I wonder how many of you have managed to read this far without raising a skeptical eyebrow? Certainly I did when offered the opportunity to read Rita Eide's book, and so did her publishers when they were offered the manuscript. Findhorn Press are devoted to the pursuit of truth and wholeness and rejected the idea sight unseen, feeling it may be another exploitation of Diana's legacy. That was until a copy was sent to them by a trusted friend who had read Rita's channelings and, just like me, their doubt was soon transformed into enthusiasm. This process is almost a part of the book's magic - it's lesson even.

What was particularly interesting for me was the challenge this book seemed to pose. How come I can happily read and digest words channeled from entities who lived on earth in another period in history, as well as those who have never incarnated at all? Yet, when presented with a communication from someone who probably shared the same history curriculum at school as me, skepticism immediately raises its head? Perhaps it's because, when reading the former I am 'in my heart,' yet when presented with the latter I immediately found myself 'in my head,' so to speak.

However, this feeling didn't last for long. I spent a while clearing my negativity and opening my heart - I was determined to drop my judgements and give this book a fair chance. I began to read - and found I could not stop until I was finished. I was captivated. Rita (or Diana) could have written it just for me. Not once did I have to pause to re-read anything - the words were written with such clarity and compassion that they were almost being absorbed without any thought on my part. Certainly this book communicates to its reader on many levels. One has a feeling of there being words within the words - lines between the lines, and so on.

Before I tell you more about the actual channeling itself, I would like to introduce you to its channel, Rita Eide. I commend Diana for her choice, for I was immediately endeared to Rita when I asked her what she did when not working as a channel and medium and she replied: "I am not really a big 'doer', I just like 'being' a lot". Certainly a prerequisite for a good channel, wouldn't you say? Though as a single mother with a four year old son, I have no doubt Rita has little choice but to 'do' quite a lot at times.

Born in 1957 in a small suburb of Bergen on the west coast of Norway and now living in Oslo, Rita spent many of her younger years traveling around the globe, never feeling like she really belonged anywhere (earth included). It took some time for her to realize that her search was truly an internal, rather than an external one. And it was with that realization that she finally felt at home in herself and in the universe. Brought up in a Christian family, she sensed conflict at an early age. Aware of spirit and unable to make herself read the Bible, she took up Transcendental Meditation at the tender age of 15 and was soon having out of body experiences. At school she had an ability envied by her peers to snatch answers to questions from that vast library called the Universe - she had no need to read them from a more physical source.

Rita's mediumship opened up through a period filled with great personal hardship and heartache - fuelling her through the difficulties with insights and teachings, sometimes springing from within her own soul, other times delivered through visitations. In April 1992 she was 'told' by spirit to get herself a tape recorder and talk into it - she did, and that first half-hour in a state of half-trance provided the key to the door for an amazing array of ascended masters like Kuthumi, Jesus, Dwhal Kuht and Mother Mary; extraterrestrial masters Soltec, Ashtar, Athena and Korton, and the famous Renaissance painter, Raphael, who had no use for Rita's tape recorder, but plenty of use for the paint brushes and oil paints of her hobby.

Like most of the world's population, Rita could not have missed the plethora of stories about Diana and her life that were bandied around by the world's media. However, the one that touched her the most was the now-famous TV interview in which Diana spoke of her failed marriage, her adultery and her long hard battle with eating disorders. This was something of a turning point for Rita in her understanding of this very public figure: "I suddenly recognized in her eyes the tremendous wisdom belonging to a very 'old' soul and the love in her heart became obvious." Rita also had an odd sense of Diana mirroring something of herself. It was a familiarity that became ever stronger until the very day before Diana was killed, when she found herself looking at pictures of Diana in a magazine and almost recognizing herself in them. "I believe she was a fragment from the same soul as myself," says Rita.

When the news broke of Diana's death Rita reeled with the shock experienced by so many and shared in the great watershed of tears. It seemed like only moments since she had recognized Diana's role in life to do international charity work and bring love and compassion into world-wide focus. She had seen this ability in the eyes of Diana's soul during her TV interview - and now what? As soon as the question had formulated itself, the answer came - Diana was, of course, to still do this work, but had chosen to do so from spirit. The very morning after her death Rita experienced a moment that was to dramatically change her life by presenting her with a huge challenge. The etheric presence of Diana appeared before her, smiled and telepathically transmitted three words: "I love you."

