THE

Afterlife
HEALING
CIRCLE

THE

Afterlife
HEALING
CIRCLE
HOW ANYONE CAN CONTACT THE OTHER SIDE

CANDACE L. TALMADGE
and JANA L. SIMONS
FOREWORD BY RAYMOND MOODY, MD

Copyright 2015 by Candace L. Talmadge and Jana L. Simons

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THE AFTERLIFE HEALING CIRCLE
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Talmadge, Candace L., 1954- author.
The afterlife healing circle : how anyone can contact the other side / by Candace L.
Talmadge and Jana L. Simons ; foreword by Raymond Moody, MD.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-60163-373-6 (paperback) ISBN 978-1-60163-379-8 (ebook) 1. Seances.
2. Spiritualism. I. Simons, Jana L., 1945- author. II. Moody, Raymond A., writer of
foreword. III. Title.
BF1261.2.T35 2015
133.91dc23
2015002857

This book is dedicated to all of the souls who reach across dimensions to connect with
those they love.

Acknowledgments

Many have offered support and assistance to help this book reach publication. We want
to acknowledge our two soul-sisters. One is Pam Worthington-Lash, who read the
manuscript numerous times and asked excellent questions that prompted us to keep
improving it. The other is Susanne Thibodeau, who provided insights and extensive moral
support along the way.
We acknowledge the significant contributions of clients and students who either
requested the afterlife healing circle or sat in on one and then shared their stories in these
pages. Thank you. We also thank those who told us their stories of communicating with
the other side and allowed us to include them in this book. Such deeply personal sharing
takes courage and generosity.
We are grateful to our agent, John White, for his tireless efforts on our behalf, and to
Raymond Moody, MD, who told us about John and then crafted a lyrical Foreword for this
book. To know that our work touched one of the pioneers of the afterlife movement means
a great deal to us.
Fellow author Mark Ireland deserves our thanks for his efforts to support us, too. He
helped bring about a vastly improved manuscript that is the basis for this book. We also
wish to thank Terri Daniel for making sure we connected with Dr. Moody.
We want to acknowledge and thank our unseen mentors and colleagues of the Sunan
Society and our own groups of spirit guides. They are indeed part of that wider
community we define and discuss in this book and have been with us every step of the
way, even throughout many years of discouragement. They never gave up on us, and that
helped us keep going. This book is one of the fruits of our collaboration.

Contents

Foreword by Raymond Moody, MD

Introduction
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Appendix: The Steps in Brief
Notes
Resources
Index
About the Authors

Foreword
by Raymond Moody, MD
All over the world, and from prehistoric times, human beings have attempted to contact
the spirits of their loved ones lost to death. Modern mediumship, we are told, dates from
the 19th century, but that is a mere factoid or a kind of urban myth. In reality, for more
than ten thousand years, people have known of various methods for carrying on active
relationships with their deceased relatives. A loving relationship with a person doesnt
stop when that individual dies, and that has been true throughout human history.
The Afterlife Healing Circle describes an exciting rediscovery and updating of ancient
shamanic modalities for communicating with the spirit world and making it manifest in
the physical world. The book is replete with fascinating case histories and personal
experiential accounts of life-changing spiritual encounters. Reading The Afterlife Healing
Circle reminded me again of a remarkable cultural and historical fact about spiritual
experiences: People living in advanced Western societies frequently have profound
episodes of spiritual consciousness. Similar episodes are well-known, named, and
categorized in various non-Western lands and tribal societies, yet knowledge of such kinds
of experiences is not culturally transmitted in the Western world. In other words, certain
kinds of spiritual experiential formats or potentialities are somehow built into the human
mind. And such experiences will occur to people regardless of whether that particular kind
of experience is acknowledged and catalogued in those peoples cultural traditions or not.
For instance, in China, there is an ancient, well-established tradition of what are known
as birth dreams. Pregnant Chinese mothers often communicate through dreams with the
yet-to-be-born individuals they are carrying in their wombs. In China, this is all
acknowledged, understood, and appreciated. Yet the same thing happens among
Americans as well, as a poignant story in this book illustrates, despite the cultural void
that surrounds the phenomenon in the United States.
To me, this is an astonishing fact about human nature. There is a universal format, as it
were, of spiritual experiences deeply embedded in us all that transcends particular human
cultures. The Afterlife Healing Circle touches on this and many other important,
unexplored domains of human consciousness. As this book shows, unleashing such hidden
spiritual powers can greatly benefit the living and perhaps bring balance to the dead.

Raymond Moody, MD, is a psychiatrist and author of the international bestselling book
Life After Life about the near-death experience, a term he coined. His pioneering
research into the question of life after death helped legitimize the subject. In the 1970s he
and a small group of fellow researchers formed the International Association for NearDeath Studies (IANDS), which continues today as one aspect of the worldwide study of the
case for postmortem existence.

Introduction

What kind of world would we inhabit if we were not so terrified of death? If we could
meet our children and know their lives purposes and at least some of their emotional and
spiritual needs before they were born? Imagine greater freedom from fear. Imagine parents
being better prepared and wiser stewards of young lives.
If the preceding seems unobtainable, please read this book. It is possible because it has
happened. We, the authors of this book, have witnessed the afterlife healing circle
alleviating decades of unresolved grief. We also have firsthand knowledge of the way the
afterlife healing circle can ease the fears of expectant parents. This book recounts some of
the stories of those involved.
There is no greater joy than to help someone move from pain and despair to hope and
resolution. It has been our privilege throughout many years to assist in making this
happen, and we wrote this book to help anyone who desires to do the same.
Most books about the afterlife fall into one of several groupings. Some recount
scientific research into the survival of consciousness after the physical bodys death, while
others relate the personal near-death experiences of credentialed experts. Other such books
reveal how an ordinary person or child died, glimpsed the other side, and returned to tell
about it. The fourth type of afterlife tome is written by mediums or psychics who discuss
their experiences contacting souls on behalf of their clients.
This book does not fall into any of these categories. Instead, it is a how-to manual with
enough context to explain the why-to, when-to, and where-to. You need not be an expert
or medium, or even think of yourself as specially gifted in any way, to conduct or
participate in the afterlife healing circle. The desire to help someone else or to heal your
own pain, along with some practice in the intuition-tapping approaches we provide in this
book, go a long way.
You do not make this journey alone. The afterlife healing circle brings together
informal groups of family, friends, and neighbors who assist and support those in need of
healing. Filled with tears, laughter, and, frequently, surprises, the afterlife healing circle is
one of the most profound spiritual gifts we can give each other, and ourselves. The true
impact of the afterlife healing circle is the experience of the other side that it provides to
participants. That distinguishes it from a reading by a medium or from books about
scientific experiments concerning the afterlife. What also sets it apart is its use for
contacting souls before the birth of the physical body, not just after its demise. Its possible
to contact souls regardless of whether or not they inhabit bodies we perceive as physical.
We do this often in our work as Sunan therapists.
The afterlife healing circle is a grassroots spiritual practice with enormous potential to
bring about inner peace. The simple method outlined in these pages equips ordinary
people to find their own answers to lifes deepest questions without relying on authorities
or experts.

That in itself is a world-changing proposition.

Ours is not an organized movement with an agenda or over-arching goals. Instead, we
hope that by publishing a book that teaches anyone how to conduct the afterlife healing
circle, we will help foster a jubilant inner shift in awareness as more of us experience and
embrace the reality of love and consciousness as a continuum, whether expressed in this
world or any other.

Chapter 1

Ever watch The Changling? Theres a corker of a scene in this movie. A medium
ostensibly in a trance state supposedly does automatic writing. Thunder booms; the wind
howls; the shutters bang open and shut; the lights flicker on and off; a huge chandelier
swings ominously above the woman and other participants in the event. Its meant to be
dramatic, but the effect is laughable. Its just a lot of hoopla and weird goings-on. Right
now readers may be wondering, What does this scene have to do with the afterlife healing
circle? Its about a sance!
Our answer is nothingand yet a lot. The big-screen drama has precious little to do
with what actually happens during the afterlife healing circle as we practice it, or with any
of the legitimate reasons for conducting one in the first place. But whether we like it or
not, our use of the afterlife healing circle has been known more commonly as the sance,
even if the two are as different as day and night.
We wrote this book to explain how and why our version of the afterlife healing circle is
a powerful grassroots spiritual tool and nothing at all like the sance, its much-betterknown step-sibling. In the next chapter we will look briefly at how the circle has been
associated with healing and the sacred, from ancient times to the present and in multiple
societies across the world. We are not new in using the circle as a healing tool, but we are
advocating an approach that brings all of self to the circle and thus makes a type of
communication possible in ways not generally associated with the more prevalent uses of
the healing circle.
To succeed, we must shatter the sance stereotype that was born out of ignorance and
prejudice against the emotional and spiritual (intuitive) parts of self. Derided by some,
proscribed by others, the sance is, tragically, degenerate fodder for side shows. One such
spectacle was witnessed in Las Vegas a number of years ago by paranormal author and
lecturer Ken Hudnall. Ken, a prolific author who hosts an online radio program called The
Ken Hudnall Show, was in Sin City doing a ghost tour that ended with a sance. He was
suspicious from the outset because he was not allowed to inspect the room prior to the
event. To up the drama factor, the stagers included elements of Voodoo and Santeria
among the sance rituals with which Ken is very familiar. There were chicken bones in
motion, a tambourine playing, and objects on the table that appeared to be moving by
themselves.
Its easy to spot collusion, Ken says, because usually somebody in the audience is a
shill. But on this occasion, he could not figure it out, and remains puzzled to this day.
At the end of the sance, he explains, the lights go out, the medium begins to
scream, theres a big bang, and the girl beside me jumps into my lap, Ken recalls. When
the lights come on, Im holding the girl and the medium has vanished. Everybody was
absolutely fascinated, and Im looking for the trick.
Trickery and the sance have gone hand in hand too often, such as a sance in Grosse

Point Farms, Michigan, in the 1940s that was intended to be sham. Two college students
who were amateur magicians and known locally as sance debunkers received $100 to
stage a fake sance in an affluent womans home. On the appointed night, the event
appeared to go off without a hitch. There were eerie sounds, and a likeness of the dead
husband of one of the guests appeared out of a mist to answer her questions.
Afterward, the student who led the sance wandered into the kitchen and found his
partner pounding on the back door. This second student, who was to work the apparatus to
generate the special effects, had been locked outside throughout the entire evening and had
been unable to play his backstage role.1
Unnerving, isnt it? Especially for those who are convinced the whole sance
proposition (and, by extension, the afterlife healing circle) is always phony.
Those students experience in the bizarre has been shared by countless others. People
often dabble in the sance as a casual pastime with no more apparent significance or
meaning than a game. It begins as a lark or a joke to alleviate boredom, to enliven a party
gone flat, or to satisfy idle curiosity by seeing if something or someone really is out
there. This casual approach is begging for problems if not downright disaster. Unaware of
what theyre really getting into, many people make well-meaning attempts at spirit
communication. They try table tipping or Ouija boards, which may be sold as games but
are not toys. A young woman well call Tammy Jenkins found this out the hard way.
Scared and bewildered, Tammy, who declined to provide her full name, phoned us one
day, desperate for reassurance. She also wanted an explanation for the chilling and bizarre
event she had just experienced. She and a friend had decided to use a Ouija board to
contact her late grandfather. Things went fine at first. The pointer, moving under their
hands, spelled out the nickname her grandfather had always called her.
Then it stopped. Something changed. The pointer moved again but haphazardly, as
though whoever or whatever was propelling it didnt recognize Tammy or her friend. It
tried to spell out a word that appeared to be help, then spun around and around in wild
circles. At that instant both young women experienced a nasty feeling in their stomachs.
Their eyes blurred, and Tammy recalled actually dozing off for a brief period. After they
ended the session, all the tapes on top of the VCR fell sideways and spilled onto the floor.
No one was anywhere close to the tapes when they fell.
Tammys unnerving tale of her experiences with a Ouija board incidents is by no means
unusual. A visitor on the Yahoo.com Answers Website tells about dabbling with a Ouija
board at a slumber party in the sixth grade. Immediately after the kids asked about the
entity that responded to their summons, all of the faucets in the bathroom turned on. No
one could have entered the bathroom without being noticed because it opened only to the
bedroom. It was pretty scary, the poster writes.2

