Question: There is a story that in 1608, while shepherds were grazing their flock, Mother Mary unexpectedly appeared on a large stone in the fields of Šiluva in Lithuania. The apparition in Šiluva is recognized as official and is considered one of the most important events that still influences the place today, as well as the history of Catholicism in Lithuania. A church was built there. The stone is there. And for so many Catholics, this place is very important even today. Mother Mary, you have provided answers in the past about apparitions. But as this place is in Lithuania, can you comment on whether it has value in changing people’s consciousness as an officially approved apparition? Or was it again the story that people created?
Answer from the Ascended Master Mother Mary through Kim Michaels. This answer was given during the 2026 Lithuania Conference.
Well, I just said in another answer that we of the ascended masters are allowing energies and ideas to descend from the spiritual into the identity, mental, and emotional level. But we are also, as part of this process, allowing a certain light to descend. And if you look throughout the world, you will see that there are many, many places where there are people who have had an experience of, we might say, well, again—what is the language you would use to describe such an experience? Is it miraculous? Is it an apparition? Is it an extrasensory experience? But what we can say is that there are people who are in a state of mind where they are sensitive, open, neutral. And then they can have an experience of something from beyond the material world. Now comes the question, was what these shepherds experienced an apparition created by me? Or was it that they experienced a general universal light, but their minds conceptualized it as an apparition by Mother Mary? In other words, what I am saying is there was a genuine phenomenon that they experienced, but then people’s minds need to have some way to relate to the experience, to conceptualize the experience, to explain the experience. And that is why they, in most cases when this happens, their subconscious minds are projecting images, concepts, upon the light that they are familiar with that have meaning to them. And that is why you will see, for example, that there are people from different cultural or religious backgrounds who have different experiences.
But they can all have a genuine experience of something beyond the material. It is just that their minds project a certain form on the experience. What we can say, in essence, is that these experiences are meant to show people that there is something beyond the outer mind, the concepts, the beliefs, the doctrines, the rituals, the images that they have. In a sense you could say that the many apparitions of Mother Mary from around the world, most of them are genuine. But my intent for the apparition is to show people that I am more than their image of me. If it happens to Catholics—Lourdes, Portugal, others—it is to show them that I am more than the mental box that the Catholic church has created for me. The question now becomes, do people grasp this or do they want to impose an image upon me? And as I have said before, the Catholic church has a very fixed image of Mother Mary. And what you see in this case here in Lithuania, in Fatima, in Lourdes, in many other places, is that when there is an apparition that gains a certain awareness from the people in the area, and if they are Catholics and it seems to validate their Catholic view of Mother Mary, then at some point the church will come in, recognize it as an official apparition, and what happens in that process is that the Catholic church attempts to take ownership of the apparition.
But my purpose for the apparition was to demonstrate that I am more than the image of the Catholic church. But now the church comes in and says: “Oh no. That was not what the apparition meant. The apparition validates our image of Mother Mary. It validates that she is only as we see her.” They build a church around the rock and that is a statement of ownership like it is in Lourdes.
Why did I appear to shepherds in the field and not to some Catholic priest or bishop in a nearby church? Simple question. But it shows you that I could not appear to the priest or the bishop because they had a very fixed image. And if I did not, if the apparition did not conform to the priest’s image, he would have said, what? “Oh, this is of the devil. This is not the real Mother Mary, because she could not be more than the Catholic church’s image of her.” They would have rejected it, perhaps even done an exorcism. That is why I try to appear to people who are not part of the church hierarchy. This has happened in Lourdes as well.
A young girl tending the swine near the river where nobody wanted to be. But then it becomes an apparition. It attracts people. Some people think a miracle happened. And now you see in Lourdes where there is the grotto where I supposedly appeared. And then above the cliff is this huge Catholic church, a statement of ownership. Like we have said before in Israel, basically any place where Jesus did anything, there is a Catholic church claiming ownership of the Jesus story. They own the Jesus story —is what they attempt to achieve. The same thing with this apparition here in Lithuania. Now the question is, does it help people today? Well, that depends again. If they can tune in to my being, to my heart, it can help people. But if they are attached to the outer form, then it does not help people. Basically, what we can say is that the church’s attempt to take ownership undermines the original purpose of the apparition. But still, there can be people that have a devotion to me who can go to a certain place and it allows them to tune in.
But then I would also say that if people have a devotion to me, they have the potential to tune in to me anywhere. And it would be better if they could realize that and seek to establish that inner connection wherever they are instead of thinking that it can only happen in certain places. Again, you could ask yourself a simple question. If Mother Mary could appear in a field on a rock, could she not appear anywhere? Why should I think that because Mother Mary appeared on that rock a long time ago, I have to go to that place in order to connect to Mother Mary? Could I not instead reason: “But what if I open my heart to Mother Mary where I am? Could she not appear where I am?” And of course, I am the Divine Mother. I am everywhere.
What is an appearance? Is it that I objectively materialize something in the physical octave? In other words, did the shepherds physically see me or did they have an altered state of consciousness so they tuned into me in the higher identity realm or in some cases even the spiritual realm?
It is a matter of attunement and attunement you can achieve anywhere. And Jesus gave you the key to this when he said: “The Kingdom of God is within you.” It does not come by observation of an outer religion, Catholic or otherwise. It only comes through attunement within.
Copyright © 2026 Kim Michaels