friends for her birthday. She stated to them all and the Creator that this was the year she was going to meet her soul mate. She told her friends about the dreams and what she had told her mum as a child. Her friends were sceptical. The Creator, however, knew that John was landing in New Zealand in a matter of weeks. On December 3rd 2000 Arniya had one of those rare moments of feeling compelled to go against plans and logic. She ‘knew’ she had to go to Taupo immediately. Before she knew it, she was driving, in a borrowed car, to Taupo for no reason other than “it felt right”.

On December 4th 2000, after seven years of dreaming together, they were going to meet. The whole way to Taupo the pull of the energy had been intense. Now she was at the Tauhara Retreat Centre in Taupo and there was nothing pulling Arniya anymore. She was starting to wonder why she was there, and if it had all been a dream, when a stranger poked her head into the room. The woman said “Hi, I’m the new manager here. I was wondering, would you like to go to a talk on Lemuria being given by a Danish woman? It’s happening down on the waterfront in about an hour.” Arniya thought ‘why not, I don’t know why else I felt so strongly pulled here and it’s something to do.’ 

As Arniya drove into the field, on the lake front, John and Arniya saw each other. John knew Arniya instantly. Arniya knew that she knew John from somewhere, but where? John was just too shy to go straight up and introduce himself. So he waited.

Unsure of whether she knew him from TV or if they had met somewhere before, Arniya talked to everyone else first, desperately hoping she would remember where she had seen him. Arniya was playing with the large German Shepherd dog when John finally approached her. He said “Hi, my name is John.” She said “Hi I’m Arniya”. Before anything more could be said, it was announced that the talk was about to begin. Arniya sat down. John fought with his shyness until his Guardians finally pushed him to sit next to Arniya. As he leant back (he claims accidentally) his hand landed on top of Arniya’s hand. In a bold move, he chose to leave it there.

Arniya says now that it was one of the strangest moments of her life. One side of her was wondering why this strange man was touching her hand. The other side of her could feel the energy emanating from John’s hand. The energy that matched the guy from her dreams! The realisation hit her hard and fast. She realised how much of the first dream had already played out. The people, the dog, the crystals in front of the speaker! She also realised that if the dreams were true she was about to be married to quite literally the man of her dreams and move to Denmark very soon after. While the rest of the dream played out in front of her, she also remembered all the plans they had made for their future.

The look of stunned amazement on her face was making it hard for John not to laugh. The two of them sat holding hands “listening” to the talk. Sitting together in that moment, complete strangers, and yet knowing each other in a deeper way than anyone else in their lives.

As if to complete the prophecy, two ducks glided down onto the nearby lake. The ducks swam up to the beach. Then with an air of authority in their waddle, they walked up and around the group. Circling three times and stopping just a meter away from Arniya and John. The ducks eyeballed the new couple. With a clear message of “Do you understand why we are here?”. When they were happy that John and Arniya had got the point, they waddled back into the water and disappeared.

After the talk, John walked Arniya back to her car. He reached into his pocket and produced a piece of peacock ore for Arniya. He said in a strong Danish accent, “I don’t know how to say this, but I think you are my Soul friend.” This was the second time in this journey when Arniya was stunned into silence. Anyone who knows her will tell you this is no mean feat.

After a moment of garbled, shock-infused jabbering, Arniya agreed. The two arranged to meet the next day and connect in a calmer mindset. Arniya had work commitments but eventually rejoined the tour group. Two weeks later they were back in Taupo. John got down on one knee and asked Arniya to marry him. They both knew that this was a very new relationship to be thinking of marriage, but neither could deny the signs and how right it felt when they were together. They were married on the 23rd of February 2001 and moved to Denmark 4 months after meeting.

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Many people read the above story at the time and loved the real-life fairy tale. However, in real life, the happily ever after isn’t always what you expect.

On returning to Denmark, John struggled with depression and disconnected from his friends. Arniya didn’t speak Danish so it was hard to get out and meet new people. After two years in Denmark, the couple moved back to New Zealand to care for Arniya’s mother as she went through the final year of her journey with cancer. John had changed. He had no interest in doing the Soul work they had planned. He became more and more introverted.

It was as if, as soon as he was loved and safe, all of his past demons had risen up to overwhelm him. The early neglect of a mother who was only 13 and didn’t know how to care for him. Then his first wife (in Denmark) had cheated on him, and it had left him hurt and unable to trust. To top it off, he received a serious head injury from being hit by a car. All of this and a language barrier made communication with strangers exhausting. Often, he would get halfway through a sentence and just give up speaking.
For years, both Arniya and John tried to heal John and to help him recover.

8 Years into the marriage, Arniya did a Soul-searching ritual to ask the Creator how she could support John to reclaim his Soul journey or some sort of life purpose. The shocking answer was made extremely clear. The choice was John’s and Johns alone. Either he walked the life path that the Creator had given him- to do the healing and intuitive work with Arniya - or, if he chose not to walk the life path, then he would walk his death path. Arniya was shown the death path ahead of him. A painful journey with rectal cancer. It was a horrible vision. She tried everything to get John to claim back his power.

John had already made his choice.

The baby came back into Arniya’s energy fields, but it became obvious that her needs were no longer going to be fulfilled by having John as a father. After the Soul contract with the baby was broken, John declined still further. In 2016, he was diagnosed with rectal cancer and died on the 8th of the 8th and 8:08 am.

Arniya took a few years ‘off’ to, as she says ‘eat, pray, love, finding Nemo’.

In the last few years, she has reclaimed the life path gifts that she had planned with John. She is using the past life tools that they studied together and refining them to be stronger and purer than she had planned. The true magic of that path is just starting to emerge, and it is wondrous to behold.

NB
When this story was published in the 2005 Rainbow News publication, the name used was Jacqui. We changed the name to Arniya to make it current. Arniya changed her name from Jacqueline Partridge to Arniya Heartford just after John Died. Arniya was the name that she had in the Jungle, and it felt more like her true name than Jacqui did.