afterlife
Asking ‘Why’ When A Loved One Is Lost
When you lose someone you love in a sudden, unexpected way, such as suicide, a car accident, murder, or domestic violence, it always seems so unfair and tragic. It is usually so difficult to understand why this had to happen?
The truth is that we will never truly know the ‘why’ of things. The biggest regret that I hear from so many bereaved people is that they never had a chance to say goodbye.
Someone passing due to old age or illness usually affords us the time to prepare for the loss and to say our goodbyes. Typically, you will haves some time with the person, to be kinder, to be compassionate and to let them know how much they are loved. A sudden passing robs us of all of this.
I am personally very aware of the emotions, feelings and experiences that come after a loved one’s life is lost so suddenly and unexpectedly. More than a decade ago, I lost my stepson to suicide. He was only 32 years old. Within 2 days of this tragedy, a another local young man also took his life. He was only 22.
The widespread trauma of the pandemic over this past year has brought back many of these feelings for me. Many people I know, all men, have taken their own lives because they have lost their jobs, businesses or life partners. Some of these men were successful business owners, but the lockdowns triggered something inside of them that led them to think suicide was a better way, or the only way out.
I talk to an abuse counselor at least two to three times a month and we discuss the unavailability of abused women to get help, because the shelters that are there to protect them are usually full to capacity. I personally know two women whose lives were tragically ended by an abusive partner or ex-partner who they just could not get away from. You read about these cases almost every day. It makes zero sense if you try to find the logic in it.
And accidents happen in the blink of an eye. Yesterday, it was two locals snowmobiling in our area, who hit each other head on. One passed instantly, the other suffered only minor injuries. The week before it was a tractor trailer hitting a car that pulled out in front of it. The truck driver is fine, but the car and passenger is no longer with us. Continue reading
My Near-Death Experience
About 12 years ago, right before Christmas, I had a lot going on in my life. I was taking care of my two kids and my brother. My cousin had a three-month-old baby, whose mother was in the hospital with complications due to diabetes. He brought me his new baby and asked if they could stay with us, and if I could care for his son while he worked. He was working the night shift, from around 7pm till 4am. Of course, I said I would help in any way I could.
Between my kids’ and my brother’s schedules, and now this new baby who was colicy, I was exhausted at the end of the second week. Somehow, I also got food poisoning. Never having had food poisoning before, I didn’t know the symptoms and thought I had a touch of stomach flu. Being so tired, I hadn’t realized how sick I actually was. After about 18 hours of fluid loss, I become so dehydrated that I had a seizure. My eyes rolled into the back of my head and I fell down. Apparently, I was clinically dead for around 1½ minutes.
I did not experience all of the typical near-death phenomena. There was not any floating over my body; there was no white light, no tunnel. I was simply here and then I was there. The first thing I remember is walking along a sort of grassy path. I don’t remember turning around to look behind me, but, I just knew that there was a darkness from which I came, back there.
There were two people there to greet me. A woman and a man, the woman spoke to me first, and the man was a little ways behind her. Today, I could not tell you who these people were. But, when I was there, I was so glad to see them. It was like when I had sent my kids to summer camp, and they were gone for all those summer months, and I missed them terribly. It was the same feeling I got when seeing my children for the first time returning home. I had a deep love and bond with these two people.
The next thing I remember is that I was taken to the top of a mountain. There was no journey to get there, I was just there. The only way to describe the mountain is that it was like standing on top of Pikes Peak and looking out. I was so high up that the only thing I could see was blue sky.
The Psychic Power Of Psychometry
Recently, a young woman phoned me wanting to know how she could best psychically connect with her mom who had recently passed away. We had received some lovely evidence of her mom’s presence during our readings together, but she was hoping to be able to deepen the connection on her own in her daily life.
I already knew that this young woman had psychic abilities that are ‘untapped.’ I advised her to start practicing psychometry as part of her spiritual practice. Holding an item of her late mom in her hands, while she was meditating, will promote psychic communication with her beloved mother.
During this conversation, I had a strong vision of her mom repeatedly pointing to her wrist, and what looked like an armband. I asked her if she had a bracelet that her mom used to wear, in order that she could more easily sense her mom’s energy. She then confirmed that she had kept her mom’s hospital bracelet with her in her handbag.
Perfect for psychometry, I thought. That would literally be the most recent item her mom had been wearing on her person and would most strongly carry her energy imprint.
Psychometry is a wonderful psychic skill to develop. It is a powerful form of psychic reading facilitated by clairtangency, the psychic sense of touch.
A personal experience with psychometry that I will never forget occurred during a psychic development course some years ago at the Arthur Findlay College for spiritualism and psychic science. We were a group of ten students, and I was partnered with a gentleman I had not spoken to before.
Losing Touch With Our Departed Loved Ones
Some people have at least one long-standing friendship from their early childhood years. During your elementary years, the friendship grew to a soft and accepting duality that you easily embraced.