The sance is probably the most misunderstood and thus abused and debased of all
spiritual practices. The very word immediately brings to mind what most of us consider
the unreal and therefore absurd notion of conjuring up spirits. The sance stereotype
certainly was the foundation for that outrageous scene in The Changling, and a much more

recent sance-related movie even has that word in the title: The Conjuring. Skeptics view
of the sance can be summed up by Brian Dunning, who writes the Skeptoid blog:
Contacting the dead has never passed any kind of controlled test, has no plausible theory,
and is a fraud committed upon susceptible consumers, he asserts.3
Members of some religious communities share the same attitude, although for different
reasons. Texas resident Jeanne M. Perdue cited Ecclesiastes 9:56 in the Bible as her
caution against contacting the dead: For the living know that they will die, but the dead
know nothing at all, nor do they have any more reward, because all memory of them is
forgotten. Also, their love and their hate and their jealousy have already perished, and they
no longer have any share in what is done under the sun.
The S-word also evokes a good deal of fear. Trying to contact the departed through
Ouija boards, sances, etc., is one of the most dangerous things anyone can do, warns
Phyllis Sloan, PhD, an author and spiritual science minister based in Maryland. It is
playing Russian roulette trying to contact spirits. God does not like it and the punishment
is severe.4
We all have our own understanding about what God does or does not like or allow. And
we, the authors, would argue that negative events are more about experiencing the
consequences of our beliefs and actions than about divine punishment. We agree, however,
that there certainly has been a great deal of fraud involving sances in recent decades, if
not centuries. We also are well-aware of the potential for hazards. The good news is these
dangers can be avoided, and one reason this book exists is to teach readers how to do just
that.
Heres the bottom line: The afterlife healing circle is simply one means by which those
in physical bodies may communicate with those who are notmeaning those who are on
the other side. It makes no difference whether those who do not have physical bodies are
considered dead or not yet born. We use what we call the afterlife healing circle to
experience the reality of being (life) as a continuumafter physical death and before
physical birth.
Personal experience then enables us to decide for ourselves, rather than take someone
elses word for it, what we believe about the possibility of multiple lives and what
transpires before birth and after death. We need to experience this for ourselves because
that is the most engaging and compelling way we learn and grow. A Chinese proverb sums
this up best. It states, Tell me and Ill forget. Show me and I may remember. Involve me
and I will understand. Only direct personal experience enables us to even begin to
comprehend a subject that seems at first unfathomable or bizarre.
Conducted correctly, our version of the afterlife healing circle is one of the most
powerful spiritual and emotional experiences available to anyone in a group setting.
Moreover, learning to conduct the afterlife healing circle and participating in it is
grassroots spirituality at its purest, under the direction of those involved, acting as their
own connections to spirit and not relying on intermediaries interpretations or dogmas.
Knowing for ourselves more about what happens after the physical body dies, or before it
is born, is empowering and freeing in ways too numerous to count or even understand
without having had the actual experience.

So, if conducting a sance can and does lead to trouble, why do it at all, even under a
different label? Thats a valid and pertinent question. Indeed, Phyllis Sloane, the minister
and author who states she is also a psychic and clairvoyant, advises that the best route is
simply to pray for information from God about those not in physical bodies. Spirits at
this plane are evil, she says, and they impersonate those who may be heroes of those
who hear them. I have been in this field as well as psychotherapy for over 40 years and I
cannot tell you how many people have run into serious trouble with contacting spirits.
Some have never recovered. They become what medicine calls schizophrenic.5
We respect her concerns because they are valid. We certainly agree that prayer is
beneficial, which is why we do it daily in our own ways. But we have been conducting
and taking part in our version of the afterlife healing circle for decades with no adverse
effects for ourselves or those who also participate. The properly conducted afterlife
healing circle involves no danger, as this book will explain and demonstrate.
Moreover, we often need resolution that we cannot find or obtain through more
conventional means, such as prayer, meditation, or counseling. In Chapter 3, we will
introduce you to a woman we refer to as Clara Jones to maintain her privacy. For 20 years
she tried both psychiatry and psychotherapy. They were very helpful for her but, in the
end, both were simply too limited in approach or understanding to address the one issue
that was still eating away at her. After all of her treatment and hard work on self, she still
yearned for emotional and spiritual resolution with her dead mother.
This longing is universal. Astrid Stromberg, PhD, says callers to her Brilliant Essence
radio show who mention departed loved ones invariably have unresolved issues
concerning their deaths. Usually people start out by saying, Are they okay? explains
Stromberg, an inspirational speaker. But what they really want to say is, Do they still
feel my love? Do they still feel the connection? Do they still see me live? Do they still
know how I feel? Do they know how their experience of them dying was felt by me and
the ones who lost them?6
In other words, when someone we love and care about dies, we experience a profound
and painful disconnection and loss, and we cannot help but long to reverse it or at least
alleviate it. The problem, for Clara and many others, is that traditional psychotherapy
provides little to no help in relieving grief, and unresolved grief can cause significant
mental and emotional distress.7
A similar emotional and spiritual crisis can result from an unwanted or poorly timed
pregnancy. That was the issue of another woman we will tell you about named Debra
Wilde (a pseudonym to protect her privacy). She needed emotional and spiritual support to
resolve her fear and self-doubt. Parents-to-be Marc and Rondi H. (their last name
abbreviated for privacy) also required something that no doctor or pregnancy counselor,
however expert and well-intentioned, could give them. They needed to feel reassured and
confident in their hearts and souls, not just know in their heads, that the pregnancy and
birth were going to be fine.
Part of the issue is simply that traditional psychotherapy, grounded in behavioral and

cognitive sciences, is too limited to admit the possibility of life beyond the physical,
whether its after death or before birth. Science speaks to and satisfies the mental part of
our being, but offers nothing to fill or even acknowledge the very different needs of the
emotional and spiritual parts of self. This half of self knows and senses that the physical is
not the only reality, and its legitimate needs deserve as much respect and support as the
mental parts interest in science.
The afterlife healing circle speaks to all of self, not just one or two parts. Briana
Henderson Saussy is an intuitive counselor and teacher who helps clients access their
ancestors and ancestral knowing. Very familiar with circles, she says, A circle gives you a
safe place where you can feel your pain, you can feel your disorientation, you can feel
your grief, and its grounded and protected so you can feel these things and not be
devoured by them, not be incapacitated by them.8
Precisely. Within the circle it is safe to vent ones grief and anguish, surrounded by
loving support. But beyond providing a safe place in which to express pain, the circle as
we practice it can help launch or accelerate healing, too. Healing, which we will define in
greater detail in Chapter 2, is the purpose of the circle. It heals, in part, by providing
uniquely personal answers to those questions that Astrid outlines. This approach also heals
by respecting and then restoring or establishing an emotional and spiritual connection to
the beloved departed or the not yet born.
The afterlife healing circle cannot, however, substitute for a deeper exploration of
unresolved matters between the living and souls on the other side (the dead and the not yet
born). This is one of the afterlife healing circles limitations. It is not the same as therapy,
and therefore is not an appropriate place to explore very sensitive issues, such as sexual
abuse, that are best addressed in a private setting with either a traditional or alternative
therapist or counselor. Nor can the afterlife healing circle function as an experiment or
provide objective proof of anything. It offers only an entirely subjective experience and
should be employed and regarded as such. There is nothing dangerous or negative about
subjectivity, provided we do not insist that our subjective experiences determine the reality
or lives of others.
The power of the afterlife healing circle is directly related to the presence of love, the
most subjective factor of all. Love helps heal a lot of the pain caused by the separation that
we call death, and eases the souls entry into the physical body that we refer to as birth.

The desire for resolution is sometimes so strong that, if unfulfilled, it can lead to
serious consequences. One such consequence is poltergeist phenomena. A poltergeist is
thought to be present when objects, some of which can be alarmingly big and heavy,
move, fall, and even become airborne of their own volition. Parapsychologists and other
researchers have conducted extensive studies of poltergeist events. They have found one
element common to the majority of these instances: the presence of a female, usually a girl
in her pre-teens or teens, or sometimes a young woman in her 20s. Researchers have noted
the females presence without any true understanding of its connection to the phenomena
of self-propelled objects.
We believe the poltergeist is misunderstood. In our opinion, a poltergeist is most often

not a separate soul or entity tossing objects about at random. Rather, the poltergeist effect
is rooted in the suppression and denial of anger, one of the strongest of all emotions. And
what has always been the most unacceptable emotion for a girl or woman to display in
societies all around the globe? Anger, of course.
From our work in alternative therapy, we know that we store anger in the subconscious
mind, also known as the emotional body. We offer the following as an alternative
explanation for poltergeist phenomena: When a girls or womans anger, suppressed and
denied in this lifetime and in many past lives, reaches a certain intensity, it can no longer
be contained within the persons own subconscious. It then explodes outward with enough
force to move even huge physical objects. Rage expressed in such a manner would most
certainly appear random or chaotic to the conscious mind. Thats because the expression is
at the emotional, non-rational level. The female involved is unaware of her participation in
creating the phenomena. Such females are consistently observed to be subdued, obedient
good girls. They have been figuratively swallowing their rage for a long time.
The poltergeist effect, then, is an extreme and frightening form of passive-aggressive
behavior. It is an unavoidable signal from the emotional body that this person, at least on
some deeper level, wants her rage and pain to be acknowledged and healed. It is far
beyond the scope of the afterlife healing circle, however, to offer the depth and extent of
healing needed in cases of poltergeist phenomena. These women very much need
something effective in addressing their wounded emotional bodies.
Far more terrifying than poltergeist phenomena are those documented cases of
possession. This phenomenon is so baffling that science cannot explain it and therefore
tends to dismiss it. The Church explains possession as the means by which the devil or his
minions corrupt good people and turn them against God.
We have our own theories about possession. We are skeptical of the terms diabolic and
demonic. We do agree that something or someone invades the physical body of an
incarnated soul, but rather than being satanic, that something is what we would call a
denial spirit. A denial spirit denies Creation and Gods light and unconditional love.
Explaining how denial spirits originally came to be within Creation is way beyond the
scope of this book. Those interested in this topic may want to read the series of books by
Ceanne de Rohan.9
Its enough to say that denial spirits exist, even if the rational part of the mind finds
them and the havoc and devastation they wreak too incredible to acknowledge without
firsthand experienceand sometimes even with that experience. Denial spirits are not
enlightened or loving, obviously. Given half a chance, a denial spirit will invade a physical
body that does not belong to it as a way to deny the existence of the soul to which that
physical vehicle does belong. Denial spirits get that opportunity when we open ourselves
up to the universe without realizing the full implications of what we are doing or without
knowing how to protect ourselves.
Consider Tammy and her friend. As a result of opening themselves up unprotected,
they contacted more than just Tammys grandfather. They wrestled briefly with a denial
spirit. The queer feeling in their stomachs was that spirits attack on their solar plexus
chakra, which is the power center in the human electromagnetic energy field. The spirit

was testing to find out whether either of them would yield her physical body to it. The
entity came close to success with Tammy. Thats why she thought she had fallen asleep.
For an instant, that denial spirit had gained a foothold in her physical body, forcing part of
her own awareness to vacate.
It is also beyond this books scope to discuss details of the possession process. It is
worth emphasizing, however, that no soul can be displaced from a physical body without
that souls acquiescence. Souls allow denial spirits to take over their physical bodies
because they feel helpless and therefore believe that they are powerless to stop it. Tammy
and her friend ultimately were able to resist the denial spirit because they had enough
sense of their own power not to give in to it.
Many people do not prove so resilient under attack. Geraldo Rivera devoted the May
15, 1990 episode of his show to the topic of possession. A guest described what it was like
to live with a son who was possessed. You have no will. Its just total fear. It controlled
me, she said, referring to the being that possessed her childs body and bullied and
terrified her.
We believe her when she said she felt she was being controlled by something outside of
self. Control over other souls is precisely what a denial spirit wants. It desires control over
others because control, not evil, as traditionally defined, is the true opposite of love. Our
Creator loves us without judgments, standards, or expectationsunconditionally, in other
words. As souls created out of unconditional love, we possess free will that is truly and
totally free, regardless of the conditions imposed by society and its various institutions.
The talk-show guest thus participated in handing over control of her life to that denial
entity. So did her son, though to a far greater degree. Similar to girls and women who
display the poltergeist effect, neither of them acted consciously in handing over control.
They reached the point of allowing a denial spirit into their lives and even their physical
being after many, many lifetimes of trying to learn a big lesson about free will and where
true responsibility for self begins and ends.
God finally got Mosess attention by enveloping a bush with flames that did not
consume it. Many others also require an extreme experience before they will take the hint
and wise up.

