A glimpse into the great beyond
Published Saturday October 31st, 2009
What happens after we die? Many people look for answers from spiritual mediums.
Brett Macfarlane, Suzanne Riley and Claire McGee say our deceased loved ones are happy where they are and will often drop in on us to see how we are doing. Usually they will show up in times of celebration and will communicate with us in many ways.
A certain song will play on the radio that will remind you of them. When lights flicker, televisions, radios and computers turn on and off and when telephones ring but there is no one there, you can be sure your loved one has dropped in to say hi.
They will communicate in other ways too. A whiff of their favourite perfume or their favourite foods are signs. So are rainbows and soaring eagles to let you know they are near, these mediums say.
"Materialization is one of the most complex ways for a spirit to communicate with us. It takes an incredible amount of effort on their part," says Macfarlane.
When the spirit of a loved one appears, Macfarlane says, it is very rare and happens because they have an urgent message for you. All of these mediums explain that everything in this world and in the after-life is energy. When we are in spirit form we exist on a higher energy field than when we are incarnate.
When a loved ones dies it is a time of celebration in heaven, they say, because they are being welcomed back home.
Sometimes people hesitate to make contact with their loved ones after they have passed because they think they have better things to do in heaven. While they are busy having experiences there, these mediums say, they are still connected to us and want to connect with us.
"You cannot waste their time. They are always connected to you. They have an attachment to you. If they know you are talking to them they will come through," says Macfarlane.
In McGee's experience the best way people can communicate with their deceased loved ones is to relax the body, clear the mind and visualize them or pose a question and wait for the response to come to mind.
"Some people will say 'Can you show me a sign please?' And they will do that. When you feel a squeeze in your side, a warmth in your chest or a cool breeze on your face is it actually them talking to you. It happens all the time," says McGee.
Riley says our thoughts, intentions and conversations are heard by those we love who are no longer here. When we think about them they know it and when we say hello it is heard and sometimes they will respond, she says.
None of these mediums recommend seances. You could be opening yourself up to lower energy vibrations and also it is forcing a spirit to come through who might not want to.
When you want to contact a loved one that's passed, Macfarlane says, it is important not to do so when you are crying or feel depressed.
"If we cry they will have a hard time coming across. If you are down they have to drop their energies even lower to make contact."
If their energy levels drop too low, he says, they can become stuck here.
Sometimes when a person dies they either do not know they are dead or they are not ready to go and want to remain in this world, these mediums say. But as soon as a spirit realizes and accepts it is no longer alive most are willing to go home. But when spirits don't know they are dead, Macfarlane and McGee say, they tend to hang around places where they were when they were alive.
"These are the ones that tend to haunt houses," says Macfarlane.
If unwanted or frightening things happen in a home it is usually because a spirit is being playful or having fun with the living, he says. It is exciting for some earthbound spirits to scare the living and receive energy from that fear, he says. But a spirit cannot remain where it is not wanted and when it is told to leave. If you bless a space and make it holy, a lower level energy won't be able to come through, he says.
Hauntings, McGee adds, happen when souls believe they cannot cross over or are earthbound by something or someone that keeps them here. McGee used to live in a home on Main Street in Fredericton. Often, she says, she would entertain the spirit of a woman in the house, a woman who used to live there.
Sometimes when spirits don't know they are dead they can become confused and afraid, McGee says. Mediums and others who are sensitive will pick up on this fear.
"The spirit isn't trying to scare them but it is trying to make them feel that so they can understand the spirit's story."
Once their story has been heard, and the soul realizes it is dead, McGee says, in her experience, it is willing to go home. Occasionally, but not often, Riley says, souls will come back to look over where they have been.
"It is like a visit. Their time is not like ours. For them time is not a concept. What could be 100 years for us could be a finger snap for them."
But Riley says she doesn't believe there are such things as hauntings. Rather, like a fingerprint left behind on an object, she says, people will leave energy imprints behind in places where they used to live after they die. Usually when you see a ghost, it's because something traumatic happened to someone in death. The apparition that you see is the energy left behind from that traumatic time, she says.
"There is nothing to fear. When people talk about poltergeists, hauntings, negative things happening in a house, that is negative energy. That is normally human-manifested. It plays on our own fears and insecurities. There can be negative energies. When someone such as a murderer or a rapist dies, their frustrations and negative energy remains. It can make for some scary times until you know that all you need to do is cleanse the area, clear the space, put positive energy there and it deflects it."
Riley will receive about five calls each month from people who are having trouble with negative energies in their homes, she says.
"I don't go and clear the house. I tell people how to do it. The most powerful way is through prayer; reclaim your space."
Some people will return to cemeteries to leave flowers at headstones to remember their loved ones but cemeteries are what most mediums refer to as 'dead zones' because the spirits of the dead are not there. When people die, their spirits cross over rather than hang around cemeteries, these mediums explain.
However, they say, if this is where you choose to communicate with your loved ones, they will return to you there during your visit.
What is our passing like and where do we go? All three of these spiritual mediums agree that when we are preparing to die and when we pass, the spirits of loved ones are there to help us make the journey.
"In speaking to people who have had near-death experiences, there was a warmth and calm and then we are home. Typically when we pass, those we have loved who have passed tend to come to greet us.
"This is a blessing that is given and we rejoin those souls that made imprints on our lives here on earth and who were our family and friends," says Riley.
People who have had near-death experiences often describe a bright, white light, a tunnel or a hallway.
"Others will describe it as a calm meadow with a bridge they cross."
Riley says in her communication with spirits she has been told that when someone dies any pain or suffering they might have felt when they were alive is gone.
Often people who come to mediums ask whether their loved ones miss them.
These mediums say they do not because that connection of togetherness and love always stays with them and they know eventually we will join them. And, Macfarlane adds, when we die we do not miss this world because the place we go to is far better than this world.
McGee says our deceased loved ones are very content with where they are and with what they are doing. And, she says, because time doesn't exist and they know they will see us again soon, so they don't grieve like we do.
All of these mediums say our loved ones will remind us they are around in subtle ways.
They can and do come to us in our dreams and our thoughts. When we feel warmth, love, excitement, it is likely their way of telling us that they are near and want us to be as happy and content as they are in the after-life.
For more information about this subject, go to www.abreathofafrica.com, www.readingsbysuzanne.com or www.trainyourbrainforsuccess.ca.
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