The Afterlife is a subject that presuposses that there is an essential energetic part of who we are, that survives bodily death.  This is obviously not a new concept, as many religions, cultural traditions and philosophical systems have taught this concept for millenia. As a scientist though, this always seemed like a logical possibility because I was taught the principle of conservation of energy: that is that energy is never destroyed it only takes on different forms. A special branch of science, quantum physics,  also teaches that everything is really intelligent energy and that would include all parts of our being.  In fact we appear to be energy beings continuously managing our energy states.

Matter is simply very slow moving energy. In order to live, we constantly change matter to other forms of energy such as thermal, chemical, electric and magnetic. In the physical body we see many examples of this from high level metabolic processes and changing of brain wave patterns in response to thoughts emotions and even breathing,  to low level shifts in the electromagnetic field surrounding every cell and organ. In the constantly changing composite energy field surrounding our bodies that some have called the aura, we see so called non-physical examples. We see this happening in the energy meridians or pathways that run through the body when our life force flow gets disrupted and needs rebalancing. These are the same energy pathways described by Chinese Acupuncturists more than 5,000 years ago. We also see examples in how the high frequency energy or cosmic energy that constantly replenishes our body, is changed to lower frequencies for our body's use, by an energy distsribution system called the Chakras. Every time we have an emotional reaction we have taken a portion of our energy, slowed it down or 'frozen' it into a variety of energy patterns.

Based on my own experience as a psychic medium, past life regressionist and upon a very large body of scientific research, the essential energetic  part of our selves also pre-exists the physical birth of our body and takes an active part planning the circumstances of its physical birth!  For the purpose of this discussion, I will call that part of us the soul, but it has also been known throughout the ages by many other names as well. The soul appears to have an overall purpose for deciding to be born under specific circumstances that often, though not exclusively, relates to a need to complete unfinished business. This unfinished business comes about by previous experience exercising free will both in and out of material bodies, not only in the earth plane but else where as well. Because of the operation of a universal law of cause and effect that is also called Karma, a persons intent, thoughts and action may cause a result (i.e. effect) that requires the need for future experience to correct it.  What this means is, that our souls appear to have both the need and the ability to decide after the death of one physical body to re-birth in a new physical body - a process known as reincarnation.  From a real point of view, the earth is a place of accelerated learning and in some lifetimes we learn what we came to earth to learn and sometimes we don't. This cycle of death and re-birth can go on for a very long time until all all lessons needed to be learned are learned and all uninished business is complete . Once a soul no longer has a need to be in this cycle of death and rebirth, it is said to be ascended.

To further understand the dynamics operating in the afterlife, it is helpful to explore what normally happens to a soul when it leaves the body. Based on my experience and research, it appears that when a non ascended soul leaves the body, it generally utilizes an energy field around the physical body called the astral body, to travel to a dimension known as the astral plane.  This process seems to take place by a soul using the astral body to rise up above the physical body where it then becomes aware of a bright light (often white or golden in color) and within this light it typically is aware of other beings present. Those in the light are typically there on a voluntary basis to escort the soul to the astral plane and can include the souls of love ones already in the spirit world, angels, guides, or other volunteers.  Normally the soul then enters the light and is taken to the astral plane.  However, there are some situations in which does not take place for quite a while. Sometimes, for example a persons religious beliefs may make them feel they are not worthy to enter into light, and so they flee from it.  Another time when this may happen is when a person dies traumatically or in a confused state.  At such a time it may not even be aware that its body has died. In such cases, these souls may wander the earth for a period of time, or even stay close by familiar places or even the location of its physical body. These souls are referred to as 'earth bound' spirits, yet even here those volunteers who come in the light will continually make attempts to get them to recognize the light and encourage them to enter. In some cases these wandering souls seeking safe haven, can attach to the energy field of living people and have varying degrees of influence over those living people. While it is beyond the scope of this  article to describe in detail, an appropriately trained living human therapist working with the person who the soul has attached to is sometimes  used to encourage the soul to recognize the presence of the light and go into it. Typically, this type of work is known as spirit or entity releasement, and is done by hypnotherapist specialists such as those you will find at the WolfStone Holistic Healing Center.

When a soul does arrive in the astral plane, it can rest, reassess the physical life it experienced and begin to plan for the next phase of existence with the help of spiritual guides and teachers.  There is no time passage or space in this astral dimension, there is only experience.  For example, a soul may have an experience in this astral dimension that seems to last for days, yet many centuries on earth may have actually transpired. Souls may choose to engage in volunteer service or occupations just like they do on earth.  Often times souls continue to take an active interest in the lives of friends or loved still living. Some souls can easily visit those living people and those people can often sense in some way, their presence. Other times and with other souls, there may simply be an attempt at communication through a variety of means, including but not limited to the dream time, through meditation or through psychic mediums.  At this point, it is prudent to mentions some cautions. First, when souls  get to the 'other side' they don't automatically become wiser or smarter or kinder and so on, than when they were in their bodies. It is helpful to remember that they are just human beings without bodies at the moment. Therefore, if you seek guidance from someone who crossed over, it may be no better or worse than what they could give you when alive.  Secondly, some methods of opening yourself to communicating with those benevolent spirits you knew in life who crossed over, can also open you up to decidely non-well intentioned and opportunistic spirits.  An example of such a method is the wegee board, which unfortunately many people treat as a game.  If you use the wegee board at a time when your energy field is weakened, opportunistic spirits who don't have your highest good in mind can easily enter and attach to you. These things having been mentioned not to discourage you from communicating with those who have crossed over but for the need to exercise reasonable caution and to be clear about the purpose of the communications. 

I would also like to mention a word about grief for those who crossed over.  Grieving can be a part of healing for the living but when grief becomes prolonged and obsessive, it can hold those souls who have been grieved for, close to the earth plane and make them reluctant to move on in their healing and growth.  Abnormal grief can sometimes come from a sense of shame or blame or guilt or even a sense of incompleteness. Often it comes because there is a sense that someone you loved is now gone from you for ever. In my experience, this is hardly the case.  First of all the spirit doesn't die, merely the body does. Secondly, it is not at all uncommon for those who were united or close while in a body to be reunited at some point while out of the body. Finally, because the process of reincarnation seems to be in operation, souls are often reunited in other lives and other places. 

In the articles to follow we will discuss many additional facets of the afterlife including scientific, clinical and experimental research which tends to validate the continuation of life after bodily death. We will talk about near death experiences and the spiritual walk in process. Finally, we will look at safe ways to communicate with those who have crossed over. 

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