Chapter 2

Healing, the circle, and the sacred-spiritual have been linked together in societies past
and present around the world. One of the few academic studies to examine the circle,
focusing on the association between spiritual healing and circles in art, was published as
an art history doctoral thesis by Laura Kirkby, PhD. In it, she writes, The circle is
associated with such properties as divinity, strength, protection, benediction, endlessness,
power, virtue, the universe, soul, movement, balance, wholeness, sacred space and
wisdom, across Tibetan Buddhism, Shamanism, and the visions of Hildegard of Bingen.
The circle is associated with spiritual healing because of its singular ability to represent
these qualities.1
She outlines how the circle as a spiritual healing archetype is found in the shamanistic
cultures of North Americas indigenous peoples, such as in the Navajo sand paintings or
medicine wheel; in Asia, in the Tibetan Buddhist Kalachakra mandala as the wheel of
time; and in Western European Christianity, in the visions of 12th- century German
Abbess Hildegard of Bingen, in the labyrinth, and in the rose windows of Gothic
cathedrals. According to RestorativeJustice.org, indigenous peoples worldwide have used
the circle to address community issues and concerns for millennia. Wood or stone circles
can be found all over Europe, with some sites dating back 5,000 years or more.2
The most famous of European circles is, of course, Stonehenge, on the plains near
Salisbury, England. One of the most intriguing possible uses of this ancient structure is the
theory of two archeologists, Timothy Darville and Geoffrey Wainright. They suggest that
uses for Stonehenge possibly evolved from a prehistoric observatory or ancient royal
burial ground to a healing shrine similar to Lourdes in France, drawing ailing people who
wanted to be made whole again: [A]fter about 2300 BC the emphasis changes and it is a
focus for the living, a place where specialist healers and the healthcare professionals of
their age looked after the bodies and souls of the sick and infirm.3 They cite the presence
of bluestones, excavated and hauled to the site with extraordinary effort throughout many
years and regarded by those who mined them as containing sacred healing properties, as a
sign of the healing purpose of Stonehenge.
The circular shape of the structure also supports their theory. The bluestones were
arranged in a double circle and later surrounded by a circle of larger sarsen stones.
Stonehenge and other stone or wood circles are three-dimensional replicas of what Laura
Kirkby found in her review of circle art: The circle as a two-dimensional symbol is the
shape that best represents wholeness, and wholeness is what healing is all about, says
Kirkby, now a family daycare educator. In her thesis, she also points out that the words
healing and sacred or holy have common linguistic roots. The verb to heal, the adjectives
whole and holy all stem from the same Old Saxon root. Healing can, in the light of this
evidence, be a making whole, which in itself is an act that is holy. Throughout the thesis,
healing will therefore mean a return towards a state of wholeness or an ideal state of
being.4

We cannot be certain, but we suspect that an ideal state of being is entirely subjective,
and depends on each us of to define it for ourselves. We do know from our work as
energy-healers that when any kind of spiritual or emotional healing takes place, then
emotional, spiritual, and even physical pain lessen or depart altogether, providing
resolution to a greater or lesser extent. This certainly transpired for all of those whose
afterlife healing circle stories we discuss in this book.
We have already mentioned that as we practice the afterlife healing circle, we engage
the whole self. Our meaning here is neither symbolic nor metaphorical. Many people think
of the whole self as body-mind or body-mind-spirit. These ways of defining self, however,
omit the emotional part of our being, which is fully one-fourth of the whole self. Our
version of the afterlife healing circle wont work unless the physical body, the mental
body, the spiritual body, and the emotional body are all active. Later we will explain in
greater depth how each part of self contributes to the success of the afterlife healing circle.
But the very act of bringing the whole self to the circle and using all of it helps make
circle participants whole.
We cannot ever hope to be whole if we live out of only part of our being.

European circle traditions may have been lost to mainstream society, but indigenous
peoples use the circle to this day for a variety of reasons, and its use has spread beyond
these cultures to many corners of society. Initially in Canada and then in the United States
and other parts of the world, the talking circles of the natives have been adapted to the
legal system as justice circles. In these instances, the circle is more than simply a space for
victims and perpetrators of crimes to meet and seek some form of restitution/resolution.
The wider community also participates, because the crime is regarded as harming not only
the victim but also the fabric of the community. Instead of the confrontational approach
typical of a trial in a court of law, coming together in a circle enables those involved to
experience each other not as adversaries but as fellow human beings.5
Everyone in the circlethe victim and victims family, the offender and the offenders
family, and community representatives, who can be members of the mainstream legal
system or othersgets a chance to speak. The process is designed not to exact punishment
as revenge, but to bring healing and understanding to both victim and offender, and to
empower the community by becoming involved in determining the outcome of a particular
case and in addressing underlying problems that may have led to or facilitated commission
of the crime.6
RestorativeJustice.org has listed these attributes of the circle, which we have also found
to be true as we practice our version of the afterlife healing circle:
Circles draw on our best values.
Circles help participants respond from ones best self.
Circles build community.
Circles create space for deep listening and being heard.
Circles generate mutual understanding and respect.

 Circles honor all voices equally.

Circles make decisions by consensus.
Circles honor the gifts, knowledge, talents, and experiences that each participant
brings.7
The collaborative rather than confrontational thinking behind these circle principles
was also evident in South Africas Truth and Reconciliation Commission, established in
1995 after the fall of the Apartheid government. During hearings around the country that
began the next year, victims and perpetrators of human rights abuses gathered to tell their
stories, which were recorded for posterity. A small minority of perpetrators even received
amnesty for their crimes instead of punishment, depending on the circumstances. The aim
was to avoid an extended cycle of violent retribution on all sides and grant those harmed
by human rights violations the dignity of being heard and witnessed by the entire
community, including their agressors.8
RestorativeJustice.org states, Participating in circles is inherently transformative,
because we experience the world from more perspectives than our own. Drawing on
diverse knowledge and experiences, circles generate options and solutions that are often
outside the box of conventional thinking and that often go beyond what one person could
generate on their own.9

Something unexpected and remarkable arose out of the healing circles that Meg Jordan,
PhD, RN, CWP, began in 1999. Meg is department chair and professor of integrative
health studies and somatic psychology at the California Institute of Integral Studies. She
was inspired to set up her healing circles by the justice circles of the First Nations in
Canada. Her circles evolved through several format changes, eventually becoming a
monthly gathering of a group of Western and alternative healing practitioners. Included
are physicians (on rare occasion), psychiatrists, psychologists, chiropractors, naturopaths,
Reiki and Ayurveda practitioners, shamans, herbalists, aromatherapists, and others. The
focus of their circle is a patient with a chronic condition who has spent a lot of time and
money on allopathic and alternative treatments but has not obtained relief. Meg says,
Theres no shortage of patients who say to me, Ive had multiple layers of chronic
conditions. If I could really have two hours free with seven practitioners all at one time, I
will jump on that. As RestorativeJustice.org notes, Meg and the other practitioners in her
circle found the experience to be a community-builder. As the practitioners became better
acquainted with each others expertise in the circle and grew to trust each other, they
freely deferred to one another when they realized that a particular patient would benefit
more from a different approach. They also began referring clients to each other outside of
the circle. Meg says that the patients who have been the subjects of these circles have
appreciated the members honesty in assessing whether or not their form of treatment was
helpful to them.
Briana, the intuitive counselor and teacher of the circle, points out, Even though we
may not feel it on a practical level, the circle allows us to soften, to become more
receptive to seeing things that we might not otherwise see, and hearing things that we

might not otherwise hear.

Megs circles usually address physical issues, but that does not preclude aiding other
ailing parts of self. She recalls one circle when a shaman noted the disruption in the
patients auric field and added, Im just going to pray to the hole in your heart and see
where you have been trying to grieve.
Suddenly the patient began sobbing and said, No ones ever recognized that within me
before.
The psychiatrist in the circle, who had been rolling his eyes minutes earlier, had them
opened instead. Previously he had disparaged energy healers, yet he became one of their
biggest advocates because of what he witnessed in the healing circle.
As a medical anthropologist, Ive come to respect energy-healing work so much,
Meg says.
Were glad to know that more and more members of the allopathic medical and allied
professions are open to the benefits of energy-healing. Our version of the afterlife healing
circle very much involves energy, which we will redefine in order to explain its
connection to the circle, to healing, to spirituality, and to love, which we have already
mentioned is present in the afterlife healing circle and is that which opens us to be more
receptive when we are in the circle.

The preceding are just a few of the examples of how the circle is being used today as a
more community-based and community-directed alternative to traditional ways of doing
things, whether its an alternative to the courts, to time-consuming and costly sequential
medical visits, or to redressing the wounds of an entire nation polarized by racial laws.
Megs circles, for example, are considered experimental efficiency models, and she hopes
to compile evidence of their efficacy. As such, these circles have not been integrated into
the healthcare insurance reimbursement system. I dont think anyone wants to go that
route with it, she adds.
We understand that sentiment entirely. Megs circles have become a way for adherents
and practitioners of many Western and complementary healing disciplines to transcend the
isolation they experience in their practices and come together to help a patient and enjoy a
community of equals.
According to RestorativeJustic.org, there are at least 20 circumstances in which the use
of the circle as an alternative for problem-solving at a personal or community level is
appropriate. These include places such as youth centers, businesses and the workplace,
prisons, churches, nonprofits, and elder care centers, as well as subjects such as
community planning, inmate re-entry into society, veterans needs, environmental cleanup,
recovery from trauma and grief, and support of the dying and their families in hospice.10
But in all of these examples of how the circle can be a helpful, even trail-blazing
alternative, there is no mention of using circles to reach out to the other sideto speak
with those not in physical bodies. Our version of the circle is a lot further out of the
mainstream than other circles. It all depends on how we define community, however. We
believe that community is incomplete if it does not include those who are not in physical

bodiesthe other side. We talk all the time with our spirit guides, who play a key role in
the afterlife healing circle, and who most definitely do not have bodies that we perceive as
physical. We also work with nonphysical beings during our energy-healing sessions. We
consider them our colleagues and beloved friends, and they are no more imaginary than
we are.
The other side is a lot closer than many of us realize or perhaps care to acknowledge.
Anyone, in fact, can speak to the so-called dead and the not yet born. Later in this book we
recount stories of people who did not set out to communicate with the other side, but
nonetheless received all manner of communications from souls not in bodies that we
consider physical. We will explain how to identify and enhance these intuitive
communications, because they happen constantly, even if we do not recognize them as
such, and because we need them for the afterlife healing circle to succeed.

