The Best Time to Talk to the “Dead”

Samhain (pronounced SOW-een) is the holiest day in the Pagan year, usually observed on the night of October 31, when the sun is in the zodiac sign Scorpio. Better known as Halloween or All Hallow’s Eve, this is the holiday people often associate with witches and magick. Most of the ways the general public marks this sabbat, however, stem from misconceptions—it’s a solemn and sacred day, not a time for fear or silliness.

The Holiday’s Significance

Since pre-Christian days, people who follow the Old Religion have considered this a sacred time to remember and honor loved ones who have passed over to the Other Side. That’s why Halloween is associated with the dead.

According to Pagan culture, Samhain ushers in the New Year––it’s the start of a new cycle, a time of death and rebirth. The word samhain is Irish, meaning “summer’s end.” In many parts of the Northern Hemisphere the land is barren now, the last of the crops have been plowed under for compost, and the earth rests in preparation for spring. As the old year dies, some people choose to shed old habits or attitudes, and replace them with new ones.

In Mexico and the Southwestern U.S., people celebrate the Day of the Dead, which bears some similarities to the Celts’ Samhain. People decorate altars in their homes to mark the sabbat, often displaying photos of deceased loved ones there. During the week before the Day of the Dead, they go house to house, visiting the altars of friends and relatives, saying prayers and paying respects.

Contacting Spirits on the Other Side

Because the veil that separates the seen and unseen worlds is thinnest at Samhain, it’s easier at this time to communicate with beings on the Other Side. You can take this opportunity to talk to loved ones in the Afterlife, request guidance from ancestors, angels, or guardians, or contact spirits residing in other realms of existence.

The origin of the jack o’ lantern is rooted in the belief that wandering spirits and ghosts turn up on Samhain. The lantern’s glow was meant as a beacon to light the way for the spirits of the dearly departed; the scary faces carved on the pumpkins were meant to frighten away evil spirits.

Many mediums, psychics, and Afterlife researchers say that beings in the Other World really want to contact us––and they have much to teach us. Noted medium James Van Praagh, who has been communicating with “the dead” since the age of two, writes in his best-selling book Ghosts Among Us: “Ghosts walk among us, impressing us with their love, guiding us with their wisdom, and protecting us from harm.”

On Samhain, you may wish to honor your loved ones who’ve moved into the Afterlife by displaying photos, mementos, and offerings. Reflect upon your time together; share memories. Lighting candles for them is also a favorite practice. Consider spending time in meditation, contemplation, and/or prayer––listen for their responses, which may come in the form of words, visions, impressions, sensations, scents, sounds, or something else. Pay attention to synchronicities, signs, and dreams too.

How Can You Help Those in the Spirit Realm?

If you’re like many people, you don’t think you can have any impact on your loved ones who’ve passed over into the Afterlife. We’ve been conditioned to believe that the people we once knew are either above it all now––sitting on the right hand of God, playing harps as they drift blissfully across the sky on clouds, etc.––or else they no longer exist at all. Either way, they’re oblivious to us and our actions here on earth … or so we’re told.

Our Loved Ones Still Exist, and They Still Love Us

Just because our loved ones no longer wear physical bodies doesn’t mean they’re no longer alive. Noted mediums such as James Van Praag and dedicated researchers, including Dr. Brian Weiss, Dr. Raymond Moody, Dr. Michael Newton, and Dr. Piero Calvi-Parisetti, all present convincing evidence in their books and other work that the death of a physical body doesn’t mean the end of existence.

In fact, it pains our loved ones on the Other Side that we believe they’re dead and gone, that we no longer think we can connect with them, and that we try to push aside our feelings in order to “get on with it.” Nothing could be further from the truth, and such beliefs create suffering for us as well as for them.

Spirits in the Afterlife constantly try to communicate with us. They want to let us know they’re still alive and well, to alleviate our fears of death, and to pass on valuable information from the higher planes. A great many get through to us too. Peter Novak in The Lost Secret of Death wrote, “67 percent of widows believe they’ve seen, heard, or seen ghosts of the dead.”

In his book/video program Love Knows No Death Dr. Parisetti notes, “The University of Chicago’s National Opinion Research Council found that nearly half of American adults, 42 percent, believe that they have been in contact with someone who has died. Of these, 78 percent said they saw, 50 percent heard, and 18 percent talked with the departed.”

What Can You Do?

Talk to your loved ones as if they’re still here––because they are. They’re protecting you, guiding you, slipping you messages all the time. Don’t shy away from mentioning their names or recounting experiences you recollect. Take joy in your memories and invite departed loved ones to share these with you. You may be surprised to rediscover happy memories you hadn’t thought about for years.

During meditation, invite loved ones to communicate with you. In a relaxed meditative state you’re more open to receiving insights and input from other planes of existence. The same holds true in the dream state. Before you go to sleep, ask your loved ones to visit you in your dreams.

