People who’ve had near-death experiences, plus past-life hypnotherapists who’ve gathered info about what we do after we die, say that Heaven is full of many souls with many purposes. No surprise there, since Spirit’s told me that Heaven is a much vaster place than we could ever imagine. But I will only touch on Spirit that Pat and I have personally experienced in one way or another. That means there are probably many other entities, with many other duties, that I won’t talk about in this section. But angels, guides, religious figures, your loved ones, God—those, I’ll cover. All of these beings are Spirit.
As you learn about Spirit, you’ll notice that some of their duties seem to overlap, though they all watch over and direct you throughout your lives in some way. I imagine that the structure in Heaven is a little like a well-run company, or society even, that’s organized with many tasks and positions—some souls oversee, some strategize, some train, others collaborate, some are worker bees—and their collective skills and responsibilities accomplish big and important goals. But these rules and roles aren’t always set in stone. As with any successful organization, there’s room for those in power to change the way things run, if the moment calls for it.
Although I’m a practicing Catholic, I don’t want to make this about religion. I can’t emphasize that enough—and in fact, this is God’s preference, not mine. But you have to realize that while I’ve experienced a lot of what could be considered “biblical” Spirit, I believe I’m exposed to these entities because they’re related to the life I or my clients lead. Remember, Spirit speaks to me through my own experiences. If I were a Buddhist or Hindu medium, I wonder if Spirit might present itself differently or if I might have different teachers. Also, I tend to channel a lot for Catholics, simply because there are so many in the United States that they happen to contact me more than people of other faiths, so Spirit shows me their religious symbols more than those of others. Some spiritual beings, however, like angels, guides, and God, cut across nearly all faiths.
What Happens When We Die?
Before I get into a Heavenly roll call, I want to quickly explain some of what I’m told happens when we die. I don’t know too much detail on this, but I will briefly share what Spirit’s said, since it will help the rest of this chapter make more sense! Later in the book, I’ll get into topics like God, Heaven, life lessons, and the circle of life more deeply.
When we die, our souls peacefully detach from our bodies. We’re greeted by the familiar souls of family and friends who died before us, and then glide toward a brilliant, eternal light that is God. On earth, we are a piece of God’s energy, but in Heaven, our souls are one with His. In the physical world, I’m told that we have a primary guide—some people call it a “master guide”—who’s helped us throughout our life; he or she is also there to greet us when we get to the Other Side.
With our primary guide, our soul reviews and evaluates the journey we had in the physical world, and we get to see how our various actions affected others. We experience what we made others feel—pain, happiness, confusion, understanding—and how it’s related to what our objective was in that lifetime. Our soul’s ultimate purpose is to learn lessons that spiritually develop our soul over many incarnations in the physical world—lessons about patience, joy, faithfulness, selflessness, and so on. Part of our purpose is also to help others learn lessons, make good for things we’ve done wrong, and grow our soul in a way that aligns with God’s. We prepare for this by reviewing a basic outline of what our life will be like—one created by God and reviewed with our primary guide. We’ve also chosen the bodies and families that help us accomplish our goals.
When it’s time to learn new lessons, Spirit tells me that we’ll again have the choice to either learn these in Heaven or reincarnate and come back to earth in a new body, with new experiences. If we choose to come back, we’ll learn our lessons faster than we would in Heaven. In every life, we have free will and we’ll encounter various crossroads that let us make choices, related to our lessons, that can take us down one path or another, with the same destiny and overarching lessons in mind. During it all, our guides, angels, and loved ones protect, guide, deliver messages, and intervene. They show us, and elbow us into, situations that encourage us to make different choices that move us ahead and affect our future decisions. Eventually we die, and then it starts all over again.
The Greatest Love of All: God
God gets his own chapter—hello, he is God!—but I want to mention Him here, first. He goes by many names to many people—God, Yahweh, Creator, Allah, The Source—but no matter what your religious beliefs are, Spirit says there is only one true God. From what I can tell, it doesn’t matter what religion we are, as long as we choose a faith rooted in Him.