According to the well-known Western European myth of Camelot, King Arthur

gathered his knights at a circular table. He chose that particular table configuration to
foster a sense of equality among his knights by eliminating the head and foot of the more
common rectangular table shape. This inevitably produced tension between the ideal of
social equality, as embodied in the round table, and the reality of the decidedly nonegalitarian political hierarchy that Arthur led as monarch. Unlike the circle, Camelot did
not endure.
Today, we love the circle as a group healing practice for the same reason Arthur did:
the shape gives all participants equal standing. As Jean Shinoda Bolen writes in her book
The Millionth Circle, a circle is nonhierarchicalthis is what equality is like. This is
how a culture behaves when it listens and learns from everyone in it.11 The circle puts
into action our belief in the fundamental spiritual equality of all created souls. When we
circle, the lines of resistance disappear and we are in flow, Meg pointed out. When we
stay in hierarchy, we stay in top-down authoritative lines of inquiry, and deep healing is
not facilitated.
We agree. Healing is far more complete and powerful if we play an active role in it. So
is our connection to spirit, to God. We do not fare well if we outsource it to others. We
have made and are now trying to rectify two huge mistakes: First, we divorced healing
from spirituality and tried to leave it solely in the domain of science. Its a classic example
of trying to live and function out of only one part of our beingin this case, the mental
body. Something huge is missing from the purely scientific model of healing, as many
scientists and physicians now acknowledge and are trying to change. Second, and even
more insidious and harmful, we outsourced our connection to God and spirituality to topdown hierarchies. Under these systems emerged a class of anointed or appointed priests,
pastors, lamas, gurus, masters, and so on, who presumably possessed greater spiritual
connections or pull than everyone else. Holding themselves out as closer to God, the
Divine, or Nirvana (or however each particular religion or faith expresses it), these
spiritual overseers then insisted on mediating and dictating to the rest of us the conditions
of our relationship with God/Source/Allah/Universal Mind (choose any comfortable label;
we prefer the word God because its concise and to the point).

There is an old saying along the lines that if we allow others to do something for us,
eventually they will do something to us. Never has this proven truer than in spiritual
matters. Think back to the recent sexual abuse scandals in the Catholic Church around the
globe. Other faiths are by no means immune from such travesties. For example,
polygamist Warren Jeffs of the Fundamentalist Church of Latter-Day Saints will spend the
rest of his days in prison for raping a 14-year-old child and facilitating more such rapes of
underage girls. And in 1993, 80-plus members of the Branch Davidians remained with
David Koresh to perish in a fire near Waco, Texas. Similarly, more than 900 members of
the Peoples Temple obeyed the order of their leader, Jim Jones, to kill themselves in
Guyana in 1978. Granted, these are extreme examples, but they are the logical outcome of
handing over ultimate spiritual authority to anyone or anything other than ourselves, and
then hoping to ride to Heaven or Nirvana or wherever on that persons or institutions
ostensibly purified coattails. This is dangerous because it strips us of a great deal of our
native spiritual power and transfers that power illegitimately outside of ourselves. Loss of
personal power and authority is why parents allowed a church leader sexual access to their
young daughters. Its why boys and girls remained silent when parish priests sexually
abused them. Its why people stayed to die in the flames or drank the Kool-Aid that ended
their physical bodies. They gave their spiritual power and authority to someone outside of
themselves and thus became vulnerable to abuse and exploitation.
A wise rabbi once told his listeners that the Kingdom of God is within. Jesus was not
referring to a physical structure like a church, a mosque, a temple, or an ashram. He was
talking about what is within the self, inside the heart and spirit that truly defines who we
are as physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual beings. Too many of us, even those who
profess to be Christians, act as though we dont believe him. We look everywhere except
within for a relationship or connection with the divine. In vesting our trust externally, we
give over our power to the rabbi or the priest, the pastor or the imam, the lama or the guru,
just as we have handed over healing authority to physicians or political authority to
elected politicians.
Tragically, and inevitably, some among them betray us. They cannot help it. They are
human, just as we are, and despite all pretensions to the contrary, they dont know
anything more about the divine or healing or running a country than the rest of us, and
they are no better connected or more insightful than we.
No person and no institution has the right or authority to stand between or define our
relationship (or lack thereof) with God/Source/Divine/Universe. No one. Our relationship
with God (or whatever you wish to call it) is one of the most critical relationships we will
ever have. It is far too central to our wellbeing and wholeness to vest it in someone elses
jurisdiction. It is ours alone to nurture and grow, although we are certainly free to seek out
help and advice along the way. Thats why God didnt stop with Adam in fleshing out
creation. We are here to help each other, not step on each others spiritual toes or order
each others spiritual business. It just so happens that the afterlife healing circle is a
moving and beautiful way to help others in need.

We the authors, Jana and Candace, did not start out believing in the fundamental
spiritual equality of all created souls. We each came to this place by experiencing our own

personal equivalent of that burning yet unconsumed bush. Our life experiences opened us
to a greater reality and to reclaiming our personal power so that we could exercise it in a
loving, giving manner, such as conducting, participating in, and promoting the afterlife
healing circle through this book.
The following chapter relates our stories in brief and how we began to incorporate the
healing circle into our practices as energy healers.

Chapter 3

We learned many years ago that community is missing something profound when we
do not include our spirit guides as members. By implication, of course, community also
includes God, but well take this one step at a time.
As it turns out, spirit guides, also known as angels, play a key role in keeping the
afterlife healing circle safe and secure. We have come to rely on their love, protection, and
practical support not only during the healing circle, but in our daily lives as well. It took a
personal crisis, however, for both of us to open up to a larger perspective.

Jana was at her wits end. The restaurant she owned was failing, she owed the IRS a
huge sum of money that she did not have, and her long-term partner had just ended their
relationship.
She returned to an empty house at twilight after work one day and hit bottom, in a crisis
of despair. She sank to her knees. There has to be something more, she said out loud,
even though no one was in the room with her.
Are you asking? a voice said clearly, outside of her head. She was too stunned to
respond.
Are you asking? the voice repeated in an even more urgent tone.
I guess I am, she answered finally. Are you God? she wondered in silence.
No, she heard, followed by gentle laughter.
Jana cringed. In her limited understanding, she believed that the only other option was
a name she could not bring herself even to think about, much less speak out aloud.
No, Im not him, either, the voice said. More laughter. It was disconcerting that this
invisible stranger could read her mind.
Jana summoned her courage. Then who are you?
I am a friend who has been with you since the beginning of your time, which Jana
understood to be the start of her life. You have many more friends, and when the time is
right, Ill be happy to introduce you to the others. My main function is to help you with
your spiritual growth.
Im going crazy, Jana thought.
The room filled with a yellow-white light. Yellow was the color Jana had always
associated with unconditional love. Such a love was what she felt now; soft, sweet, warm,
gentle, and yet strong. Soon, all that Jana could feel was that love, herself, and that being
beside her. She knew that love came as much from God as it did from the voice. Her
doubts, fears, and depression melted away.

What is your name? she asked.

Dozens and dozens of names flashed before Janas inner vision.
I have been all of these names and more over many lives.
Who were you in your most recent life?
I was a member of the Yaqui tribe.
Then may I call you Yaqui?
Yes. I know you have many questions and I will be happy to answer some of them
now.
Jana again summoned her courage. Is God displeased with me?
Oh no, my child.
Then why is He doing this to me? Why is my life in such a mess?
He is not doing this to you. This was the only way you could bring yourself to ask for
help.
That hit home. Jana had never asked anyone for anything. Even as a child, she used
baby-sitting money to buy school supplies instead of expecting her parents to pay. Now
she was in a position of having to turn to others for assistance. It was humbling.
They talked and talked. Yaqui offered her an entirely new way of thinking and feeling.
The only other time she had ever felt this close to the divine was when, as a girl, she had
sung hymns in the church choir. She wanted to keep that feeling of connection.
Time passed, but Jana was not aware of her body. Only when Yaquis love finally faded
away did she realize that hours had gone by, and she was still on her knees.

Jana had graduated from high school intending to become a minister of religious
education, because traditional religion was the only avenue she knew about at the time.
But after her first internship, she realized that was not the route for her. She left college
and looked for a job, hoping that work would fill the inner void.
By the time she met Yaqui, Jana had racked up experience in industries that ranged
from commercial airlines and hospitals to credit unions and fast food. But the spiritual was
never lost, even if Jana did not recognize its presence until Yaqui and her other guides
pointed it out to her.
She had always been a counselor, teacher, and healer, even if she did not think of
herself that way. Complete strangers were always spilling their hearts and secrets to her
and asking her for advice and perspective. She often career coached subordinates who
were not doing well at or happy with their jobs, with the result that she never had to fire
anyone. She was constantly showing her staff how to work better and more efficiently, or
being that shoulder to lean on when they had personal problems. All of it was counseling,
teaching, and healing, simply without the job titles or traditional degrees.
Jana mentioned her experience with Yaqui to one of her best customers, with whom she

often had long talks after the restaurant closed following lunch. The woman told her about
a place where she was planning to get some training in developing her intuition and
offered to fund Janas studies. They planned to teach classes together.
Jana went for it. She studied to become an intuitive counselor, a person who uses help
from her own and her clients spirit guides to cut through the confusion and get to the
heart of the issue. She learned a healing method that works with the energy of human
consciousness and emotions. Next, she trained extensively to teach courses on consciously
using the soul or inner senses (also known as psychic abilities), which, like spirit guides,
play a key role in the healing circle and any activity that involves spirituality and growth.
Jana has always been eerily good at using her soul senses to tune into what transpires in
other peoples hearts and minds. In the years ahead, psychologists, licensed professional
counselors, business owners, and consultants would come to Jana for advice and
perspective whenever they were stumped. When Jana taught a class, did one-to-one
counseling, or did therapy with clients individually, her love and the love of Yaqui and her
guides would flow through and gob-smack people on the receiving end.
Who are you? a soon-to-be client/student asked Jana not long after encountering her
at a Seth conference. Jana often heard that question or some variant of it.
No one special, she always replied. What I can do, you can doeveryone can do.
During the summer of 1986, Jana still had a day job and was trying to pull together
entry-level classes on soul-sense development. In July, one of the students who attended a
two-weekend course was coauthor Candace.

Like Jana, Candace had turned to work in an effort to fill that emptiness within. Unlike
Janas variety of jobs in different industries, however, Candace focused on journalism.
Putting words on paper was her one marketable skill. For the previous decade, she had
been employed full time for daily and weekly newspapers as a copy editor and reporter. At
the time of the class, Candace earned a living as a senior editor for an advertising trade
publication.
Journalism was even more decidedly male-dominated back in the 1970s through the
mid-1980s than it is today. Once Candace specialized in business reporting, almost all of
her colleagues and editors were male. Candace had developed a tough professional shell in
order to survive and function in the newsroom. Arriving at the Dallas Times Herald during
the height of its war with its cross-downtown rival, Candace discovered she was good at
beating her competitors to stories on her business beats.
Similar to many of her ink-stained colleagues, Candace dreamed of writing and
publishing the Great American Novel, or something close to it. A typical introverted
wordsmith, she read voraciously in her meager spare time. Although she told herself it
was research for that novel she intended to write, it was also her way of exploring what
she called the alternative explanation. Candace never bought into conventional wisdom
on anything. In any topicpolitics, medicine, history, religion, life in generalCandace
didnt take the accepted story at face value. She learned from experience as a reporter that
so-called facts are slippery little devils, and that highly prized objectivity is more of a

myth than unicorns.

Candace was looking for answersher own answers, ones that resonated with her, not
those handed down by some authority. She wasnt looking for a master or a guru or a
priest or a pastor to tell her what to believe or how to live. For that reason much of what
passed for New Age and New Thought in the mid-1980s didnt interest her, because she
regarded it as yet another way to control people. Candace was unabashedly independent.
Her need to do for herself, experience for herself, and find her own answers led her to
encounter a program that taught participants about how to recognize and access their
psychic abilities for themselves. That suited Candace, because she wasnt looking for a
psychic or a medium. Although there were local instructors offering this course, Candace
headed more than 50 miles west to the class that Jana was teaching. It was that class that
called her name.