Offer healing prayers to beings on the Other Side. Your loved ones still welcome the heartfelt thoughts and feelings you share and can benefit from them. If you know an energy-healing modality such as Reiki, you can send them loving energy just as you would send it to a physical person. Honor them by lighting candles, burning incense, playing music, planting flowers, or whatever seems right to you.

In the spirit world, souls continue learning and growing. We can assist them in their process, as they assist us in ours.

As The Tibetan Book of the Dead tells us,“Thine own consciousness, shining, void, and inseparable from the Great Body of Radiance, hath no birth nor death, and is the Immutable Light.”

Football in the Afterlife

Do souls in the Afterlife spend all their time in work, study, and other serious pursuits? Not according to the clients of California writer/researcher Dr. Michael Newton. In his book Destiny of Souls, Newton describes some of the games souls play. “Spiritual games are not played with the objective that somebody wins while others lose. Games are vigorous and carefree at the same time. Our guides encourage game participation as a means of practicing energy movement, dexterity and group thought transmission.”

Games Spirits Play

Some of the games resemble those we play on earth––and according to Newton, these games originated on the Other Side, then were modified and brought to earth. For example, souls play hide and seek, a type of tag, and also something similar to dodge ball called “bolt-banging.” In this game, souls line up opposite each other and create balls of energy, which they hurl at one another. Players can either dodge the energy bolts or catch them and throw them back––the object is to avoid getting hit. In another game, much like red rover, one “team” of souls rushes at another in an attempt to break through the energy barrier erected by their opponents.

One of Dr. Newton’s clients said under hypnosis, “We enjoy group games with lots of souls where everyone has an equal position and is engaged in the same way.” He also described a game called “gemball” in which many players fashion colored balls of energy about the size of tennis balls that sparkle like gemstones. The souls form a circle and use their minds to push the balls into the center of the circle. After awhile, a ball may roll into the lap of a player, which indicates a connection between the soul who fashioned the ball and the one who received it. As the client explains, “The gemball gives you the means to learn about the private aspects of a soul which could relate to you in a special way.”

Help from Above

I asked my partner, Ron Conroy, who’d been a semi-pro quarterback here on earth, if he played football in the Afterlife. He said yes and added, “It’s a little tricky without a body and more difficult than on earth.” Players move an energy football around mentally and use thought power to block their opponents. Because everyone can read everyone else’s mind, however, players must also find ways to conceal their thoughts.

Ron also told me some souls on the Other Side enjoy watching football and other sports being played on earth. Sometimes they even influence games––when we see a player make a move that seems impossible, he or she may have been aided by a spirit. A spirit guide may slip an idea to a player or even direct a ball with thought energy, “helping” it over the goal post or out of the ballpark. So if you thought you’d miss out on Monday Night Football or the World Cup or the Series after you leave Planet Earth, not to worry. You might even get a chance to play in the Super Bowl.

You Don’t Need What You Don’t Have

At first this sentence seems nonsensical, even ludicrous. What if you’re starving and you don’t have any food? What if you’re sick and can’t get the medicine that would heal you? Most of us would probably agree we don’t need a mansion, a yacht, or a sports car––even a TV or cell phone. We may want those things, but can get along without them. But we do need housing, right? Transportation? Money? Friends?

If we consider this idea from the perspective of the physical body, living in a material world, we do need food and water and rudimentary shelter to survive. We may need medicine to cure an illness. But when we consider the idea from the soul’s perspective, another possibility arises. What we think we lack may be exactly what our souls have chosen to do without in order to achieve a purpose. What the body needs for physical well-being may be secondary to what the soul needs for growth. That purpose may be to gain compassion, to help others, to develop skills, to increase our awareness, etc. And, we may not know why we’ve chosen to deprive ourselves of something until we leave our physical bodies.

Choosing Your Lifetimes––and Your Challenges

Many people believe we choose to be born on earth for certain purposes. Earth is often likened to a school where we learn lessons to enhance our souls’ growth. If you’ve undergone past-life regression, had a near-death experience, consulted a psychic, or examined this subject in other ways, you may have some idea why you came here and what you hope to accomplish during this lifetime.

If you accept that you’ve chosen this particular path this time around, then you realize you’ve elected to take on some challenges in order to achieve your objectives. For example, Helen Keller, who lacked sight and hearing, became an inspiration for millions. A man I know who lost his leg has gone on to assist other amputees. One of my soul’s goals, I believe, is to help people who’ve “lost” loved ones to understand their loved ones aren’t dead––they’re alive and well in the spirit world. To learn this, however, I had to suffer the devastating “loss” of the person I loved most so I could empathize with other bereaved people.

