In September 2014, I was invited to give a demonstration of mediumship for a class of seniors at a local college. The coordinators of the class were particularly interested in someone who could help people in the class communicate with their deceased loved ones.

There were twenty-three people in the class. We sat in a circle and I spoke for about thirty minutes. Then I entered into a light trance. There was only time for three readings. The first was for a man whose wife had died. Evidentially, he had never grieved her completely, because the moment I began describing my vision of a woman with curly blond hair and sparkling blue eyes he began to sob. The energy in the room changed quickly. Spirit had our full attention now! This was followed by two more readings, involving messages from the deceased husbands of two of the women in the class.

Afterwards, several people called me to ask for private readings. The first was Eleanor, a retired psychologist. As she settled into the chair in my healing room, she said she was hoping for a message from her dog, who was in spirit. Going into a light trance, I immediately had a vision of a large, reddish dog.

SARAH, ELEANOR’S DOG

The dog told me she had pain in her hip and was quite unhappy before she died. She loved to run and jump, but her sore hip held her back. She said she was relieved when death came, because in “dog heaven” there are no physical limitations. As I communicated with the dog, I began to feel a slight pain in my right hip, and I held my hand there to demonstrate to Eleanor what I was feeling.

The dog stared lovingly into my eyes for a few minutes, having finished relaying her message. At this point, Eleanor said, “She was a beautiful and gentle Golden Retriever. Her name was Sarah, and she helped me comfort people who were sick and unhappy. She died from a cancerous tumor on her right hip.”

As I continued to focus on Sarah, she began to fade gently backwards into a thick, grey mist. It looked like a soft curtain. Actually, it seemed to vibrate as if it was alive. As the image of Sarah became fainter and fainter, simultaneously a woman emerged from the fog-like substance and moved towards us.

Without realizing it, I had spontaneously seen the “veil between the worlds” for the first time, although I had heard and read about it many times.

“There is a woman moving towards us, just as Sarah is leaving,” I said. “She’s wearing a pink sweater with pearl buttons, like they wore in the 1950s.”

“OH!” said Eleanor, surprised. “That must be my former mother-in-law, Doris. She wore that kind of sweater. I didn’t have any idea that she’d show up, but I’m glad she did.”

Then the image of Doris changed, and she showed me a “picture” of herself in the kitchen. She was wearing a brightly colored apron and there was flour dust floating in the air around her. I asked Eleanor if Doris liked to cook when she was alive.

“Doris was a fantastic cook. She was my favorite relative,” said Eleanor. “We used to spend hours in the kitchen cooking together.”

I handed Eleanor a box of tissues, and we shared a quiet moment of reflection as she dried her tears. She seemed sad, but also content.

These two visions confirmed for Eleanor that her deceased loved ones are living happily on the other side of the veil and have not forgotten her. This type of experience brings great peace. Actually, it is the primary purpose of Spiritualism and mediumship, because it offers proof to the living that when the body dies we continue to live in spirit. It reminds us that we are never totally separated from each other.

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The veil between the worlds refers to the etheric veil that separates our material world from the spiritual dimensions. It is not a solid object, but rather an energy field, a crossing over point in the journey between life and death. When someone describes physical death as “crossing over,” he or she is referring to leaving the physical body and passing through the veil and into a higher dimension, often referred to as “heaven.” The veil between the worlds is also called the Veil of Paroketh in Qabalah (Jewish Mysticism).

Fortunately, usually only clairvoyant mediums are able to see “beyond the veil,” because without some sort of boundary the combining of different realities would be quite confusing! Mediums receive messages and impressions telepathically from the spirit world. They also form a bridge between living human beings and people who have died. I am referring here only to positive spirits, not the negative ones you might have heard about, such as ghosts and poltergeists.

Some mediums have the ability to channel spirits from beyond the veil. The terms channel and medium mean essentially the same thing, although some people believe channels give their bodies and consciousness over completely in order to allow spirit beings to speak through them. Mediumship usually involves receiving and transmitting messages from spirit, while retaining some essence of human personality. Both channels and mediums enter into a trance state, which might be deep, light, or anywhere in between. They might see a vision (clairvoyance), listen to a spirit talk (clairaudience), feel something (clairsentience), know the truth (claircognizance), smell (clairalience), or taste something (clairgustance).

JOE PASSES THROUGH THE VEIL WITH ANGELS

One of my neighbors was a seriously suicidal alcoholic, and it seemed that no matter what anyone did to try and help him, he was intent on leaving this world. One day, I noticed Joe was turning yellow. The next day, I heard he was in a coma at the intensive care unit.

I visited the hospital several times to pray for him. I had never spent time around a dying person, and I wanted to see if I could use my abilities as a medium to help him recover or, if not, make his transition into spirit.

The first time I saw Joe, no one else was there, so I sat quietly in the corner to observe and meditate. He was lying quietly on the bed, hooked up to various machines, and I didn’t want to disturb him. His breath was shallow and somewhat labored.

After going into a light trance, energy healing began to occur spontaneously, in the same way it does with clients in my healing room. Beginning at his feet, spiritual light began to flow gently into his body.

When the light reached his chest, he sighed audibly and his breath relaxed. Then his spirit popped right out of his body through the top of his head!

Standing next to the bed where his body lay, Joe looked at me and said, “I don’t think I can operate it.” This seemed mean he was worried about whether he could keep his body alive and functioning properly.

As Joe’s spirit contemplated the condition of his physical body, I observed a line of angels standing at the foot of the bed. They seemed to be waiting for resolution, or perhaps for Joe to come to a decision.

The second time I visited, Joe’s mom and another neighbor were there. It was his birthday, and his mom had brought chocolate cake for the nursing staff. She was upset and crying as she held on tightly to one of his inert arms. Without knowing why, or with any forethought, I began to sing loudly, “We all live in a yellow submarine, a yellow submarine, a yellow submarine….” Soon we were all singing, and as the energy in the room began to shift and get lighter I could feel Joe’s spirit dancing around us.

After the others left, I began to pray again. Going into trance, I saw that his spirit had moved away from the side of the bed, and that he was standing within the circle of angels. They seemed supportive, not pressuring him in any way. They were simply waiting.

The third and final time I visited Joe at the ICU, he was still standing at the foot of the bed surrounded by the angels.

Then, much to my surprise, Jesus arrived. His countenance was more brilliant than the light of the sun, and for a moment I had to cast my glance away.

When I looked again, he had his arms raised in a blessing over Joe’s dying body. Then he turned his back to the hospital room and began to move away, with Joe and the angels following him—through the gentle, grey mist, through the mysterious veil between the worlds.

Joe’s body died the next day, but I knew he was already gone. Joe was safe and cared for in the company of angels.

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Jessica Bryan is an author, book editor, and spiritual medium. She does clairvoyant readings and a type of energy healing from the Philippines called “Magnetic Healing.” Jessica lives in Ashland, Oregon and can be reached by e-mail: medium@mind.net.