Tag Archive: death bed visions


Three Kisses Goodbye

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Dear Soul Arcanum:

My brother-in-law in New Jersey died at home of a fatal heart attack on June 17. We have a strong bond: I am very dear to him and he has been very open about that with everyone in the family. He would always say that I am his favorite sister-in-law. A few days after he died, I believe I had an eerie encounter with him. (By the way, I am working in Qatar.) I was nearly asleep around 1:30 a.m. My eyes were closed when I felt something like a magnet pinning my body down, and an unexplainable feeling emanating from my body. Then I felt a kiss being planted on my head three times. I could even feel the breathing and my right hand was being caressed at the same time. I was so scared, I just kept my eyes shut and prayed the Lord’s Prayer, and then I felt my body being released. I strongly felt that it was my brother-in-law saying goodbye to me. I called up my sister (his wife) and my parents and really cried, as this had frightened me so much. Am I correct in my assumption that it was really him? I have been through a lot, and my sister told me that he was always very concerned about my well-being.
Evelyn

Dear Evelyn:

Your letter reminded that we can hear all sorts of stories about spiritual experiences, but we won’t begin to truly believe until we have our own personal encounter – and that’s how it should be. Once we DO have our own experience, however, it’s imperative that we trust in our own perceptions.

I believe that what you experienced was exactly what you think it was: a visit from your beloved brother-in-law at the time of his death. This sort of thing is surprisingly common. In fact, it’s estimated that between 20 – 40% of people in the U.S. have had personal spontaneous contact from a deceased loved one. For more information, check out the work of Bill and Judy Guggenheim or the After Death Communication Research Foundation.

That he visited at the time he was leaving this world makes sense, for often spirits will visit someone they loved in order to say good-bye or let them know that they have died. Physical distance is no obstacle: many people have been halfway around the world from the dying person who visited them.

Interestingly, I’ve had your question slated for publication for about a month now, yet just a few days ago a friend of mine experienced something similar. Her beloved uncle was dying from cancer but he was expected to live for another day or two. She was at home when suddenly books flew off the shelf, two bedroom doors slammed, and her kitchen light turned on and then off again. She began to talk out loud to her uncle, asking if that was him. That’s when her phone rang: it was family calling to tell her that her uncle had just passed.

There are many ways that spirits may appear after their deaths. I believe that these forms are determined by a combination of the proclivities of the spirit and the living person. For example, a spirit who was very physical in life may make his presence known through a touch, as your brother-in-law did. Someone who was very auditory may be heard to speak either out loud or telepathically, while someone who was very visual may be perceived as an apparition.

At the same time, those who perceive spirits will experience visitations in their own way. Of course, it is generally those who are psychically open and sensitive who have such experiences to begin with. Sometimes spirits target those who are sensitive right off the bat, while other times spirits try to come through to all their loved ones but quickly figure out that some people are able to perceive them while others are oblivious to their presence. They then naturally focus on the sensitive ones in hopes of getting a message through to the whole gang.

Some encounters are entirely visual; spirits may even try to communicate a message through sign language. Similarly, some visits are just auditory: a voice heard is out loud or in one’s head. Other experiences are kinesthetic in that one feels a presence or a touch. Many visits are combinations of the various psychic senses. For example, someone may feel a pat on the leg and hear the spirit’s voice in her head, while another may smell the spirit’s favorite cologne and sense their presence.

It doesn’t surprise me one bit that you saw your brother-in-law while you were falling asleep. Being in a trancelike state greatly facilitates spirit communication because we’re not focused on the physical dimension and our minds are awake but quiet and receptive. I believe this is why so many visitations involve spirits standing at the foot of the bed: It’s not that spirits want to scare us in the middle of the night, but rather that we are more able to perceive them when we’re sleepy.

Just as there are many ways spirits can communicate, there are many reasons they may do so as well. Spirits who visit around the time of their deaths may be trying to say good-bye, inform us of their passing, or in the case of murder victims, try to let someone know what happened so that justice can be served. Usually, spirits just want us to know that they are okay: that we needn’t worry about them; that they are happy where they are; that they feel no more pain or suffering; and that they want us to be happy and go on with our lives. Sometimes spirits have information to relay, such as where hidden money, important papers or other treasures can be found.

When spirits visit a number of years after they died, they may be trying to give us advice or warn us of danger. For example, grandparents have been known to warn parents that a baby is choking or that a child is in trouble. Spirits have warned people that the house was on fire, that they shouldn’t go on a certain trip, or that they should lock their doors and windows to protect themselves from a prowler.

Before closing, I must mention that I feel you and your brother-in-law have a deep karmic bond. I’m sure you two were close because you shared a lot of love in past lives. Since we incarnate with the same souls over and over again, it can be fascinating to study family dynamics. When two family members share an inexplicably close bond, it’s often because they grew close in other lifetimes. This would make your brother-in-law a key member of your soul family – perhaps much more important to you on a soul level than either of you consciously realized – so it’s understandable that he would come to say goodbye to you.

This visit was a great gift for you and the rest of the family above and beyond the love that was conveyed. It is personal experiences like this that break open people’s belief systems and launch them on conscious spiritual journeys. As there is nothing more important or rewarding than that, I urge you to give thanks for his visit, and encourage you to explore the big questions it has raised for you. Also, as you move forward on this new spiritual adventure, please trust your own perceptions and intuitions whether they jibe with what you’ve been taught is real and possible or not.

– Soul Arcanum


What Happens as We Prepare to Cross Over?

Copyright Soul Arcanum LLC. All rights reserved. :)
 

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