Your objective may be more personal. In one of his wonderful books (I can’t remember which one), Dr. Michael Newton writes about someone he regressed who described past lifetimes of indulgence and decadence. This person chose to incarnate as a destitute, homeless woman in order to regain an appreciation for the little things in life, such as having food for a day. People who’ve lived many cloistered lifetimes may choose to be reborn into a secular environment where they must make their own way in a dog-eat-dog world. Those who’ve always been surrounded by family, friends, and community may decide to try out solitary lives. What you perceive as deprivation may be exactly what you need.

Rethinking “Lack”

People often report that what seemed to be the worst thing that could happen to them turned out to be the best thing––and their souls probably planned it that way before they came to earth. Those who’ve undergone near-death experiences frequently say their NDEs transformed their thinking. Even people who’ve suffered physical damage as a result sometimes emerge with unexpected “gifts,” as happened to bestselling author Dannion Brinkley whose NDE revealed psychic powers he never knew he had before.

If you feel you are experiencing some sort of lack in your life––you don’t have something you believe you need––you may want to look at this “absence” in a different way. What have you learned (or could you learn) from being without that thing, whether it’s money, a romantic partner, good health, freedom, appreciation, or something else? If you’ve lost something you cared about, did you gain something as well? Even if you can’t ascertain any obvious benefits, you may be surprised when you transition to the Other Side and discover you really didn’t need what you didn’t have––and in fact, having “it” might actually have prevented you from accomplishing what you set out to do in this incarnation.

Animals in the Afterlife

Some religions deny the possibility of animals having souls––or even consciousness––and claim that humans have dominion over other species. Other religions believe that souls incarnate in a variety of forms, not only as humans but as animals and even insects. If you accept the theory that humans evolved from animals (and you believe humans have souls), when did said souls enter into the picture?

Early Egyptian myths include a number of human-animal hybrid deities, such as the jackal-headed Anubis, god of the afterlife. In India, the elephant-headed god Ganesh helps humans overcome obstacles. Native American teachings speak of spirit animals who guide, protect, and instruct human beings (see my book The Secret Power of Spirit Animals for more).

Will You See Your Beloved Pet Again?

For many of us, losing a pet can be as devastating as losing a human family member or friend. If you’ve lived with and loved an animal who’s passed over, you may wonder if you’ll meet your beloved companion again on the other side. If you believe animals have souls and consciousness that continue after their physical bodies die, you may wonder if they go to the same place formerly human souls go. My guess is yes, they continue to live alongside us in spirit form––for if everything is interconnected energetically, as many researchers profess, how could it be otherwise?

During one of Dr. Brian Weiss’s past-life seminars at the Omega Institute in New York, a number of participants received messages from one member’s deceased white dog. Other people’s accounts in his book Miracles Happen describe seeing animals in the world beyond. Dr. Piero Calvi-Parisetti’s course Love Knows No Death also includes accounts of people witnessing animals in the afterlife. Bill D. Schul, in his book Animal Immortality, discusses animal ghosts. My long-time partner, Ron Conroy, who left his physical body in 2013, told me that the world where he now lives is populated with all sorts of animal spirits––not only animals we’re familiar with, but also those who’ve long been extinct on earth, as well as many that have never lived on our planet.    

The Goodness of Animals

If you’ve spent any amount of time living with animal companions or observed wildlife, you can’t help admiring their wondrous qualities and beauty. We hear accounts of animals risking their lives to save other animals or humans; stories of animals traveling vast distances to find their families; stories of animals adopting and aiding animals of other species. We’re awed by the compassion of service dogs, the healing abilities of horses, and the intelligence of dolphins.

Again and again, animals display amazing intelligence, compassion, devotion, kindness, patience, courage, insight, unconditional love, and generosity of spirit. These are the qualities religions and spiritual traditions teach humans to develop. I think we’ve been blessed with animals as teachers, and often wonder if our furry and feathered friends may be bodhisattvas who give so much of themselves and ask so little in return. Can we but wonder if, indeed, they are the higher species and we the lesser? 

Life Review: Examining Your Life from the Spirit World

Soon after we arrive in the “world beyond” and have recuperated from our time on earth, we begin processing what we experienced the last time around as humans. From what I’ve read and been told by my life-partner, Ron Conroy, who left his earth-body in 2013, this “debriefing” period is known as Life Review. 

Meeting with Guides and Teachers

As I understand it, the soul meets with its guides and teachers to examine its most-recent incarnation, in great depth. These teachers and guides (which some sources call the “Council”) don’t judge, condemn, or punish––they serve as supportive and patient councilors, but they don’t let you avoid things you’d rather not deal with. Some books describe these meetings as taking place in a somewhat formal setting, with “elders” seated at a type of table and the newly arrived soul before them (sort of like a courtroom).

However, that’s not what I saw when Ron showed me his own Life Review group. In trance, I observed several guides seated in a circle with Ron. To me, these masters appeared as purple spirits (see my post “What Color Is Your Soul?” for more information) and they seemed to levitate––probably because without physical substance or gravity, entities sort of float in the spirit realm. In the center of the circle, Ron’s teachers/guides presented scenes from his past life, in a manner similar to a hologram.