Diana continued to visit Rita and asked that she channel her in public. Rita immediately turned her down, she just did not feel comfortable with the idea - not even with her own small meditation group - yet that was precisely where Diana chose to take Rita by surprise with her first public appearance on the evening of September 10th 1997, less than two weeks after her passing to spirit. Says Rita, "There were about 12 people in the group, some that I knew well and others that had just dropped in for the evening. People reacted with tears as they recognized her face and her voice and that was the beginning of what is now one book in print and another two underway."

The Celestial Voice of Diana starts with that first channeling, and as you move through the chapters there is a sense of 'settling,' as Rita and Diana blend and become more comfortable with what was undoubtedly for the both of them a 'whole new ball game.' Throughout this book, Diana retains her 'human-ness,' making you feel like an old friend to whom she is sending postcards from an exciting journey - telling you of all she sees, feels, hears and experiences with the perspective of a foreigner in a strange but beautiful land - a land she is beginning to feel at home in, but not so much that she has lost the excitement of the traveler.

Diana's wisdom is so simple it doesn't surprise or shock, it just 'is' and there is a sense of being told something you already knew, but couldn't quite put into words yourself. Her message is one of love and personal growth, she is offering you the insight of one who has 'been there' - helping you with the answers to your questions so that you can move quickly on to the next lesson with greater clarity.

There is mention of her earthly life, but always with gentleness and integrity - this is not a book for anyone hoping to find 'spilt beans.' Her respect and love for 'all' those she has left behind is a lesson in itself. She talks of relationships, sex, love, abortion, death and personal growth - and that is only the first chapter! As I said right at the beginning of this article, reading this book is like sitting down and discussing 'life and the universe' with your best buddy. The conversation is at one moment light and fun and the next deep and meaningful. The subject matter changes and changes again as new thoughts and ideas are introduced and, just as you feel you want to ask a question, it is answered - indeed there are no questions.

Diana talks of her current and ongoing education and shares her new-found knowledge of healing, of different dimensional existences, of personal power, freedom from the time/space continuum, extraterrestrials and the order of the universe. She shares her new discoveries with the excitement of a pupil who just 'knows' they have taken the right course; a pupil who is ready to absorb every morsel of knowledge available and still thirst for more. Throughout it all she stresses time and time again how it is her responsibility to 'you' to open your eyes by opening your heart.

The book is in three parts: Changing Perspective; Higher Education; and Personal and Global Responsibility. As I sped through the chapters I had a sense of being fed information at super-speed, yet never once felt overwhelmed by it. Her words ring with such clarity and simplicity that you find yourself nodding away in agreement and understanding 'stuff' that could actually be quite confusing if delivered by someone else - of course, such clarity is the hallmark of a great teacher.

Rita tells me that the next book is to be called In the Spirit of Diana - an Interactive Journey and it is to include a CD with a channeled meditation. I can hardly wait! Again, the book is in three parts or sections, but it is different in form to the first because it largely comprises a whole host of question put to Diana by three people. As mentioned earlier, book number three is also underway and I am told that Diana calls it her "book for the millennium." "It is VERY high powered with love energy," says Rita, who has already received four chapters while still keeping busy translating the second book for hopeful release in her home country of Norway this Autumn. (And she says she prefers 'being' to 'doing'!)

I have deliberately not quoted from Diana's book while writing this article, for two reasons. Firstly, it would be SO hard to choose which passage to quote! And secondly, it is the book's 'wholeness' that is its beauty. I can only hope that you understand the latter statement, because I cannot find any better words to express my meaning. The book resonated for me at a very deep soul level - the words are just a part of the whole - they form just one part of the communication.

I would like to close with some of Rita's words which, for me, so aptly demonstrate her own great love and wisdom:

"The book is a gift from the heavens. But like any gift it is up to the receiver how it is received and put into use. Diana is not really 'beyond,' it is more as if she is 'in front' of us. Her message is to learn how to love ourselves unconditionally while we are here on earth, still separated by words, by deeds, by thoughts and emotions. In Oneness we all know how to love and if we could only permit ourselves to remember it, we won't need to pass over to spirit in order to reach that state of love. It is ours to claim right here and now - it is simply a choice of consciousness. Love just is, it doesn't ask to be deserved. Neither does Diana. She will continue to be, no matter how she will be perceived on earth now, no matter how she was perceived in the past, or how it will be in the future. She is just an 'individualized' part of the eternal 'Love of All' and her reappearance may serve to remind us that so are you and so am I."

A gifted medium herself, and a qualified Tellington Touch Practitioner, Elaine Harrison combines her animal healing work with her career as a professional journalist and editor. Elaine currently lives in the beautiful Malvern Hills in the English countryside.