Death: The Beginning [Paperback]

Tatiana Elmanovich (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 15, 1999

This New Age book is about soul searching, communication with the dead and survival in this life and the next. The title "Death the Beginning." refers both to the death of author's persona as a film critic from the former Soviet republic of Estonia and to the survival of human awareness after bodily death. One day the author, a film critic, found her adopted son, a student of the Art Institute, and herself on a political hit list. Her escape to America and struggles to begin a new life led to her search for spirituality, spontaneous past-life recollections and communication with the spirit world. In Part One, "The Path," the author tells the dramatic story of her escape. In 1989 she and her son arrived in the United States without language, money or friends to help them. The mounting problems of life in exile launched the author's search for answers. She met the American psychics and mediums James Van Praagh and Brian E. Hurst, which led to the elicitation of her own channel of spirit communication.

Part Two, "The Conversations," contains direct dialogue with the spirit world. It gives marvelous pictures of life on the higher dimension, but also about the limbo condition, hell (lower worlds) and paradise (higher worlds), and the rescue of "stuck" souls who could not find their way to the light. The spirit people tell us about their death experiences, their reunions, work, creativity in the next world, and worries for the loved ones they left behind on earth. Most importantly, they tell about the heightened feeling of God, which they found after the transition. They validate a positive attitude toward difficulties on earth and describe graphically the effect of negative thoughts, deeds and emotions on an entity's life in the next world. Spirits confirm that our destiny is not written in stone and that we can better our future both on earth and in heaven.

This book offers a positive message to everyone, but especially to those who have to start their life over again, whatever the reason may be-divorce, the death of a spouse, layoff, loss of career, early retirement, bankruptcy, sickness, catastrophe, loss of home, exile-that causes our brush with destiny.

Editorial Reviews

Review

An awe-inspiring book. Once I'd read it, it took away my fear of dying. I never thought it possible. I was wrong. Read "Death the Beginning" and be; changed, cherished, comforted, touched, but most of all, more fully yourself. -- Midwest Book Review, November 1999

As if taken from a 1950s Russian spy novel, this book is more than a personal account of triumph over oppression. Its stories from spirit world challenge common beliefs about destiny. We have to learn to rise above it; otherwise our stay here on earth would not make any sense, says Elmanovich -- Whole Life Times, February 2000

Coincidence or karmic connections? Tatiana weaves a rich tapestry of personal vignettes that convincingly demonstrate the spiritual nature of all of human experience. From chance meetings on the street to lucky mishaps at the border, she relates stories that blend together to create a tale of a life spent in search of truth. At once personal and universal, "Death the Beginning" leaves the reader confident that life is purposeful and good. -- Alice Roberts, Ph.D. Counseling Psychologist

It is a fascinating exploration of the Other Side. The clue for taking this path is passion -- passion for the unknown, passion for solving the riddles of existence, and passion for understanding spiritual evolution. Tatiana Elmanovich is a passionate author. -- Dell Horoscope, November 1999

Tatiana Elmanovich tells a totally captivating story of her escape from tyranny, death threats and the oppression of Communist rule. A friend of leading writers and filmmakers in Eastern Europe, this celebrated Estonian film critic startles the reader by her vivid pictorial description of her battles with the unconscious, her memories of past lives and her understanding of the need for forgiveness. Seeking political asylum in the United States was no guarantee of an easier destiny, and Tatiana and her adopted son, Vladimir, bravely overcame numerous obstacles of language, culture and poverty.

Upon her discovery of the reality of communication with the spirit world through observing the TV personality James Van Praagh, and later having private sittings with myself, Tatiana felt compelled to incorporate Spiritualism into her philosophy. With incisive honesty she documents the evidence she received of survival beyond death, and leads the reader to a deeper understanding of spiritual intervention and how her own "angels from Estonia" played a key role in her escape to the New World of freedom and opportunity. This is an astonishing first book in English by a dedicated and courageous woman. -- Brian Edward Hurst, Professional Spiritual Counselor and Medium