When Candace met Jana for the first time and heard her speak, one of the first thoughts
that popped into her head was, Shes a lot like Judith. That was the name of an important
character in the novel that Candace intended to write. (Much later Candace discovered that
Jana and Judith are indeed one and the same soul.) Candace also saw and felt, vaguely,
how easily Jana comprehended her students real questions, the ones they could not always
put into words. Jana chatted breezily about her relationship with her spirit guides, too.
The class accelerated a deep longing within Candace, who, underneath that hard-shell
journalist exterior was a gooey mess of unresolved spiritual and emotional pain. She was
in a world of hurt and had major emotional problems, although she could not recognize it
because her mind and heart were literally disconnected. Candaces guides, however, went
straight to Jana and, throughout the course, pleaded with her to do something. Jana also
felt the tug of Candaces badly wounded emotional body. Candaces protective cover
didnt fool Jana one bit.
After the last class of the first weekend, Jana casually invited Candace down to a
floating dock on Eagle Mountain Lake that belonged to the home where the program was
being held. What transpired was an impromptu healing session, which moved Candace to
agree to the healing method Jana practiced called Sunan therapy. After just six sessions
and her first conscious meeting with her own guides, and Candaces emotional and
spiritual reality had shifted 180 degrees. Her mental and emotional bodies reconnected,
Candace began communicating with her guides daily through automatic writing, which
did not (and still doesnt) involve any strange phenomena.
Filled with hope, Candace was determined to help bring Janas work to a wider
audience. The woman Jana originally intended to partner with had become preoccupied
with a family crisis. Jana had tried to help her as much as possible, but the woman became
more and more wrapped up in a nasty battle and was not in a place to teach. Jana accepted
Candaces offer to establish a school where she could devote herself full time to
counseling, teaching, and healing. Candaces job provided a base of financial support.
At the outset, Candace was more of an observer and supporter than a participant. She
met and liked Janas students and clients, but was not directly involved in the work, except

when Candace undertook more Sunan therapy with Jana as her therapist. That changed,
however, when Candace was able to participate in the afterlife healing circle that Jana had
scheduled for a Saturday afternoon. Candace was intrigued but had no idea what to expect.

Clara Jones (a pseudonym) was a school teacher who suffered a devastating emotional
and spiritual wound that refused to heal for two decades, despite some of the best
psychiatric treatment in the world.
Clara was raised in a small Russian Orthodox community in the eastern United States.
Her mother and father were first-generation immigrants who, Clara realized later, used
their intuitive abilities to survive in a culture they didnt really comprehend. They also
kept their Russian background quiet during the days of Joseph McCarthy and
Congressional investigations of suspected Communist activities.
My mother denied her past and lived a facade, Clara said. When her mother died of
cancer in 1967, Clara felt she had never had the chance to say goodbye to her real mother.
Five years later, Clara began three years of intensive psychiatric therapy with daily
sessions. I felt like they literally dug me out of a grave, she said of the physicians who
attended her. The doctors, however, were unable to help her resolve her feelings about her
mother. During therapy, Clara would sense her mothers presence. Feelings that she had
lived other lives would also take hold of her. The doctors called it her imagination and
dismissed it. They didnt know how to address her spiritual or emotional needs.
Clara tried psychotherapy again in the 1980s and stuck with it for five months. The
same thing happened: traditional therapy could help her to a certain point; past that point,
it was of no further use to her. I felt a pressure that no one could help me with, she said.
When your problems touch on the spiritual, traditional doctors cant do much. I had a
spiritual injury that I couldnt ignore.
Prodded by her intense and deep-seated need for healing, Clara was open to an
alternative approach to grief resolution. Her desire to resolve this issue eventually led her
to a counseling session with Jana through Claras daughter, who was one of Janas
students and had mentioned her mothers problem.
Jana offered to conduct the afterlife healing circle for Clara, who immediately agreed to
it even though her daughter had some doubts. I knew the offer [of the afterlife healing
circle] was right. I felt it, Clara explained.
Despite her confidence, Clara was taken aback by the proceedings. It was shocking
when I realized how real it was.
Three years after that afterlife healing circle, Clara told Candace that it enabled her at
last to make peace with her mothertwo decades after her mothers physical body had
died. Clara found that other areas of her life also healed. She felt more at ease with herself
and less compelled to be with other people just to avoid being by herself. Equally
important to her was that she now had some terms for the intuitive abilities that were
always so natural to her and her parents. It was a tremendous eye-opener to realize the
reality of life after death and that other people felt this way, Clara said.

Ironically, it was the healing circle that reconciled Clara to the church of her childhood,
which she rejoined not long after her circle. The church is not open to this subject, but
Im in a whole different space, she said. As a result of the afterlife healing circle, when
Clara made the sign of the cross and followed other rituals, she was now aware of a much
deeper spiritual dimension. The ceremonies came to hold a rich and very personal
meaning for her. She no longer regarded the rites as just motions done by rote and handed
down as someone elses truth.
Clara wasnt the only person amazed by her afterlife healing circle. Candace, too, was
floored by how much intuitive information she and others received during that circle.
Similar to the other participants, Candace was moved to tears of joy and gratitude during
the emotional reunion between Clara and her mother. Everyone present experienced and
celebrated the reality of life after death.
The effect of this simple proceeding was staggering. Candace had to shake her head
and smile, because if anyone had told her just a year earlier that she would be part of
something like this, she would have thought this person was crazy and would have said so
in no uncertain terms. Not anymore. The afterlife healing circle was precisely the kind of
personal spiritual experience Candace so very much wanted and insisted on rather than
words handed down from an authority. Indeed, she had never witnessed the presence of
God in quite the same gripping and moving manner in which she has experienced it
repeatedly during the afterlife healing circle.

Eventually, Jana trained Candace along with other students to be intuitive counselors,
using their soul senses and clients spirit guides to obtain helpful information and to
conduct the healing circle when it was appropriate. Jana also trained Candace and others
in Sunan therapy, an intuitive approach to resolving deep emotional and spiritual wounds
and issues. From time to time, either clients or students of these counselors needed the
afterlife healing circle. Candace tried to participate whenever her work schedule allowed,
because the afterlife healing circle, for her, was far more moving and powerful than any
traditional religious service she had ever attended. It spoke far more eloquently about
everlasting life than any sermon ever could, and evoked more joy and faith than any text,
however sacred.

When we work as intuitive counselors or energy-healers using the Sunan method, we

do not adhere rigidly to any type of system that the left brain might understand or
recognize. Members of the Sunan Society explain that the approach they have imparted to
us incorporates and blends many ancient and diverse traditions of wisdom and healing that
have arisen on earth and elsewhere.
For the purposes of the afterlife healing circle, we can boil the Sunan method down to
three simple principles:
1. Love
2. Connection

3. Trust
Love means we know how to send and receive unconditional love. We keep mentioning
the presence of love during the afterlife healing circle because it is so critical. Well
explain more about that special kind of love and how it makes the healing circle, as we
practice it, both possible and healing.
Connection means simply that we always keep the flow of love open among us, our
clients, the invisible healers who are supporting and helping us, and the divine. This
definitely applies during the afterlife healing circle.
Trust is really about self-trust. We have enough self-trust that we trust the information
about the client that we receive in that flow of love. The information doesnt have to be
logical or rational or make sense to us because its not for us; its for the client. Trust (in
self) is a definite must for the afterlife healing circle, which often reveals to participants
information that seems strange because its not for them; its for the person they are trying
to help.
These principles are tough for many people to apply. They pose a challenge for
beginners and even for those who have more experience in our version of the afterlife
healing circle. But applying these principles is absolutely essential, as Candace was to
witness many more times after the amazing circle that Clara found so powerfully healing.

Chapter 4

When we want to contact souls on the other side, most of us usually think about
connecting with someone whose physical body has died. Fewer of us realize we may also
contact souls who have not yet been born. The same principles of love, connection, and
trust apply in both circumstances. And because the soul is a continuum that exists not only
in an afterlife, but during a beforelife, too, such communication is possible.
If there is a genuine need to speak with a soul not yet born, we use the afterlife healing
circle to make that encounter safe and productive, devoid of drama or phenomena that just
get in the way and are not at all helpful.

Debra Wilde (another pseudonym) was trapped in an agony of indecision.

Her eight-year marriage to a man older than she, of another nationality, culture, and
religion, had never been easy. Now it was threatening to founder on the shoals of severe
financial strain and quarrels over inlaws. At age 29, she already had one child, a daughter
nearly 3 years old, and she was pregnant again. This time, Debra couldnt feel the joy so
many women experience upon learning this news. She feared the possibility of raising not
one but two children by herself. How would she find the courage to give birth again?
Should she consider an abortion? The choice was overwhelming. Her husband didnt
make things any easier for her. He said the decision was hers and refused to discuss his
feelings about the pregnancy, leaving Debra even more isolated and in greater pain.
Then a friend suggested the afterlife healing circle. I didnt realize you could do one
for an unborn child, Debra said. She contacted Jana and discussed the situation, and Jana
agreed to conduct a circle for her.
Although her husband didnt believe in all this metaphysical stuff, as Jana calls it, he
accompanied Debra and participated in the session, partly out of curiosity, but mostly out
of genuine, although inarticulate, concern for his wife. A couple who were friends of
Debra and her husband also took part. Both of them, accomplished professionals, had
never done anything like this before. At that time they were just becoming interested in
spiritual growth and alternative healing. We always emphasize one point about the
afterlife healing circle: We dont have to be professional psychics, or even consider
ourselves to have any psychic ability, to take part in and contribute to a healing circle. We
need only apply the three principles: love, connection, and trust.
During our afterlife healing circle for Debra, a little soul comes to stand in the middle
of our circle, undetectable to the five physical senses but perceptible nonetheless. Tousled
dark hair spills out from under a tight-fitting, old-style aviator helmet. Hethis soul
clearly presents his form as maleis wearing a jumpsuit and a scarf. In the hand that he
holds up is a model airplane that dives and loops and curls when he waves his arm. Next
to him is what looks like an architects model of an office building, almost as tall as he.

He is a self-assured soul with a genuine sweetness about him. There is also a hint of
mischief and of a very strong will. He knows what he wants for this physical lifetime. He
wants to fly airplanes. He tells us he has chosen Debras husband as a father partly
because her husband is a licensed pilot with thousands of hours in the cockpit. He also
says hes interested in architecture and designing things.
He has a very full agenda for his next sojourn on earth. Hes so cute and bright and
cheery that he moves some of us to smiles as we gather this information through our soul
senses and pass it on to his would-be mother and father.
Then Debra blurts out a few jumbled phrases. She can barely put her feelings into
words to explain to this soul why she is so reluctant just now to continue this pregnancy.
Her painful quandary and distress are so palpable, so immediate, that Candaces eyes fill
with tears. Others react the same way.
The little aviator quickly understands. I can wait, he assures Debra several times
during the session. If the time is not right, Ill wait.
Before the afterlife healing circle is over, the little aviator makes sure we all understand
one thing: when he finally does arrive, by golly, he wants to be known by his fathers
middle name.
Candace cant help nodding. The name suits him.

Immediately after her circle, Debra found that the nausea she had been experiencing in
the early stages of her pregnancy simply vanished. My whole attitude changed, she said.
The pregnancy became something I accepted. And it did something else for me; it made
me realize that even if my marriage didnt stay together, I still wanted the baby. It gave me
more confidence in myself. Im so glad now I chose to keep the baby. He came to help me
with balance.
The afterlife healing circle helped Debra sort through her dilemma. Her marriage ended
in divorce, and not long afterward, she sold her business and moved out of state. The little
aviator touched down on planet earth the following spring, and is now in his 20s. Debra
eventually remarried.

