S: It's strange ... it's as if I'm suspended in air that isn't air ... there are no limits ... no gravity ... I'm weightless.
Dr. N: You mean it's sort of like being in a vacuum for you?
S: Yes ... nothing around me is a solid mass. There are no obstacles to bump into ... I'm drifting ...
Dr. N: Can you control your movements-where you are going?
S: Yes ... I can do some of that ... but there is ... a pulling ... into a bright whiteness ... it's so bright!
Dr. N: Is the intensity of whiteness the same everywhere?
S: Brighter ... away from me ... it's a little darker white ... gray ... in the direction of my body ... (starts to cry) oh, my poor body ... I'm not ready to leave yet. (subject pulls back in his chair as if he is resisting something)
Dr. N: It's all right, Sally, I'm with you. I want you to relax and tell me if the force that took you out of your head at the moment of death is still pulling you away, and if you can stop it.
S: (pause) When I was free of my body the pulling lessened. Now, I feel a nudge ... drawing me away from my body ... I don't want to go yet ... but, something wants me to go soon ...
Dr. N: I understand, Sally, but I suspect you are learning you have some element of control. How would you describe this thing that is pulling you?
S: A ... kind of magnetic ... force ... but ... I want to stay a little longer ...
Dr. N: Can your soul resist this pulling sensation for as long as you want?
S: (there is a long pause while the subject appears to be carrying on an internal debate with himself in his former life as Sally) Yes, I can, if I really want to stay. (subject starts to cry) Oh, it's awful what those savages did to my body. There is blood all over my pretty blue dress ... my husband Will is trying to hold me and still fight with our friends against the Kiowa.
Note: I reinforce the imagery of a protective shield around this subject, which is so important as a foundation to calming procedures. Sally's soul is still hovering over her body after I move the scene forward in time to when the Indians are driven off by the wagon train rifles.
Dr. N: Sally, what is your husband doing right after the attack?
S: Oh, good ... he isn't hurt ... but ... (with sadness) he is holding my body ... crying over me ... there is nothing he can do for me, buthe doesn't seem to realize that yet. I'm cold, but his hands are around my face ... kissing me.
Dr. N: And what are you doing at this moment?
S: I'm over Will's head. I'm trying to console him. I want him to feel my love is not really gone ... I want him to know he has not lost me forever and that I will see him again.
Dr. N: Are your messages getting through?
S: There is so much grief, but he ... feels my essence ... I know it. Our friends are around him ... and they separate us finally ... they want to reform the wagons and get started again.
Dr. N: And what is going on now with your soul?
S: I'm still resisting the pulling sensation ... I want to stay.
Dr. N: Why is that?
S: Well, I know I'm dead ... but I'm not ready to leave Will yet and ... I want to watch them bury me.
Dr. N: Do you see or feel any other spiritual entity around you at this moment?
S: (pause) They are near ... soon I will see them ... I feel their love as I want Will to feel mine ... they are waiting until I'm ready.
Dr. N: As time passes, are you able to comfort Will?
S: I'm trying to reach inside his mind.
Dr. N: And are you successful?
S: (pause) I ... think a little ... he feels me ... he realizes ... love...
Dr. N: All right, Sally, now we are going to move forward in relative time again. Do you see your wagon train friends placing your body in some kind of grave?
S: (voice is more confident) Yes, they have buried me. It's time for me to go ... they are coming for me now ... I'm moving ... into a brighter light ...
Contrary to what some people believe, souls often have little interest in what happens to their bodies once they are physically dead. This is not callousness over personal situations and the people they leave behind on Earth, but an acknowledgement of these souls to the finality of mortal death. They have a desire to hurry on their way to the beauty of the spirit world.
However, many other souls want to hover around the place where they died for a few Earth days, usually until after their funerals. Time is apparently accelerated for souls and days on Earth may be only minutes to them. There are a variety of motivations for the lingering soul. For instance, someone who has been murdered or killed unexpectedly in an accident often does not want to leave right away. I find these souls are frequently bewildered or angry. The hovering soul syndrome is particularly true of deaths with young people.
To abruptly detach from a human form, even after a long illness, is still a jolt to the average soul and this too may make the soul reluctant to depart at the moment of death. There is also something symbolic about the normal three- to five-day funeral arrangement periods for souls. Souls really have no morbid curiosity to see themselves buried because emotions in the spirit world are not the same as we experience here on Earth. Yet, I find soul entities appreciate the respect given to the memory of their physical life by surviving relatives and friends.
As we saw in the last case, there is one basic reason for many spirits not wanting to immediately leave the place of their physical death. This comes from a desire to mentally reach out to comfort loved ones before progressing further into the spirit world. Those who have just died are not devastated about their death, because they know those left on Earth will see them again in the spirit world and probably later in other lives as well. On the other hand, mourners at a funeral generally feel they have lost a loved one forever.
During hypnosis, my subjects do recall frustration at being unable to effectively use their energy to mentally touch a human being who is unreceptive due to shock and grief. Emotional trauma of the living may overwhelm their inner minds to such an extent that their mental capabilities to communicate with souls are inhibited. When a newly departed soul does find a way to give solace to the living-however briefly-they usually are satisfied and want to then move on quickly away from Earth's astral plane.
I had a typical example of spiritual consolation in my own life. My mother died suddenly from a heart attack. During her burial service, my sister and I were so filled with sadness our minds were numb at the ceremony. A few hours later we returned to my mother's empty house with our spouses and decided to take a needed rest. My sister and I must have reached the receptive Alpha state at about the same time. Appearing in two separate rooms, my mother came through our subconscious minds as a dream-like brush of whiteness above our heads. Reaching out, she smiled, indicating her acceptance of death and current well-being. Then she floated away. Lasting only seconds, this act was a meaningful form of closure, causing both of us to release into a sound sleep of the Delta state.
We are capable of feeling the comforting presence of the souls of lost loved ones, especially during or right after funerals. For spiritual communication to come through the shock of mourning it is necessary to try to relax and clear your mind, at least for short periods. At these moments our receptivity to a paranormal experience is more open to receive positive communications of love, forgiveness, hope, encouragement, and the reassurance your loved one is in a good place.
When a widow with young children says to me, "A part of my husband comes to me during the difficult times," I believe her. My clients tell me as souls they are able to help those on Earth connect their inner minds to the spirit world itself. As it has been wisely said, people are not really gone as long as they are remembered by those left on Earth. In the chapters ahead, we will see how specific memory is a reflection of our own soul, while collective memories are the atoms of pure energy for all souls. Death does not break our continuity with the immortal soul of those we love simply because they have lost the physical personhood of a mortal body. Despite their many activities, these departed souls are still able to reach us if called upon.