When we go to the Other Side, we’re instantly at peace because we’re with and part of Him. God is unconditional love, and every thought, feeling, and experience you have in Heaven revolves around this powerful premise. It takes a very long time for our souls to grow toward God, and that development is closely guided by the souls and angels on the Other Side.
Once during church, the priest said in a homily, “I’ve never seen the Holy Spirit. But I’m telling you about it, because I know it exists”—and that clicked with me. It was really validating, because I feel God’s presence in a similar way. I don’t hear or see Him, but I feel Him in the core of my being and have connected with Him on a level that feels really different from when I channel guides, angels, saints, or your loved ones. I can tell that His energy comes from a higher dimension. And I always know it’s Him, the way my priest knows the Holy Spirit, and my dad knows a good tomato.
The times I’ve spoken to God, the most I’ve seen with my eyes is a white light with golden edges that fills the room. And I just feel different—it’s hard for me to explain. I feel a tremendous amount of peace that’s almost paralyzing in a good way, and then I feel a big, God-like presence. Then that sense of knowing I talked about kicks in, and I just know it’s Him. My demeanor and tone change too. If this happens during a session, I become very serious, and I’m usually not! I take what I do very, very seriously, but my readings are always lighthearted and fun. My voice is usually playful, but when I speak from God, it becomes more careful, precise, and to the point. Listen, I don’t want to be the one who misinterprets what He has to say!
I get the chills thinking about the few times I’ve felt God’s presence during a reading, especially when a person is struggling with his or her faith. During any session, Spirit gives people information to help them grow, but when those words come from God, they’re particularly special. I’ll never forget the mother and daughter who came to see me, because their son/brother was killed by a drunk driver, just as he was pulling into his own driveway. What are the odds? The man had worked overtime too, so they felt that he shouldn’t have even been at that place, at that time—though as Spirit tells me, our destiny is generally set. As I read them, I felt the most unbelievable, peaceful sensation coming from a different dimension than I typically channel from. I knew it came from a higher power, and it felt so good that I almost wanted to go there! Just then, the son’s soul said, “God is coming. He wants you to give a message to my mother.” I delivered His words: “You can be angry with Me all you want, but your son is with Me. He’s safe and at peace. I also want you to continue doing My work. People need you.” The daughter began to sob and said that on their way to my house, she and her mom talked about how the mom had lost faith in God. Prior to her son’s death, she’d volunteered at church and given so much back to her parish, helping so many along the way. But after the tragedy, she became very angry with God and stopped going to church. God gave her permission to be upset with Him, but He also wanted her to reconsider her faith and good works.
Above and Beyond: Angels
Angels are active and involved in our lives on a regular basis and in amazing ways. They “work” directly for God as messengers, protectors, rescue
rs, and interceders. There are many types of angels, though none have ever lived on earth the way our guides have (more on them later). They’re Spirit, not physical beings, so they don’t have bodies like we do. I’m told they can take on the appearance of animals or people.
There’s an order, or ranking, to the population of angels that includes archangels, guardian angels, cherubim, seraphim, basic angels, and others (that’s not the ranking, that’s just a list of angels). I know there are high-ranking angels, or archangels, who have various jobs and missions, and they are above other angels that inspire and intercede for us as well. Pat has regular experiences with Archangels Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael. Michael, for example, is a protector and adept at performing acts of justice and power. She calls on him for assistance when she has difficult clients or people with something very dark attached to them, like when she worked with a young woman who played with a Ouija board. Pat also tells clients who are fearful to call on Michael when they’re nervous or anxious about something. Gabriel is connected to kindness. Raphael is in charge of healing, so Pat calls on him for her clients since she’s a healer.