Revisiting Your Thoughts, Words, and Deeds

During your Life Review sessions, you revisit what you did, thought, felt, said, etc. in the course of your previous lifetime on earth. Not only to you review what happened from your own vantage point, you also experience your life from the perspectives of all the other people involved. You get to see how your actions affected them. If you harmed someone in your last lifetime, you feel that person’s pain. If you gave someone joy or comfort or love, you sense what he or she felt. “It’s hard, and it takes a long time,” Ron told me, “but it’s interesting.”

Perhaps you’ve heard that when you die your whole life flashes before your eyes, instantly. This is often expressed by people who’ve had near-death experiences. Dr. Piero Calvi-Parisetti’s course Love Knows No Death contains a powerful video module in which a number of people who’ve had NDEs discuss this. However, these people were revived and didn’t stay on the Other Side. What they describe is not the same thing as a life review.

As Ron explained it to me, you review your previous incarnation at your own pace––and it takes as long as it takes. “You can start at the end of your life and work back or start at the beginning and move forward, so long as you cover everything. Life Review is mandatory, but doesn’t have any deadlines.” 

Restoring Balance

One of the hardest parts of Life Review is facing up to the suffering you caused others. However, now that the soul is free of ego, it can examine situations objectively, without emotion. By going through this period of discovery, you learn how you can handle things better in the future, how you can be kinder and more loving. You also find ways to make restitution to those you’ve injured. Depending on the “offense,” you may only need to acknowledge what you did or perhaps apologize. In other instances, you might choose to offer greater recompense.

This is not punishment or payback, an eye-for-an-eye and all that. The purpose, as I understand it, is to restore balance and to give love where you caused pain before. It may also be necessary––for your soul’s growth––to experience both sides of a situation. For example, in one of my previous incarnations the entity I knew as Ron in this life was responsible for my death. In this lifetime together, he gave me the power to end his life by taking him off life-support after he suffered a massive stroke.

What you learn in Life Review will influence future lifetimes. Understanding the big picture enables you to choose lives that will further your soul’s purpose, and gives you the wisdom to do a better job next time around.

Choosing Your Death

In the New Testament of the Christian Bible, Matthew 24 warns that no one knows the day or hour of his death. However, some spiritual teachers and researchers who study reincarnation tell us that we choose our lifetimes on earth as well as the conditions of our physical existences. We also choose when and how we depart from earth, to return to our true home in the spirit world.

Going Home

Although many of us fear and dread physical death, everything I’ve witnessed and read indicates that we have nothing to worry about. Brian L. Weiss, MD, in his book Many Lives, Many Masters, writes, “To be in physical state is abnormal. When you are in spiritual state, that is natural to you.” People who’ve had near-death experiences generally say life outside the human body is a whole lot better than it is here on earth. Dr. Piero Calvi-Parisetti’s course Love Knows No Death includes a video module of many people who’ve had NDEs; all described similar and wondrous experiences.

If you’re someone who can communicate with spirits in the nonphysical realm, you’ve likely heard them say they’re happy where they are now. In his book Journey of Souls, Michael Newton, PhD, reports that clients he has regressed through their prior deaths usually say something like: “Oh, wonderful, I’m home in this beautiful place again” or “I’m relieved to be away from Earth.” My long-time partner, Ron Conroy, who left his body in 2013, tells me often how much happier and more peaceful he is now. “What we call the ‘other world’ is the real one,” he explains, “earth is an illusion.”

Leaving Our Lives

Some might interpret this as a reason for suicide, even though some religions insist that suicide is a sin. As I understand it, however, our teachers, guides, and spirits don’t judge or punish us––they welcome everyone, including suicides, back home. But people who decide to end their physical lives early will still have to complete the lessons they skipped out on, during another earthly incarnation.

After his physical death, Ron told me that even if we go quickly (as he did, from a stroke) we’ve actually made the decision much earlier. “We leave in stages, gradually detaching from the physical world,” he explained. Nine months before he passed, he told a mutual friend of ours that he wanted to die of a stroke before his seventieth birthday––which is exactly what happened. He picked the moment and method for his departure, not through suicide, but through intention.

Why, then, would anyone choose a painful or gruesome death? When I asked Ron this question, he replied that some souls accept terminal illnesses, such as cancer, to give doctors a chance to study the disease and learn ways to help other people. In some instances, souls decide that their host bodies will die in traumatic ways in order to raise awareness of a situation or to inspire interest in a particular cause. This may be true of warrior souls who die in battle. Undoubtedly, numerous other reasons exist, perhaps as many as the individuals involved.

If it’s any comfort, Dr. Newton writes in Destiny of Souls that “souls often leave their bodies seconds before a violent death.” And if we really do reincarnate on earth many, many times, then we’ve all gone through numerous deaths––and survived.