From the Publisher

Tatiana Elmanovich, writer and film critic, has had hundreds of film reviews published in her native Estonia, previously part of the Soviet Union. Her previous books are The Mirror of Time: Films by Andrei Tarkovski (in Estonian), The Image of Fact (in Russian) and others. Death the Beginning is her first book in English. Beyond its metaphysical content, the author's story of escape contains information about political oppression in the former Soviet Union that is almost unknown by the rest of the world. In the United States, the pressure of daily circumstances launched her search for answers. Spontaneous past-life recollections, sessions and meetings with famous mediums James Van Praagh and Brian E. Hurst, changed her perspective of life and opened her own fascinating conversations with the spirit world produced meaningful messages about connections between the two worlds and the purpose of our existence.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 296 pages
• Publisher: Tanika Books (April 15, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0965572706
• ISBN-13: 978-0965572705
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.4 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,884,502 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Gives a believable glimpse of life after death.., November 5, 1999

By 

Maryanne Raphael ([e-mail]) (Encinitas, California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Death: The Beginning (Paperback)

DEATH, THE BEGINNING is an exciting book that is hard to put aside. It gives an intimate picture of life in Russia and Estonia behind the iron curtain. But it goes even further and gives us a believable glimpse of life after death behind the shadowy curtain that supposedly separates the living from the dead. According to author Tatiania, this curtain is much easier to penetrate than was the Berlin wall. Tantiana was an Estonian film critic who found herself and her adopted son being hunted down by the KGB. She watched famous filmmakers and critics being gunned down, poisoned, run over. She and her son managed to escape to the USA. While still in Estonia, Tatiana had some "psychic" experiences, communicating with the dead, seeing flashes of past lives." Now she began to have indepth interviews with dead Russian and Estonian filmmakers. They give us an unforgetable picture of the artists' lives and often tragic deaths under Communism and their new life in the beyond. No matter what politics or religion a reader has, I believe he or she will find this book unforgetable. Reviewed by Maryanne Raphael, Writers World

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the finest books available!, April 2, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Death: The Beginning (Paperback)

Up until ten years ago, author, film critic, film researcher, astrologer and psychic Tatiana Elmanovich led a successful life in her native Estonia. Then, Estonia was a part of the Soviet Union and Tatiana was receiving death threats. Why? Who knows why anything happened in the USSR.

Not unlike Voltaire's Candide (who ran from the castle), Tatiana and her adopted son fled to the United States, without funds or friends or language capability...and once successful Tatiana found herself at retirement age needing to start all over again. In her new world of anguish, poverty and fear, Tatiana Elmanovich began the spontaneous past life regressions which put meaning back into her life, and saved her. Death the Beginning is her brilliant story...and her dialogues with the spirit world.

These conversations paint a wonderful picture of life in the higher, dimension. The spirits tell of their death experiences as well as their reunions and work in the spirit world. We meet victims of Stalin's Red Terror, soldiers of WWII, a Russian priest, KGB spy...and a host of others, all with unforgettable stories. These visions tell of a closeness to God not before experienced in life, and a realization of the difficulties and negative thoughts that were part of their life on Earth.

And so, in the final analysis, Death the Beginning is a book of hope...a positive message of enablement for all of us suffering from divorce, layoffs, bankruptcy, sickness...any of our worst nightmares. Who could better write this book than Tatiana Elmanovich? After all, she lived it...and has spoken to many in the spirit world who did, too.

Tatiana writes, "This time I am ready to take the chance, casting aside earthly worries of competition, money and career. I will take my chance. And once you know that, everything is changed". Now you know why this reviewer so highly recommends Death the Beginning!

Richard Fuller Senior Editor

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars excellent book, October 16, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Death: The Beginning (Paperback)

I and my family escaped from Estonia to America during WWII, and this was why Death the Beginning meant so much to me. It vividly portrays the experience of people who have to start over. The book is well written and interesting to read. I liked the author's sense of humour. It is factual and gives you thoughts about afterlife. It is a fascinating book, because it feeds your imagination and soothes your fear of death. After my mother died, she found a way to contact and comfort me, but I was afraid to talk about it. I thought, maybe it was the pressure of a refugee that made me see things that I was not supposed to see. In Death the Beginning I learned that I wasn't alone and similar experiences have happened to other people as well.

Ello Dykstra Newport Beach, California