Spirit tells me that angels are powerful and seriously busy. They offer protection, guidance, deliver messages, encourage us, strengthen us, and help to answer our prayers. I hear so many stories from clients who’ve survived the unthinkable—car accidents, for example, where they walked away fine but their vehicle was wrapped around a tree. Was it an angel who protected them? A loved one? It depends, and I think it can be both. Spirit’s told me that this kind of intervention is orchestrated by angels and guides who may send a loved one to intervene, if they don’t do it themselves. My friend’s son, for instance, was in a very bad car accident with her brother-in-law when he was six years old. After the crash, when he was stuck in the car, he said he saw his great-grandmother standing outside. “Mommy, your grandma protected me in the accident,” he told my friend, though he’d never met her. I feel an angel sent her. But angels aren’t just around us when we need them; they’re with us all the time. I’ve also never seen angels use wings to fly to a person’s rescue, or for any other reason; this doesn’t mean that it can’t happen, I’ve just never witnessed it myself. I’ve only seen angels drift through a space as energy, like clouds moving across the sky. Archangels, however, have shown themselves with wings.
I’m told there are also guardian angels assigned to every soul and they are with you throughout your many lifetimes. Even though I’m told that guides have walked in this world and angels haven’t, I’ve often wondered if guardian angels and guides are the same thing, since not all angels have wings and guardian angels sound like a religious interpretation of the same role that guides play in generally spiritual beliefs. I’m not too sure, to be honest. What I do know is that they love being acknowledged as part of your life. Guardian angels are always trying to help you out and guide you on your spiritual path with great love. They also provide protection by prompting your intuition, creating coincidences, and intervening in your world in times of need or danger.
I have an angel that guides me named Solerna who was specifically assigned to me. When I see her, she shows herself to look like the angel on my business card. I’m told that she’s an Angel of Sunshine and Guidance. She brings me peace when I need it and always encourages me to show my playful side. When I communicate with her, my mind’s eye fills with a bright, white light with a blue aura, almost like a cloud that’s backlit in a movie. It’s different from the God light because His is rimmed in gold, beams more brightly, and it makes me feel that I’m surrounded by love. Solerna reassures me that everything I do and say is guided and protected by God, since I believe angels are sent from Him to carry out tasks and deliver important messages.
For this reason, I think of Solerna as a direct liaison between me and God. I consider her an immediate pipeline if a friend is sick or if I need urgent help, but I also ask her for daily guidance, along with my other guides, especially when I channel. Solerna has come to me with messages, like when she told me that Gram was going to die. On Sunday, June 7, 2009, Solerna told me Gram would die on my birthday, which is June 10. My grandmother was ill at the time but hanging on, so I actually thought I misunderstood the message; I thought that Solerna may have meant that Pat’s mom was going to pass, since she was also sick and seemed to be getting worse. On the next day, the eighth, I wasn’t able to see Gram but called, and her voice was so strong when she told me she loved me. She also kept acting as if it were my birthday—Gram was very worried that she hadn’t gotten me a card—but it wasn’t. She’d confused the days. Gram died the next day, the ninth, which is the day before my birthday and the same day her brother Anthony died. We buried her on St. Anthony’s day, June 13. The point is, Gram never would have died on my birthday, but like Solerna said, I believe she was supposed to die on that Monday, the day she thought was my birthday, but waited until the next one.
Divine Intervention: Souls of Faith
It’s no surprise to me that figures from religious or holy texts, or what I call souls of faith, come through for me during clients’ sessions. Some are more evolved souls than others, based on the lessons they’ve learned and roles they’ve played in this world and Heaven.
From what I’m told, the most evolved Spirit has made great sacrifices on earth, completed their spiritual journey, and then ascended to the highest levels of Heaven. They help masses in this world and include figures like Jesus, Buddha, Muhammad, Mother Teresa, and the Virgin Mary. Once in a while, these souls step forward when I’m channeling, and even stand next to them. The Blessed Mother, for example, comes through a lot for me. I see her dressed in blue and white, or she shows me my sign for her—shiny, white rosary beads. She appears mostly to those who pray to her, or whose deceased loved ones did. She shows up for validation and to assure people that even if their prayers haven’t been answered, they’ve been heard. A lot of times she’ll step forward to say that she came for a soul and guided it to God. If a parent is comforted by the Blessed Mother, she often greets their child when they cross over.