Why Did You Choose This Life?

Past-life researchers and people who believe in reincarnation propose that we choose our lifetimes on earth for specific purposes. We select our parents and families, the physical bodies we’ll inhabit, the cultures in which we will live, the timeframe during which we’ll exist, and the challenges we’ll face. Astrologers say that we also look at celestial configurations to determine what combination of energies will offer us the best potential for achieving our goals. I’ve read that although the individual soul gets to make the final decision, our guides and teachers offer suggestions and assist us in making these important choices.

Why Pick a Hard Life?

If that’s so, you may ask, why would anyone choose a lifetime of hardship, pain, illness, poverty, or suffering? The usual answer is: to learn, and some things must be learned the hard way. Another theory states that we take on onerous conditions in a particular incarnation in order to atone for past misdeeds. In his book Miracles Happen, Brian Weiss, MD writes that a soul may enter a body that has more than the usual limitations in order to learn to receive from others, to be cared for––especially if that soul has served as a caregiver in many lifetimes. 

It seems to me that as evolving souls who will eventually become spirit guides ourselves, overseeing the human race, we may need to experience everything that morals undergo, so we can understand and assist them in their earthly journey. If you’ve never suffered the loss of a loved one, for instance, you might not know how to ease another’s grief.

Reasons for Incarnating

In my earlier posts, I’ve suggested that we incarnate for other reasons too: to be with members of our soul group who’ve already entered human forms; to work on relationships that we began in previous lifetimes; to create in the manifest world; to inspire or implement changes on Planet Earth. Most importantly, we come here to bring love from our divine “home” into the physical realm.

As I wrote in my previous post “What’s Your Life Purpose?” your lifetimes are based on certain themes. Soul roles fall into various categories, such as teacher, healer, warrior, leader, etc. Therefore, you’ll integrate your soul’s primary purpose into each incarnation, even though the details will differ. If you’re a warrior soul, for example, you might have been a gladiator in Ancient Rome, a soldier during the French Revolution, and a football player today.

My post “What Color Is Your Soul” discusses soul colors as indicators of spiritual knowledge and development. During visits to the spirit world, I saw multitudes of white souls (beginners), but very few purple ones (masters). This idea is reiterated in the books of Michael Newton, PhD, Journey of Souls and Destiny of Souls. As my partner, Ron Conroy, who left the physical world in 2013, explained it to me, the younger white souls often enter lifetimes where they can learn basic survival skills and practice adapting to the requirements of earthly embodiment. These souls may not have spent much time on this planet and must develop their “earth legs” before they can help others. People who live relatively primitive or very simple existences, in which they have few responsibilities other than sustaining themselves, may fall into this group.

Souls who’ve graduated to higher levels (yellow, gold, green), perhaps through many lifetimes on earth, face a different set of challenges and opportunities. They may choose incarnations in which they must consider and/or take care of others as well as themselves. Perhaps they’ll share what they’ve learned with other beings. Or, they may assume responsibility for other humans, animals, plants, etc., protecting or guiding these entities in their own growth. More developed souls may bring knowledge to earth’s inhabitants, provide support or employment to others, create products that make physical existence easier, defend communities in times of crisis, etc.

Eventually, we accomplish our earth “lessons” and reach a high enough level of spiritual development where we no longer need to incarnate. As blue or purple souls, we may choose to operate from a nonphysical realm instead of taking on human bodies. I suspect levels far beyond this exist, but I can’t speak to that––yet.

What Color Is Your Soul?

In 2004, during meditation, I began seeing colors associated with people I knew. I understood these to be their “soul colors,” not their auras. Auras envelop the body like a halo or cocoon of light, and their colors are influenced by conditions in our physical bodies and our emotions. As our bodies or feelings change, so do our auras in response. The soul colors I saw, however, had nothing to do with my friends’ physical selves, and I didn’t see the colors while in my ordinary beta state. Rather, the colors expressed these individuals’ core beings, the light-energy of their spirits or souls. I’d never heard of such things before, but I didn’t doubt what I’d experienced––I simply accepted it, though for some reason I didn’t investigate further at the time.

Glowing Orbs of Light

The core energies I witnessed looked like glowing orbs of light, some translucent, some denser. Some of the orbs were solid colors, others blends of two or more hues. I observed yellow, gold, green, and one pale blue soul within my circle of close companions––and a watery-blackish one that represented the spirit of someone I had not known in this lifetime and who does not currently reside on earth. I sensed my own soul image as well, a soft yellow-gold, and did a painting of my soul-self.

In addition to seeing colors, I sensed energetic qualities emanating from the orbs. Some felt powerful, others gentle; one seemed restless, another centered and calm. I could watch them move too. The blue orb zipped about, propelled by an extension rather like a pseudopodium. The green one’s motions were slower and steadier. The blackish soul washed over me with a frightening force that reminded me of a tidal wave.