Debra and Clara immensely appreciated and benefitted from the afterlife healing circle,
but many others will not. We took some lumps learning this lesson. One of Janas students
introduced an acquaintance who asked for the afterlife healing circle. Janas intuition
waved a big red flag of doubt about this womans true motives, but she was so insistent
and emotionally needy that Jana agreed to do it. That proved to be a big mistake. The
woman wanted to communicate with her late husband, not for healing resolution, but to
find out where he had stashed a mind-boggling sum of drug money. He was murdered
because his drug connections knew he had been holding back on payments. His death was
grisly and depressing, as we witnessed it once again during the session.
Even worse, the people who killed him were ruthless and determined to find that
money one way or another. Had the woman discovered its whereabouts during the circle,

her own physical safetyand possibly the security of all those who participated with her
could have been in jeopardy. Jana called an abrupt halt to the circle before the location
of the money could be determined. Even the womans late husband, once he was in the
circle, repeatedly implored her to forget about what he called blood money and get on
with rebuilding her life. She was less than receptive to that urgent message.
To this date, this has been the only afterlife healing circle involving Candace that
evoked complaints afterward from some of the participants. Mostly, they were amazed the
woman wanted anything to do with the money. They realized the extreme danger, even if
she chose to ignore it. Looking back after many years, Jana suspected the woman took part
in her late husbands drug dealings.
Since then we have been even more careful when screening people who ask for the
afterlife healing circle. We call such a person the inquirer. A request is the first guideline.
We make it known that we are capable of conducting the afterlife healing circle and
willing to do so, and then we allow an inquirer, such as Clara or Debra, to make a request
of us. Next, we establish that the inquirer has some sort of emotional tie to the soul to be
contacted that is reciprocated. This two-way connection can be through kinship or
friendship; it doesnt matter, and we dont need or want to know the precise nature of the
relationship. That usually becomes apparent during the circle.
The love connection counts above all else. The emotional bond and recognition are
what draw the soul in question to the afterlife healing circle. When you circle with men
and women who are all coming together for a similar purpose, it sends out a beaconthat
our ancestors can come and make themselves known, explained Brianna, the intuitive
counselor and teacher. They have a safe space.
Even disembodied souls want and need reassurance about their security. This is
obvious, if we think about it. If we were walking down the street and someone in the
middle of a group called out our name, would we respond to the summons? We might, if
we recognized and cared about the person calling our name. If we didnt know anyone
there, most likely we would ignore the call and continue on our way, probably at a little
faster clip than before. Unless, of course, we crave attention or, even worse, want to stir up
trouble. This is why adoring fans are more likely to contact an impersonator of Michael
Jackson, Princess Diana, or Elvis Presley who is no longer in a physical body, not the soul
who actually lived as one of these well-known people. The fans hold no emotional draw
for any of these three, even if the fans worshipped their idols from afar. Those who might
be able to reach the Gloved One, the princess, or the King of Rock n Roll are their family
members or close friends. The only way to find out for certain is to conduct the afterlife
healing circle with one or more of these people present. The need for a two-way emotional
connection between the inquirer and the soul(s) in question helps minimize the
inappropriate use of the afterlife healing circle. This simple procedure is most definitely
not intended as a means of invading where we have not been invited, even if it is tempting
to try to be of service.
Some time ago we discussed more than once the possibility of using the afterlife
healing circle for all the souls who remain caught up in a major plane crash near where we
live, but we dont stand much of a chance of being successful without involving at least
one person with a very close emotional tie to someone whose physical body perished in

the accident. We are not acquainted with anyone in that situation, and no such person has
come forward to ask us for help. If such a person were to agree to act as the inquirer, then
that person might be able, with the help of a group, to attract the attention of at least one
soul. Then we could all help that soul realize that the pain is over and that it is free to
move on. That soul, in turn, might be able to get other souls still lingering at the crash site
to come to the group to hear the same message. The group would also help set them free
and show them the way to the light of Gods unconditional love.
That is what is known as a soul rescue. It is one of the most loving and generous acts
any of us can do for someone else. Even so, we need the permission and participation of
someone affected by the situation.

At first, Jana thought her client was exaggerating in her description of the
circumstances that bothered her. The woman was worried about the physical safety of her
house and her neighbors dwellings, too. The more the client talked about her unsettling
visions, and once Jana tuned in to the situation using her intuition, she realized that there
were souls around her client with issues that the afterlife healing circle could help resolve.
A soul rescue could be done. Candace made phone calls and arranged for a group of
clients and students to meet at the womans house one fall evening.

Many years after the circle were about to describe, Yaqui explained to us that these
souls were a breakaway group of cliff-dwelling Native Americans from the desert
southwest. Men, women, and children, walked east many hundreds of miles looking for a
place where they could rebuild their lives and live in peace. Eventually they arrived at a
low-lying locale near a source of water and set up a temporary camp. They intended to
move on because they knew they were crossing disputed territory claimed by several
tribes, and it was not safe to linger, but seemed a good spot to stop and take an extended
rest, hidden from prying eyes.
They were not concealed well enough. Attackers caught them by surprise and
slaughtered every one of them, leaving their bodies where they fell to rot under the sun,
untended and unburied. The land, soaked with their blood, eventually claimed their bones.
Later their remains were covered over by the houses of what grew into one of the affluent
cities next to Dallas, Texas. It was as though these people had been washed away and
never even existed on this earth.
Lost and seemingly forgotten, they remembered and waited, unwilling to depart despite
the entreaties of their ancestors urging these souls in limbo to move into the light.

Leading the afterlife healing circle, Jana is astonished by how many souls gather on the
outside of the circle formed by the volunteers and the client. She feels their presence as a
tremendous pressure. She says, All the souls who lived in this area and are upset and not
free, please come into the circle. Only one of them enters, and her impression of him is of
an older Native American man chosen to be the spokesman for the hundreds and hundreds

who are present.

She feels the man vacillate between rage and deep sadness. His rage is from the
disrespect shown to his body and the bodies of his family and his tribe. What soulless
thing could have done this? Jana feels him ask repeatedly. He has been trying to
understand for what those in physical bodies would consider many, many lifetimes.
What has infuriated the elderly man and his tribe is not the killing of their physical
bodies, Jana realizes. They knew they were trespassing and accepted both the risk and the
consequences. They would have done the same to those who encroached on their hunting
grounds, because such actions took food out of their mouths and the mouths of their
families and tribe. What keeps them livid, unable to move on, is the disrespect shown to
their bodies, which were not given the proper rites. The ultimate insult is all of the
construction on top of what these souls consider sacred ground where the dead lie,
unacknowledged. They find the situation intolerable, soulless, and cannot let it go and
depart.
Then one member of the circle sends the old man a huge shot of love, telling him,
Youre right. They were soulless. But I dont think they knew you had ever been here.
We certainly didnt.
We acknowledge your presence now and honor you with our love and respect, Jana
adds quickly. Beyond the circle she perceives the loving light and the voices of their
ancestors, still calling out to them, still urging those who linger to join them. They have
been waiting a long time for their loved ones.
Jana asks the group to help her encourage these trapped souls to move through the
circle to the light. At long last, it is enough. Their anger subsides enough for them to
perceive the light and their ancestors, ready to welcome them home. As they move
through the circle, their energy feels like a hurricane to Jana.
Go in peace, Jana and the other members of the circle tell him and all of the other
souls who finally can leave this place to move into the light and into a new life. The old
man, the last to depart, looks every member of the circle in the eye and nods his thanks to
each one.

In the case of this healing circle, although the client did not personally know the souls
in question, she had an intimate connection to them, thanks to the location of her home on
the ground where their bodies had fallen and decayed. Without such a legitimate tie, we
have no right to butt in, however well-meaning our intentions. The road to we-knowwhere is paved with good intentions, and we have had no intention of heading in that
direction.

Chapter 5

We truly have no desire to encounter the scary or the bizarre during the afterlife healing
circle. To keep the experience positive, uplifting, and safe, we are as careful about our
motives for conducting one in the first place as we are about the motives of those asking
for the circle.
The safest motive for offering the afterlife healing circle is to be of service to others
nothing more and nothing less. More dicey motives might be to entertain, to defraud, or to
demonstrate how truly spiritual we are. We most likely would experience negative
consequences if we offered the circle with any variation of the latter three as our primary
intent.
As mentioned in Chapter 4, the motives of those who ask for the afterlife healing circle
are equally important to its safety and success. We conduct the afterlife healing circle only
when there is a genuine need for healing resolution between a soul in a physical body and
a soul who is not.
The situation of Clara and the client who needed a soul rescue are typical. People
usually want to reach someone who has left the physical world, someone we think of as
dead. Yet what works for the so-called deceased also applies to those not yet born into the
physical, as Debra and other soon-to-be parents have discovered.

Rondi was 40 years old and had suffered multiple miscarriages. Around January of
1993, she went through yet another such experience and believed she no longer was
pregnant. Yet her body never really got back to normal; her uterus seemed to keep
expanding. Finally, about April, Rondi went to the doctor and had a sonogram to reveal
what was transpiring inside of her.
She was still pregnantwith twins!
Rondi was happy, but her husband, Marc, was in a state of anxious shock. He already
had two teen boys by his first marriage and wasnt certain he was ready to go through
caring for infants again. Mostly he was scared. He lost his first wife to complications from
childbirth and could not help fearing the worst this time, given Rondis age for a first
birth. She also had concerns about her physical condition and how the pregnancy was
going to work out. They asked for the afterlife healing circle and Jana agreed. On the
appointed day Candace participated, too.

It takes a bit of coaxing to bring the first twin into the circle. She feels very large,
Marc says.
This soul presents herself as a fully grown, very determined young woman. She wants
you to know shes as old as you are, Jana tells her parents. We all laugh.

Candace understands intuitively that her name is very important to her, so we ask her
what she wants to be called and she guides us to a choice she finds acceptable.
What is it you wish your mother and father to know? Jana prompts her.
This soul loves her mothers heart, and tells Rondi that she is far more loving than she
has given herself credit for being.
Quit worrying, the soul adds through Jana. You cant screw up. It takes two to learn
and two to share.
The souls deep emotions touch all of our hearts. She turns to Marc, who, she says, was
her father in a previous life. You werent as open to your heart then as you are now, she
explains through Jana, and she always desperately wanted to have your love and could
never feel it. She can now.
Everyones eyes fill with tears.
This souls purpose for this physical life? To love with hope, not attachment, and to
help others learn to do the same.
In what way would you express that? Jana asks.
In every way, she replies, showing Candace an image of a young woman spreading
seeds of joy and nurturing them with her watering can.
Her lifes lesson is learning patience and sharing with joy, love, and compassion. That
is one of the reasons she is coming into the world with a twin.
Intense, her father says about her.
No, powerful, Jana suggests. She has a sense of humor that intense people tend not
to have.
The soul also explains she needs to learn more about self-love and how to balance
being a spiritual being with a physical being. She asks both of her parents for help with
this lesson.
She again says she is grateful for your acceptance, Jana tells Marc and Rondi. You
could have chosen otherwise.
Is there anything I can do to make you feel more welcome or healthier? Rondi asks.
Her parents warm welcome is enough for her. She tells them not to worry about her
health, because she is strong, but she does have concerns about her brother, whose
physical body does not have the same stamina as hers.
Take care of yourself, she urges Rondi. I want a healthy mother.
So do I, Marc chimes in quickly.
Jana asks her to step outside the circle so that her brother may enter and speak to their
parents. Instead, she brings him inside and hovers close by, protecting him. Unlike his outfront sister, this soul radiates a gentle, soft energy, similar to a summer breeze. He offers
two strong names, and his parents suggest an adaptation of one of them, to which he
agrees.

Such a sweet energy, Jana whispers. Go ahead and embrace your mother and
father.
Rondi sobs and Marc clears his throat.
He says, I love you. Hes been with you before, a little role reversal here. Hes been
your father.
Why did you choose us this time? Rondi manages to inquire.
Because you needed me and she [his sister] needs you, he explains through Jana.
This soul already understands unconditional love and will help his parents with self-love.
The boy asks his parents to treat him and his sister as individuals, not as twins. He
specifically requests that his mother, a vegetarian, consume more protein during her
pregnancy. Just talk to me, he also tells her. Youre always talking to her [his sister].
Shes just louder. Ask me directlyyoull be able to hear me.
His purpose for a physical life is to be a pathfinder for others as a means of finding his
own way. He has a natural bent for fixing things, for taking them apart and putting them
back together, Candace intuits. Watch your car.
Hes a tinkerer of thingsand a tinkerer of philosophy, Jana adds.
This soul will need his parents help in learning to verbalize his emotions. His twin will
want to speak for him but she needs to step back and let him find his way. He wants you
to take the time to draw him out, Candace tells his father.
The parents are concerned about the birth, and he reassures them that he and his sister
will make it as easy as possible for their mother during labor and delivery, and will
probably arrive two to three weeks early. He also reassures them that he will reach out to
their older brothers and help them understand their sister better. They wonder about
Rondis miscarriage early that year. He explains that there was a third soul that opted not
to continue with the pregnancy. They could have chosen younger parents, Jana points out,
but wanted maturityparents who have already met some of the same desires they have
set for themselves.
She asks each soul to enter its fetus to give their mother a boost of energy, which Rondi
feels and reports.
I just want to tell them both how much we love them, she adds through more tears.
Its going to be an incredible experience for all of us.