Pat’s own mother had an experience with the Blessed Mother, when Pat took her to a healer in Long Island, at a time when she was suffering from inoperable breast and bone cancer that had metastasized throughout her body (Pat wasn’t aware of her gift at the time and, in fact, this was the first time she experienced a healer). Pat’s mom says she didn’t remember much about the healing and thinks she fell asleep, but when they got into the car to leave, the healer ran out and said, “Do you pray to the Blessed Mother?” Her mom told her yes, every day, and the healer said the Blessed Mother was in the room with them, but she felt so overwhelmed by her presence that she didn’t say anything. After that, Pat’s mom lived fifteen more years without any pain; her oncologists were stunned at the miraculous recovery. And even during Pat’s own healings, she said clients claim to see and feel souls of faith like the Blessed Mother and St. Padre Pio, an Italian priest who experienced the stigmata and was said to have heavenly visions and gifts (archangels, guides, and others have been seen too). It doesn’t happen all the time, just when it’s needed most.
I also have a different connection with Jesus, a very highly ascended soul, than I do with other souls. There’ve been times where I’m certain that God is present and He then delivers specific messages—that it’s okay to be upset, that a person needs to begin to heal, that it’s best to pray with gratitude, whatever it may be. But with Jesus, he’s just . . . around. His presence is always in the room. If the mind’s eye could have peripheral vision, I’d say I could sense him both teaching and watching me from afar, almost off in a corner. I also see Jesus as a teacher because of my faith, but if I were a medium who practiced another faith, I think that I might sense those ascended souls in the room instead.
Some of the most well-known saints also come through for me, either looking like themselves or often as a symbol I’ve assigned to them, for validation or to deliver a m
essage that’s related to what they’re best known for. Like with the Blessed Mother, saints come through if a loved one or the person I’m sitting with prayed to that saint, and/or if either one has statues or medallions in connection with that saint. A black habit with a red rose is St. Thérèse, also know as “The Little Flower.” When I see a man in a brown cloak, that’s my symbol for Moses or a strong, biblical male figure like an apostle; it’s also what I see just before other male saints begin stepping forward. I channel St. Jude, St. Joseph, St. Michael, and St. Christopher a lot too. They mostly present themselves if someone has a connection to them—maybe a woman put a scapula of St. Michael around her father’s neck as he died, or prayed to St. Jude when her husband was sick. Like the Blessed Mother, saints also like to step forward to talk about prayers being answered and heard.
On Your Side: Guides
Guides have a similar job to angels, except angels are closer to God. Guides tend to get their hands dirtier on a regular basis, closely guarding your soul and directing you on your path in the physical world. They keep you on track with your lessons and give you reassurance, help, and protection throughout your day and in a very hands-on way. They arrange opportunities for us and make us aware of them. They place people in our paths and help us make the right choices; they’re not allowed to interfere, just gently guide.
Intuition, gut instinct, coincidence, hunches, a random or fleeting feeling—those can come from guides. It comes across as an internal voice that suggests you call one doctor over another, or as the impulse that makes you take a different route to the mall and then you later learn that you avoided an accident by doing this. Now, God also gave you free will, so you can opt not to listen to these signals and do your own thing instead. But you want to live the most fulfilled life you can while you’re here, and I feel that trusting your guides is a sure way to avoid feeling stuck, acting judgmental, or becoming a generally miserable or unkind person. They’d never urge you to live this way.
There's More to Life Than This: Healing Messages, Remarkable Stories, and Insight About the Other Side from the Long Island Medium Page 6