After my beloved life partner, Ron Conroy, left his physical body in 2013, he began guiding me on sojourns to the spirit world. On my first journey to the “home” where now lives––the place where we all go when we leave our human bodies––I saw shining orbs of light just like those I’d witnessed in my earlier mediations! Souls! Multitudes of them. So many, all pulsing and undulating, that they looked like an endless sea of sparkling soap bubbles. Most were white, but I also saw reddish, yellow, gold, green, blue, and a few purple ones among them. In my earlier meditations, I’d observed Ron’s soul as a deep, rich, solid gold; now I noticed tiny flecks of green in it as well. Surrounding everything, like a giant net that held all the souls together, I saw a beautiful pinkish light––the energy of love.

Levels of Development

Some months later, I read Journey of Souls by Michael Newton, PhD. To my surprise, he wrote that souls appear as colors, and that these colors distinguish their levels of development. The many people he’d hypnotized described seeing the same thing I’d seen! For the first time, I’d found some validation or at least collaboration for what I’d experienced. According to Dr. Newton’s subjects, white souls are “beginners” (Ron called them “baby souls just learning to crawl”). They constitute the vast majority of entities in the spirit world and on earth. Yellow souls are intermediate beings (Ron likened them to “teenagers”), gold ones high-intermediates, light blue advanced souls, and indigo/purple are highly advanced masters. And as I’d witnessed, the hypnotized subjects explained that the more advanced souls projected stronger power and could move more rapidly. But Dr. Newton didn’t mention green or black souls, yet I’d seen both. Not until his book Destiny of Souls came out nine years later did he include those colors in the pantheon of souls.

As we evolve, perhaps over millennia, our soul colors shift to show our levels of knowledge and mastery. Ron described the color identifications as being like karate belts. High-level souls (blue and purple) serve as guides and teachers for the rest of us. What color is your soul? Can you sense or see it? You probably won’t observe it with your physical eyes (the way some sensitive people see auras), and it’s unlikely that Kirlian or aura photography will reveal it. But perhaps through meditation or trance states, shamanic journeying, or a dream you’ll discover your true color.

Soul Groups

After my long-time partner, Ron Conroy, left his physical form in April 2013, he began communicating with me about the place where he now resides, a place he calls “home,” and showing me what it’s like in the spirit world. What he described, and what I witnessed, closely matched what I later read in books by Michael Newton, PhD. Even the use of Ron's word “home” to describe the spirit realm we return to after physical death is echoed in the accounts of people who’ve undergone near death experiences, shown in a video module of Dr. Piero Calvi-Parisetti’s course Love Knows No Death.

Primary and Secondary Soul Groups

In the realm of spirits, entities cluster together in groups in which some affinity exists––just as people on earth do. Not all souls associate with all others––though they could if they wanted to because ultimately none of us is an island separate from the rest. But souls in the spirit world, as we earthlings do, tend to hang out with beings who have similar interests or purposes.

In his book Destiny of Souls, Dr. Newton writes that “primary groups”––somewhat like families––consist of three to twenty-five souls who have close ties to each other. “Secondary groups” may contain 1,000 souls or more and resemble communities. The souls in these larger clusters may interact for various reasons, such as joining forces to assist in a particular project or to achieve a common goal.

Souls in primary clusters are bonded forever. They work, learn, and play together in the spirit world, and often reincarnate together on earth or in other places. They do this partly because their paths and purposes are aligned, but also because they just want to be together. According to Dr. Newton, soul mates and beings from the same primary soul group don’t usually incarnate as humans within the same biological family, however, which I found interesting.

Ron explained that primary soul groups may be self-contained circles, or they can overlap, like the intersecting rings of the Olympics logo. He said this means that although he and I are in the same primary soul cluster, some beings in other clusters overlap ours. As a result, some souls who are in my primary group aren’t in his, and vice versa.  

As well as sharing related interests and purposes, beings within a primary group usually possess similar levels of knowledge. Beginner souls and master souls don’t cluster together in the same intimate group––although souls with varying degrees of knowledge may interact at times for certain reasons. I also got the impression that as one soul in the group advances, the soul’s increased knowledge and experience aid the advancement of the entire group.

While looking at pictures of crop circles, I noticed a similarity to the soul clusters I’d seen in the spirit world and began to wonder. Are these mysterious designs, which appear without explanation in fields across the earth, actually images created to help us understand something about our existence as spirits?

Meeting Our Soul-Group Mates

Often we recognize people we know now as people we’ve known before. Individuals who undergo past-life regression frequently describe meeting the same souls in lifetime after lifetime. A son in this incarnation may have been a husband or a brother in a previous one. Many writers and researchers in the field of reincarnation have talked about this, and I’ll discuss it more in future posts.