As the time progressed, the ‘best buddies’ syndrome only became stronger, as you melded into the somewhat trying years of early adolescence and puberty. It created an easy belief that this camaraderie would last for the entire duration of your earthly existence. You believed that you would be in each other’s lives forever!
These friendships lend itself to a sense of comfort that helps us deal with the trials and tribulations that young lives normally must endure.
The next thing you know, as you both matured and progressed further in life, your best friend found herself a wonderful life partner, they moved away from your area. But you both vowed to stay in touch and keep the friendship intact, just as it was when you were in your formative years.
At first all was well. You wrote, emailed, texted, phoned, sent the birthday and holiday gifts. You did whatever had to be done to keep those lines of communication open. If all went well, you both did your fair share.
In time, the calls became less frequent, the disconnect between you began to widen, as life took on a unique format for each of you. It is not that you feel less love and affection for each other, it is only that life has a way of moving forward into new and challenging directions. You will always be dear and cherished friends to each other, you will always care about the needs and concerns in each other’s lives, but life moves on.
This narrative is no different if your adored friend and confidant has since left this earthy existence and moved on the other side. We can have clear and constant communication from a loved one that has passed on. Their spirit still has great attachment to those they left behind.
Walk In Faith As You Move Forward
“For we live by faith, not by sight.” I have relied on the words of this verse from 2 Corinthians for most of my life with much success, no matter how tough times have been.
What does it mean to walk in faith, and not by sight? Well, it means to keep going and to keep your faith in God, Spirit, a Higher Power, even when you are not sure of where exactly you are headed.
This past year these words could not have been more relevant. It has been very difficult for all of us, especially for those who have lost loved ones. Sadly, in our day and age, when a loved one passes, we don’t always get the support we need in order to get through the loss and get the help we need to move forward.
Processing grief on your own is no easy task. First we have to accept that our loved one is not with us in the physical sense anymore, but their soul is always with us. They will tell us that they are still here, but they do not want us to have an unhappy life, they don’t want us to be alone.
In our soul contract one of us agrees to leave before the other, whether it is a parent, husband, wife, child, sibling, whomever it may be, and that the one left behind would be experiencing what it means to endure such a loss.
As we struggle to move forward, people might say, why aren’t you feeling better yet? Time to get over it. Life goes on. Why are you still so sad? Well, it just doesn’t work that way, and anyone who has experienced such a loss understands that it takes a lot of time for the heart to truly heal.
I lost my husband of 31 years a long time ago. You don’t ever get over it completely, but it does get easier with time. It’s a step-by-step process, and having people that support you means so much to help you get through.
A Ghostly Intervention For A Stubborn Pair
I’ve had many strange paranormal occurrences in my life, but the most recent one really takes the cake!
My talkative Libra husband was on a marathon 3-hour call with a friend, when a wondrous thing happened during their conversation. A strange, ethereal voice cut-in and actually cursed my husband out, repeatedly!
The call was on speaker phone, and I was downstairs in my kitchen, hearing the entire discourse.
“What is going on up there?” I called out.
“You heard that?”
“Of course I heard that. It’s beyond creepy.”
His friend heard nothing on his end and thought my husband was playing some kind of a prank on him.
Then the eerie voice returned, this time calling him a horse’s hindquarters.
“It just happened again!” he shouted.
“I know…I heard that. I’m coming up there now to record it,” I said.
All the while, his friend continued to hear nothing on his end.
I hit the record button on my cell and waited…but crickets ensued. There was absolutely nothing, so eventually I went back downstairs, somewhat disappointed.
Of course, the moment I arrived back in my kitchen, the disgruntled spirit returned shouting the same colorful epithets, like a salty sailor! No surprise there, as my husband actually is a bit of a salty sailor himself and knows many who’ve passed in the industry.
A Morning Visitation From My Ancestors
Some of the best times I had growing up was visiting my great grandparents during the summer holidays. It was not only fun, but also spiritual and magical. It really helped me to connect with the higher powers that be.
My great grandma was a very magical woman. Her mother was a psychic who would dream the winning lottery numbers for people. She was known as a wise intuitive and many people were jealous of her for many reasons. Legend has it that she used to make wine for Italian mobsters and even had the infamous Al Capone visit her home a few times. She was a happy little Italian lady, who always did everything and everything she could for her kids.
My great grandfather came over from Italy and he was a very stern, powerful man who only spoke Italian. He also made wine and he was much older than my grandma. I think there was a 20-year age difference.
Often, while talking to my great grandma, the lights would begin to flicker in the house and my grandpa, who was an electrician by trade, would then tell me that spirit connects with us through electricity. I thought it was cool and would try to make contact with my ancestors when I was alone.
Grandpa also promised me that when he died, he would come back to visit me. And he did. I shared that whole experience in a previous blog.
Earlier today, during my daily spiritual practice my great grandparents, as well as my grandparents all came to visit me again. We remain interconnected to this day. It is so great to be able to have these mediumship experiences. I saw their faces, surrounded by a pure white light. I could feel the blissful warmth of their love.