The rewards of the afterlife healing circle for Rondi and Marc went far beyond some
much-needed reassurance that Rondis pregnancy and birth would be safe. (The twins are
now in their 20s.) Getting to know the two even before they came out of the womb helped
their parents be more relaxed and confident about bringing up their children. To know
some of their quirks and their energy before they were born was very freeing, Marc said.
It was now not a process of trying to discover who your kid is. We already knew them.
It was an allowing, Rondi elaborated. It gave us permission to just allow them to be
who they are without trying to mold them into something.

The afterlife healing circle also aided Rondi in another profound way. She tended to be
quiet and not express herself, but after the circle, she became even more open to her own
heart and to demonstrating her feelings more freely. It definitely had the effect for me of
being a more emotional person, she explained. Feeling that love connection was so
incredibly strong. Thats something Ill never forget.
In the years following their circle, Rondi and Marc have described the experience of
the afterlife healing circle to friends who are open to the concept of soul communication,
and urge other expectant parents to hold the afterlife healing circle to meet their offspring
before birth.
This is something you need to do for your kids, Marc emphasized, pointing out that it
can help parents-to-be prepare for challenges such as a child with a physical or mental
handicap, instead of being surprised and assigning blame.
I dont see how there could be abuse or anything negative because you have such a
different perspective going through the experience [of the afterlife healing circle], Rondi
agreed.
We heartily endorse their viewpoint about the extraordinary value of the circle for
expecting parents. Its one of the reasons we wrote this book.

In addition to resolving grief and helping parents-to-be, the afterlife healing circle can
be helpful in other difficult circumstances such as miscarriage, abortion, or suicide. Many
of us regard such events as the end of a budding life, and even murder. What miscarriage
and abortion really mean is delay. In both situations, the soul will opt not to return to a
physical body, find another mother and father, or wait until the time is better for the
woman who was pregnant.
The third option is what happened for a woman we will call Lori Dell. At age 19, Lori,
an Oregon resident, became pregnant after her birth control failed. With sexual and other
abuse in her past, and needing to do much more work on her own healing, Lori was not
emotionally equipped at that point to be a parent, and neither was her boyfriend. She did
not want to give birth and put the child up for adoption, either. It was simply too much for
her, too overwhelming.
Two months after she chose an abortion, Lori was at her boyfriends house for a
weekend away from college. Asleep that Saturday night, she had a vivid dream. I hesitate
to even call it a dream, because there was something far more real about it, she said.
In that dream, she gave birth to the child, who was a girl. Its like the air spoke, and
told me her name was Ashley. A nurse tried to hand her the newborn, but she refused. I
wouldnt touch her. I couldnt take her. I could not find it in myself to accept her, Lori
recalled. So the nurse gave the infant to her boyfriend, who sat down to hold the child.
He was in love with her instantly.
The dream skipped forward and the little girl was about 3 years old, a beautiful child
with long blond curls. She and Lori were walking together down a street lined with little
shops. They stopped to enter one of them. Something in me just wanted to tell her how

much I loved her and how sorry I was, Lori said. But I couldnt speak. It wouldnt come
out.
She turned toward me and looked me right in the eye and said, Its okay, Mommy. I
understand. She went on into the shop, and I woke up. I remember the incredible sense of
joy and peace. I really wanted to hang onto that.
Later that day, Lori learned that her boyfriend had experienced the first part of the
dream the prior night, too, after he supplied her with exact details she had left out of her
description of her dream to him.
After her abortion, Lori struggled with confusion and mixed feelings. The dream
message from the soul that wanted to be her daughter provided some help, but when Lori
later became pregnant with the daughter she gave birth to, those painful feelings
resurfaced, much to her surprise. When this daughter arrived in the physical world, Loris
mother-in-law kept calling the newborn Grace, which was not the name she was given
ultimately. But the word rang a bell for Lori, who regarded the child as a second chance to
have a daughter, her saving grace.
In the shower one morning, it occurred to Lori that her daughter was the same soul as
Ashley, whom she thought of at the time as her saving grace because even though it was
unwanted, the pregnancy moved Lori to take stock of her life and do some work on
herself. Once Lori made the connection between the two daughters, her mother-in-law
never again referred to the child as Grace. That seemingly strange incident of a short-term
name was this souls way of helping her mother to realize that she had come back to her
and was now growing up.

Not all who suffer through a miscarriage or choose to end a pregnancy have help from
a loving soul who knows how to communicate in order to ease her parents hearts and
spirits. In such cases, the afterlife healing circle can be enormously beneficial. It enables
both sides to sort out their feelings and say what they want to say but previously believed
they would not ever have a chance to.
Sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS, or crib death) is an excruciating event often
caused by a soul having a change of heart about the physical life it chose. The soul
removes its energy from the infants physical body, which then dies from causes that
medical science still cannot pinpoint with certainty, although there are a number of
theories. The anguish that ensues after crib death can be alleviated through the afterlife
healing circle. It allows the parents to obtain answers for the seemingly unanswerable
question of Why? and arrive at a deeper understanding that they are not to blame.
The same applies in cases of suicide. In the circle, the soul(s) in body and those on the
other side have the chance to arrive at answers they find healing. We hope that, if nothing
else, this book makes clear that suicide does not stop the pain, because the pain is
emotional and spiritual, not just physical. We can kill an ailing physical body, but the
wounds in the heart and spirit remain unresolved by the physical bodys demise.
Please note also that we talk about answers, not the answer. There is no one answer that
fits all when it comes to the profound issues of life and death, being and love. As we have

explained, the afterlife healing circle provides subjective answers to help people obtain
resolution for their unique circumstances and relief for their singular emotional and
spiritual pain. Thats all it can ever be, but thats more than enough, in our opinion.

So far we have mostly discussed the efforts of those in physical bodies to contact souls
who are not embodied, but very often the opposite is what occurs. Those who are not in a
physical body, like Loris once and future daughter, can take the initiative because they
also have a need to connect and explain.
The next chapter shows that although such attempts can be successful, they are often
haphazard and harder than they have to be because both sides do not quite know how to
establish a good connection or how to make the most of it once they do. The afterlife
healing circle as we practice it is ideal to solve these kinds of problems.

Chapter 6

Unlike the shy twin from Chapter 5, not all souls who lack a physical body are reticent
about making their presence known to those who do have one. Indeed, the so-called dead
often take the initiative and reach out to the so-called living first, as do the not-yet born.
We put that modifier in front of the words dead and living because they start to have
very different meanings once we experience the afterlife healing circle. It dawns on us that
what seems like a stark divide between physical life and a vast unknownthe other side
may not be such an unbridgeable, unfathomable chasm after all.
As Briana pointed out in Chapter 2, people from pre-industrial societies were much
more aware on this subject than we moderns, with all of our emphasis on logic, reason,
and technology. They knew their ancestors were still with them in a very real sense
because, unlike us, they did not cut themselves off from that wider awareness and
community that the afterlife healing circle is designed to recapture and put to good use.
Even today, indigenous peoples tend to be closer to the other side and more open about it
than people in industrialized nations.
One truth that astonishes those who are separated from spirit is that the dead and the
not yet born have things they want to tell us, and they do not always wait for us to wise up
and notice them. They find what seem like strange ways to get their messages across
precisely because we are not paying attention and because we inaccurately think we lack
the ability to communicate with the other side.

One day a woman well call Barbara Strong answered the telephone. Her friend, John,
was on the other end with something to tell her. It seemed fairly mundane except for one
slight wrinkle: John had been dead for eight years! Leukemia claimed his life back in
1967, just two days after Barbaras second child was born.
I was shocked, the Texas resident and retired technical documentation writer said.
He told me something important. Naturally, I thought I would remember that to my
grave. I dont.
One day when the phone rang for Barbaras sister, Kate Strong (also a pseudonym), the
machine showed that the call was from the assisted living facility where their mother
lived. It happened not long after Barbaras and Kates father had passed on. Kate
answered, but no one was on the other end of the line. She tried phoning her mother and
got no response. Next she dialed the number displayed by caller ID and was told that no
one from the residence had tried to phone her. The staff offered to check up on her mother,
but Kate decided to do so herself. She found her mother in her bedroom with an arm
wedged between the bed and the wall so tightly it was bleeding from her efforts to free
herself.
In my mind, it was definitely Daddy calling to let me know Mother needed help,

Kate said.
Kates deceased father has reached out to her in other ways, too. Right after his funeral
in Austin, Kate and her husband, Jack, were driving home. Looking at the clouds out of
the car window, Kate asked silently, Daddy, if youre okay, send me a sign in the clouds.
Instantly realizing she wouldnt be able to make out anything she wanted to see, she
altered her request: Daddy, send a sign to Jack instead.
She casually suggested that her husband scan the sky at the next red light. See what
you can make out.
At the next signal, Jack did as she asked. Wow! he exclaimed. I see a great big
boat.
That was Daddys thing, Kate said of the clouds shape. I knew he was all right and
didnt have to worry anymore.

The dead calling? This experience is by no means unique to Kate and Barbara. One
Friday, the daughter of California resident Marie Rhodes relayed a phone message. It
concerned a dear friend who was suffering from a lengthy terminal illness. Marshal is
going to die on Saturday, the communication stated. He wants you to go with his wife to
his daughters college graduation ceremony.
The next day, Saturday, the phone rang twice. The first two times there was silence on
the other end. The third time I was called, Marie said, it was to tell me that he had died
and I would need to tell his wife. He did not want us to return but to continue on to the
graduation.
Marie, many of whose family and friends have died, finds that the so-called dead are
just as unpredictable as the living. Those I do think I will hear from I do not, she said. I
am often surprised by those I do hear from.
No one was more surprised by a visit from the departed than Richard Smith, a
pseudonym for a Florida-based counselor. Around 1980, he was sitting in his living room
a few days after the death of a man who had come to him for several counseling sessions,
at the request of the mans daughter, who was Richards friend. It was the day of the mans
funeral. Suddenly Richard noticed the odor of freshly dug earth. Then he perceived the
dead mans presence in his home. The man was distressed because he had not been able to
tell his daughter something before he passed on. He wanted Richard to transmit his words
to her. Although reluctant and feeling awkward, Richard agreed to the request. The
presence and the smell instantly vanished. A few days later Richard relayed to the
daughter what her father had asked of him. She started to cry. Richard learned that she had
not been able to reach her fathers bedside in time. What Richard just told her now was the
very same message that her family said the man had given them before he died. I dont
remember the exact message anymore, but Ill always remember the experience, Richard
added.
The first communication Astrid, the inspirational speaker we met in Chapter 1, received
from her dead father occured when she was in the shower. This is where she prays and

talks to God every morning. I heard someone tell a joke, she said. It was so sudden, so
out of the blue, and so unrelated to what I was thinking, it took me a moment to
acknowledge the probability that it could be my dad.
Another memorable message from the departed happened periodically over a number
of years to one of Janas counseling clients well call Rebecca Winston. Living alone,
Rebecca kept finding blood on the bed sheets. At first she naturally thought it was her
own. Yet when these stains appeared, she would examine herself and find nothing that
could account for the blood. Finally, she had a sample tested at a laboratory. It proved to
be one of the rarest of blood groups. Even more baffling and unnerving, it was not
Rebeccas blood type. (Well talk more about Rebeccas story later.)