Think about the people you know and have known during this incarnation. These may be friends, relatives, business colleagues, powerful influences in your life, teachers, helpers, or adversaries. Which ones do you consider the most important? What roles have they played for you? Did you feel a powerful connection to these people when you first met, as if you’d known each other forever? Does a person push your buttons? Did you meet under synchronistic circumstances? For example, I met Ron fifteen minutes after saying goodbye to a former boyfriend at the local train station. Driving home, I said “Okay, Goddess, what do you have for me now?” As I pulled into my driveway Ron rode by on his bicycle. He turned around, pedaled up to me, and introduced himself. We were together for the rest of his physical life––and still are.

Are you aware of people in your current life whom you feel you’ve known before? What insights or experiences have led you to think this way? How do you interpret your present-life interactions with these people? Can you see links between “then” and “now”? What are you learning from each other? Are you carrying on work from another lifetime? How can you help one another this time around?

What’s Your Life Purpose?

No doubt you’ve wondered about your purpose in life: Why are you here? What are you supposed to accomplish during your time on earth? How can you fulfill your mission?

In my first post, “Welcome to My New Blog about the Afterlife,” I wrote that we come to earth to bring love to this troubled planet from our true “home” (the place we go to between physical incarnations). We all have the same, universal goal of dispelling fear and suffering through the power of love. However, our souls may seek embodiment for individual reasons too.

Life on a Hard Planet

Sometimes we take human forms in order to be with people we love who are living on earth. Other times, we may incarnate to rectify or complete a situation rooted in another lifetime. Many spiritual teachers refer to earth as a “school” where we come to learn. In his book Many Lives, Many Masters, Brian L. Weiss, MD, reports that there are “different levels of learning, and we must learn some of them in the flesh. We must feel the pain. When you’re a spirit you feel no pain.” In Conversations with God, however, Neal Donald Walsh proposes that we choose earth lives, not to learn, but “To remember, and re-create, Who You Are.” He writes “life is not a process of discovery, but a process of creation.”

Many sources describe earth as a “hard” planet, a difficult place to live. The dense energy of earth and the limitations of the physical body pose challenges for the incarnating soul. When we enter human forms, we lose some awareness of the immense love and light we knew in the spirit world and become immersed in the fear that prevails on earth. Apparently, this amnesia is necessary, so we can meet the challenges facing us and grow through struggle. No pain, no gain.

Soul Roles

After my beloved life partner, Ron Conroy, left his physical body in 2013, I began studying the spirit realm, life between lives, and reincarnation in depth. I read lots of books, talked to mediums and psychics, did past-life regressions, and visited other worlds through shamanic journeying. During the course of my explorations, I noticed that souls seemed to fall into certain categories, according to their natures, their purposes, and the roles they play on earth (and elsewhere). I identified several classifications or types of souls: leaders, protectors, teachers, healers, warriors, artists, inventors, explorers, and caretakers, though I’m sure I’ve missed some. If you trace your “lineage” through a series of lifetimes, you’ll probably see a thread of continuity running through most of your lives. The details of the lives themselves will be different, but an underlying theme remains consistent.

For example, in one of my lifetimes about 3,000 years ago, I worked as a slave in the library at Alexandria, Egypt, where I was exposed to knowledge and written words. In a later incarnation as a nun in a convent, I served as a scribe copying manuscripts. This time around, I’ve devoted myself to writing and sharing information. It seems that my soul’s role is that of the teacher and that I’m carrying on today with what I began long ago. However, I’ve also had healer lifetimes: as a wise woman/midwife in a small Scottish village about 1,000 years ago and as a nurse’s aide in a veterans’ hospital after WWI. In this incarnation, I practice Reiki and other forms of energetic healing, and often write about holistic healing. As you revisit your own past lives, you may find that you, too, integrate more than one path in fulfilling your destiny.

Your role may not fit under a narrowly defined heading, or your soul may interpret its purpose more broadly than we humans do. Athletes, for instance, are often warrior souls. Environmentalists may be caretakers, protectors, or healer souls who focus on aiding the earth. My former husband is a healer soul, but he doesn’t work as a health professional. Instead he renovates––“heals”––antique houses.

How can you determine your soul’s purpose? Meditation, hypnotherapy, and past-life regression may help you gain insights. A simple way to discover your path is to pay attention to what gives you joy. When are you the happiest? When do you lose track of time and immerse yourself totally in what you’re doing? Follow that thread and you could find it leads to your true purpose, in this life and beyond.

Contacts from the World Beyond

When our loved ones pass from the physical world, one of the hardest things we struggle with is the fear that we’ll never see these beloved beings again, that they’re lost to us forever. Nothing could be further from the truth. Thousands of serious, scientific studies and personal testimonies affirm that even though the people we love have shucked off their mortal bodies, they still live on in the nonphysical realms––and they continue to love us, watch over us, and attempt to communicate with us.

