Dear Soul Arcanum:
I’m not sure how to word this, but here goes. I’m currently going through what many people face sooner or later – my father is dying from prostate cancer. As I’m watching this process, I’m wondering: when someone is getting close to passing, is the veil between this life and the next thinner for them? Are they seeing or talking to those who have crossed over when they appear to be incoherent or talking nonsense? When they seem to be staring at “nothing,” are they seeing beings we aren’t aware of in the room? As I watch this dying process, I’m hoping that my father is getting some spiritual comfort. If you can explain what actually happens as someone’s spirit is getting ready to exit their earthly body, I’m sure it would comfort not only me, but also everyone who reads your answer. Thank you!
Rosanne
Dear Rosanne:
It’s my understanding that most of the time, both the process of entering a physical body at birth and exiting it at death are gradual. We are given the opportunity to become acclimated to the new plane we are entering, whether that is this physical dimension or the metaphysical dimension of the afterlife.
I first realized that this is how it happens when I had my second child. As I had awakened psychically with my first pregnancy, I was far more spiritually aware the second time around, and this led to some startling experiences and insights.
For example, before I got pregnant, one day I consciously realized that a spirit had been sort of hovering in the back of my psychic awareness for a couple of months. This presence had “moved in” so quietly and was so often present that I had never really noticed it before.
When I realized that “someone” was there and I mentally asked who it was, I was made to understand that this was the spirit of my future baby. This actually “gave me” the idea of having another child, and I just knew it was time to conceive. When I realized this, my husband and I stopped using birth control, and I immediately got pregnant.
Throughout that pregnancy, I was surprised to note that same spirit’s presence – OUTSIDE of my body. As the pregnancy progressed, however, I noticed that the spirit was “outside” of me less and less. Where she was I didn’t know, however, for I couldn’t feel her spirit’s presence inside of me; I could only sense it when it was on the “outside.”
This was very unexpected. It led me to research and explore the question of when a soul enters a body (and for that matter, leaves it.) One popular spiritual belief is that the soul enters the body of the fetus upon quickening (when the baby first kicks), which happens around the fifth month. However, I could feel my daughter’s spirit outside of me long after quickening, so perhaps that is simply the first time the soul enters the body.
Other research and experiences have led me to believe that our earliest days in the physical (when we’re in the womb, and even when we’re newborns) involve a lot of “out of body” experiences. We frequently move back and forth between the non-physical and the physical as we prepare for life on this plane.
I’ve explained all of this because the reverse happens when we die a natural death (by which I mean a death that is not sudden or “accidental”). As our physical bodies begin to shut down, we begin to spend more and more time in our non-physical bodies, exploring the dimension that will soon be our new “home.”
This is very much like moving into a new house. As we make trips between the old house and the new one, there are times when there seems to be a lot of activity in the new house. That’s when we’re there, getting acclimated. There are also lots of times when the new house is dark and quiet because we’re over at the old house, packing up.
With birth, quickening is like when we get those keys to the new house and go over and flip on the lights at the new place. This doesn’t mean that we stay in the house from that point forward. We’re still making trips back and forth between the old place and the new one, bringing the things we’ll need over.
Even after we’re born, however, we won’t always be fully present in the new place. There are times (such as when we’re sleeping or out of the body) when we won’t be “home.” In fact, whenever we’re really “spaced out,” we’re not fully in our bodies. It’s like we’re “out back” in the yard, where we may not hear someone knocking at the door, trying to get our full attention.
I don’t know that the veil is thinner between this world and the next when someone is dying, though that certainly may be the case. I do believe that pregnancy creates sort of a vortex between this world and spiritual planes, so death certainly may do the same thing. Regardless, the behavior you’re describing of “talking nonsense” and staring at “nothing,” is definitely common of the dying, both because they are awakening to a new dimension and because the process of death draws lots of “moving help” from loved ones and guides in Spirit.
Just imagine all those loved ones who have moved from the old neighborhood to a new one when they hear the news that someone dear to them is about to arrive. They’re naturally excited and anxious to reunite with this “dying” person, and so they rally around them to help. The dying person may thus have all sorts of “visits” or encounters with non-physical beings, and when they return to this plane, they may tell us what and who they saw while they were “out.”
We of course can’t visit that new neighborhood with them until we prepare to move there ourselves (by dying) – unless we develop the ability to perceive subtle energies. A psychic or medium, for example, is someone who is fully rooted in the physical dimension but who has developed the ability to perceive that which lies beyond and beneath it. Such a person may be able to sense the spirits who visit the dying person.
Because there is a lot of spiritual activity surrounding transitions, it’s not unusual for someone to discover their own psychic inclinations at such a time. If they’re clairvoyant, they may actually see the astral body or “spirit” of the person depart the physical body at the moment of death, or they may see beings of light or loved ones in Spirit as they come to help that person cross over. If this is the first time this has ever happened for them, it can be a mind-blowing and life changing experience.
At the same time, when a loved one is dying, even gifted mediums may not be able to perceive much that they usually can because their vibration may be unusually low due to grief. So if you’re not seeing anything, it doesn’t necessarily mean you lack the “sight.” To try to tune in to all that is happening on a spiritual level, you just need to raise your vibration, perhaps via prayer, meditation and making peace with the death of your loved one.
Please remember that even in death (actually, especially in death), we create our own realities. Thus it is wise to expect the best, both for your sake and your father’s. I would talk to him about the beautiful reunions awaiting him and the bright new beginning he’s heading for in his “new life.” There are lots of wonderful books about near-death and between life experiences you could read to him as he’s preparing to cross over. You might start by searching amazon.com for Michael Newton, Ph.D., but I recommend you ask Spirit and your own intuition to guide you.
I wish you and yours deep peace, comfort, faith and hope.
– Soul Arcanum
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