Scientific research has shown that approximately half of all people whose spouses have undergone physical death experience some form of “contact” from their departed loved ones. (See my post “Communicating with Spirits” for more.) Often this happens within a few weeks or months after the spouse’s departure from the material world. Those left on earth may “sense” the presence of a loved one who is no longer physical, feel that person’s touch, smell his/her scent, hear his/her voice, or even see an image of the person.

According to a course titled Love Knows No Death (available from The Forever Family Foundation www.foreverfamilyfoundation.org), contacts of this type and/or communication with a loved one through a medium often result in a lessening of grief for those left behind. One study conducted at the Windbridge Institute in Tucson, AZ in 2010, found that bereaved individuals felt such communication was more effective in easing their grief than counseling with mental health professionals.

Some Personal Contacts from the Spirit Realm

In the summer of 2013, three girlfriends and I stayed at the home of a neighbor I’d known for many years, a woman who’d passed peacefully at the age of 101. Only one of my friends believed in life after physical death. During their visit, however, each of them experienced the presence of the elderly lady who’d lived in that house. One saw her ghostly form walk through her bedroom. Another heard the deceased’s footsteps approach her bedside and sensed the woman leaning over her. The third felt my departed neighbor sit on her bed and push her shoulder repeatedly, while other “visitors” in the room chatted and laughed. That summer, I sometimes heard my old neighbor and friend, now in spirit form, call my name and I regularly heard her footsteps in the upstairs rooms when no one else was at home. Even a workman doing repairs on the house claimed to have seen the former resident.

Since my beloved partner, Ron Conroy, left his physical body in April 2013, I’ve frequently experienced his presence in my life. He sings to me, points out things he thinks I should pay attention to, strokes and kisses my head (as he often did while in the physical world), presents me with meaningful visions, and shows up in my dreams. When I drove cross-country, he guided and protected me, and he has made himself known in countless other ways. Once, during a session with Reiki master Anne Schneider, he spoke to me through Anne, directing her to tell me he was here, now. Another time, I picked up a notepad and an old photo of Ron that I’d never seen before slipped out from between the pages. On yet another occasion, I pressed a button on my cell phone intending to listen to some Celtic music and heard instead a five-year-old old phone message from him. Sometimes he fiddles with my computer or makes lights blink. Your own loved ones may choose to communicate with you in similar ways, or in ways unique to you and them.

The most amazing experience of contact for me occurred on March 17, 2014. I was sitting outside on my back porch when suddenly I saw a white-haired man wearing only black shorts standing in a clearing near the road beside my lower property. I hadn’t seen him approach on either the road or through the neighboring properties––he had simply “materialized.” He was looking directly up at me, and I felt a jolt in my heart center, wondering if he might come up the hill toward me. Then he turned and walked about 100 feet down the road.

Just as I’d decided it was a neighbor taking a walk, he turned and started climbing the hill in my direction. I watched for a few moments, until he vanished––in the middle of an open field. For half an hour I watched but he didn’t reappear. A neighbor passed by on the road, walking his dog, but neither he nor the dog registered anything. I realized it was Ron, wearing what he’d had on the evening of his stroke. I sensed him saying he was glad I’d seen him because it took a lot of energy to appear so clear and solid for so long. Since then, I’ve seen him twice more, but neither time for such an extended period.

Techniques for Contacting Your Loved Ones

In the 1990s, psychiatrist Raymond Moody developed a technique to help bereaved people connect with beings who’ve left the physical world. These individuals sat in a comfortable chair, in a quiet darkened room Moody dubbed the psychomanteum after a place the ancient Greeks visited to make contact with the dead. The people seeking contact gazed calmly into a mirror positioned slightly above their heads for a period of time. To the researchers’ surprise, many of the bereaved reported experiencing some sort of contact with their departed loved ones, ranging from touches, smells, and voices, to fully formed images.

Even if you don’t have access to a psychomanteum, you may still be able to communicate with your loved ones who are now in spirit form. Although many people report unanticipated, spontaneous contact from nonphysical beings, you’re more likely to hear from your loved ones on the Other Side if you keep an open mind and believe such contact is possible.

• ·      If you know how to meditate, ask your loved one to make contact with you during meditation (NOTE: It may take more than one attempt before you achieve successful contact).
• ·      Dreams often provide a way to connect with nonphysical beings. Before going to sleep, ask your departed loved one(s) to communicate with you in the dream world. Keep a log of your dreams to gain understanding into their significant themes and symbols.
• ·      Pay attention to so-called “coincidences.” Do you see, sense, or otherwise experience events (large or small) that remind you of your departed loved one, or that seem to convey a message to you? Does a particular symbol evoke a meaningful thought or emotion whenever it appears? Notice your thoughts and impressions, as well as images, sensations, or experiences that accompany them. For me, that’s often music, but for you it could be the appearance of an animal, a scent, a word, or something else you relate to.