The not-yet-born also resort to dramatic ways to reach out to their would-be parents.
Connecticut resident Marianne OHare happily hit the sack one night at 8:01 p.m. Her job
at the time as an early morning radio show host meant she had to rise at 3 a.m. on work
days. Tonight she was looking forward to getting more sleep than usual.
Suddenly, a shimmering beam of light appeared before the foot of the bed. It was like
nothing I ever encountered before, she said. I panicked but was unable to move any part
of my body. The light filled the room, and out of that light appeared a girl about 8 years
old, a glowing light-being fully formed.
Her arms were outstretched toward me in a kind of appeal, Marianne continued.
Telepathically she asked me if I would accept her. I was terrified at what was happening
and still couldnt move my body. I was able to telepathically communicate back to her, I
dont know who you are. You could be the Devil disguising yourself as a beautiful child.
Look at me, she replied. Look at my face.
Marianne believed she had no choice except to do as asked. In that moment, I felt the
weight of such a love as I have never known. It was unbelievably beautiful and ethereal
and the kind of love folks report in near-death experiences.
Now will you accept me?
I will accept you.
The shimmering figure floated toward Marianne, through her, merging into her being
through the left arm. The room went dark and Marianne gasped, finally able to move
again.
Trembling, she looked at the clock. The time read 8:01. The laws of physics, time, and
space had just been shaken to their core in my world.
Marianne phoned a sympathetic friend and recounted what had just transpired. That
was your daughter asking permission to be born, the friend replied instantly.
Marianne was not so certain. She did not believe she would be able to become
pregnant. The days and weeks passed and the encounter receded into her memory. The
next spring, several months later, Marianne noticed her periods were irregular and went to
the doctor. She was pregnant, and there was a heartbeat to prove it!

Right up until giving birth on Halloween 1989, Marianne kept thinking she would have
a boy. I remember being surprised to hear, Its a girl! The next instant I remembered the
girl child emanating from a beam of light right in front of me. When she opened her eyes
and looked at me for the first time, I realized this baby was that child.
The ethereal child is now a young woman who looks very much like the little girl who
came to her mother asking to be born.

Not all pre-birth bulletins are so intense or so brief, according to our earthly time
reference. Some take longer before coming to fruition.
Rayni Joan was 39 and had two children. She and her husband had decided their family
was complete. One summer, the family was on vacation at the beach in the Hamptons.
Raynis husband was wind surfing, and her two boys were playing in the sand. Rayni was
sitting under a clear blue sky with one puffy cloud overhead. She looked up at it and heard
a voice. I want to be born to you, Mommy, the voice said.
Her husband did not believe her, but for two years, the author kept hearing the voice,
which she knew belonged to a little boy. Throughout those two years she pleaded with her
husband for a third child. Finally, in exasperation, Rayni silently told the voice, Go tell
your Dad! Although her husband did not hear a voice, he suddenly agreed to have another
child. Less than a year later, Rayni, at 43, gave birth to her youngest child, a son now in
his 20s.
Deborah Frueh, an Illinois-based intuitive coach, told us a similar story. Many months
before her fourth and last child was born, she remembers, I was well aware that he was
sitting on my shoulder very insistently. Trying to start a catering company that offered
healthy menus, Deborah had mixed feelings about this signal that another child was on the
way. I didnt really think the timing was good for a new baby on top of a new business
that I hoped would be all-consuming. Deborah went on, I kept telling myself it was a
manifestation of the new business I was giving birth to, but deep down I knew it was
another child, and he was born about a year later.
Deborah believes her son signaled his impending birth to try to spare her the effort of
launching a new business that ultimately went nowhere. For about a year or so, when
people saw my newborn child, they would reflexively call him Little Buddha, she said.
To this day he is my seeker child, always calling me to discuss philosophy and new
thought.

In addition to alerting parents to their pending arrivals, children often want their parents
to know what to name them. To the son of Sharn Wyeth, a community college math
professor in Texas and the author of a book about names, his name was really important.
Unaware she was carrying a child, one night years ago Sharn dreamed that her first child
came to her and told her his name, which she understood to be Joshua Jedediah. When she
woke up the next morning, Sharn found out that her husband had had the same dream; he
got a different name, but deferred to her interpretation. A few weeks later, they learned she

was pregnant and began referring to the child, whom they knew would be a boy even
before the sonogram, as Joshua Jedediah.
Two weeks before the birth, her husband had another dream in which the soon-to-arrive
boy admonished him, Why are you listening to her? She didnt get it right. I dont want
my middle name to Jedediah. I want it to be Jeremiah. After her husband reported his
second dream, Sharn agreed to call the boy Joshua Jeremiah.
A couple of years later, it was late at night and her husband was away. Sharn was
working on an art project when her toddler son, waking from sleep, walked in quietly and
startled her. Out of the blue he said, I came to you and gave you my name, but you didnt
get my name right so I had to go to Dad and give him my name. And then I had to go to
Dad again because he thought you had gotten it right and he had not.
Sharns eyes grew wide. Neither parent had ever mentioned their pre-birth dreams to
their little boy, thinking he was too young to understand. Well, you ended up with your
right name, so were good, she managed to reply. Joshua Jeremiah was not finished with
his grilling, however. When are you going to let the other two come through? he asked.
What are you talking about?
You let me come through and you let my sister come through. When are you going to
let the other two come through?
I looked at him and said, Honey, Im choosing not to have more children. Im a
school teacher. I deal with kids all day long. When I come home, I have just enough time
and energy for you and your sister. I dont think I could do as good a job with four. I think
Im done.
Oh, he replied, and walked away.
Joshua Jeremiah had no way to know that years before, his mother, very much wanting
four children, had carefully crafted four Christmas stockings for her offspring and put
them away for the future.
Pre-birth name instructions can come even from adopted children. Roughly a month
after Austin, Texas residents John and Kathy Wilczek turned in their final adoption
paperwork, Kathy had a vivid dream in which she heard, loud and clear, Olivia is
coming!
The next morning Kathy sat outside as poetry poured out of her mind and heart and
onto many pages. She was not a poet. Eight months later, Kathys narrative book was
presented to a young woman and her boyfriend, who chose them to be the parents of a
little girl born a bit sooner than expected. When the adoption counselor called and asked
what John and Kathy wanted to name their new daughter, they replied in unison, Olivia!
During the infants christening, the minister read Kathys poetry. The children that are
meant to come to us find a way, Kathy told us.

We have been talking a lot so far about communicating with discarnate beings and
about perception that clearly does not involve only our five physical senses. Shortly we
will review how it is all possible, and how and why the soul is an eternal continuum that

we may contact after physical death or before physical birth.

Chapter 7

Haphazard, random, confusing messages from those not in physical bodies raise more
questions than they answer. Remember some of the examples weve shared: If it wasnt
Rebeccas blood on the sheets, then whose was it? Who or what did Marianne see all those
years ago at the foot of her bed? Who or what phoned Barbara, Kate, and Marie? Who or
what visited Richard? Who or what managed to provide all those special effects and
answers, even though the second stager was locked out of the house during the Grosse
Pointe sance? Who or what announced her name to Kathy and her husband, John?
The answer is so simple that most of us find it hard to believe. The only thing we leave
behind at death is the physical body. Thats all. Thats it. The rest of self our mental,
emotional, and spiritual self-awareness (our consciousness, in other words)remains
intact. Ghosts, spirits, and apparitions are nothing more, or less, than souls that lack
physical bodies to anchor them into what we perceive as the only reality, the physical
world. The same applies to all of us before we are born into physical bodies.
The soul, in essence, consists of energy. That is why the soul precedes the appearance
of a physical body, which itself is energy in material form, and survives its death. There
just so happen to be two mathematical equations to express both death and birth (creation).
The first of these is E = MC2. Most of us know this as Albert Einsteins famous equation,
published in 1905, stating the fundamental equivalence between matter and energy. It can
also describe the process we refer to as death if we alter the equations variables slightly.
E still stands for energy, although we will refine the meaning of energy shortly. M
still stands for matter. But instead of the speed of light multiplied by the speed of light (the
speed of light squared), C2 now stands for the duality of consciousness. And the speed of
consciousness is instantaneous, as multiple experiments with the tiniest known particles,
called quanta, have demonstrated. It is way beyond the scope of this book to explore all of
the very exciting developments in the fields of quantum mechanics and consciousness
research; suffice it to note that the scientific community is moving toward a distinctly
metaphysical understanding of the survival of consciousness after death as strings of
quanta. One key characteristic of quanta is that they vibrate. Everything that existsthe
material, such as the physical body, and the nonmaterial, such as consciousnessvibrates.
Every known or theoretical universe vibrates, or else it does not exist. Vibration is the
foundation of creation.1
For the purposes of the afterlife healing circle, we also need to recognize that whereas
the soul is energy, this energy is not the type that science refers to as the ability to do
work. Such a definition applies to material energy in this physical world. Examples of
this include steam expanding to drive a piston that turns the wheels of a train engine, or
the heat unlocked by burning coal or natural gas that raises the temperature of water until
it becomes steam. That is doing work in the scientific sense.
The soul is not about doing work or anything else. The soul is about being. It is about

existing instead of not existing. The kind of energy that forms the soul is most accurately
defined as the ability to love.2 Being and self-awareness, or consciousness, originate in
love, the ultimate source, also known as God or the divine in most of the worlds religions.
Divine love is unconditional, meaning it is not limited or hampered by expectations or
demands. Thus, it vibrates at the fastest frequency possible at any given instant. It also has
many names on earth: Hindus call it prana, the life-force; the Chinese long ago named it
chi or qi; and Christian Westerners refer to it as agape, or divine grace. When we are
conducting the afterlife healing circle properly, we are experiencing a magnified,
enhanced flow of that unconditional love-energy. As we have said already, the feeling is
glorious.
Now we may reinterpret Einsteins equivalence equation. With our redefined variables,
we can see that consciousness accelerates in frequency until it breaks away from matter
(the physical body). The physical body dies as a result, and consciousness remains in a
state that cannot be detected with our physical senses, much like infrared light, which
human eyes cannot see, or infrasound, which human ears cannot hear.
If we rearrange these same redefined variables, we can develop an equation to show the
process we know as birth, or creation:

Matter (such as a physical body) appears when consciousness acts to slow the
vibrational frequency of soul energy. The answer to the question Which comes first, the
chicken or the egg? is neither. Energy comes first, and provides the blueprint for
everything that exists in material form. The full equivalence in Einsteins equation,
however, comprises far more than matter and energy alone. It also extends to
consciousness and love. These fourmatter, energy, consciousness, and love are
equivalents, and all four vibrate or they would not exist.
Expanding the reinterpreted equivalence equation explains why the presence of love is
the key to the success of the afterlife healing circle. Love is both electric and magnetic,
giving and receiving, push and pull (attracting). Love, especially love from a person in a
physical body with whom the soul is familiar, helps draw the right soul to the circle. Love
offers the reassurance that encourages the soul to remain for resolution that usually is
much needed on both sides.

After death and before birth, consciousness (or soul-energy, if you prefer) is so intact
that even when the physical body is abruptly destroyed, through accident or murder, for
example, the remaining self-awareness often doesnt realize what has happened. One
example of this is the souls of those killed in the airplane crash for which Jana and
Candace considered attempting a soul rescue. An undetected wind shear slammed a jumbo
jet violently to the ground just north of the airport runway it was approaching to land.
While the physical bodies were removed from the crash site, many of the souls remained
for a long time, caught up in that trauma.

Consciousness can indeed be oblivious to the destruction of the physical body. This
leads to a lot of seemingly strange events that we usually misinterpret and then label as
paranormal activity. Hauntings are one example. A soul or group of souls may wander
around in a state of confusion, unaware of their physical demise. No longer focused in
physical reality, such souls dont have the same sense of the passage of time as do those
still dwelling in physical bodies. Thats why these souls linger in one location (a house or
near a runway) for years or even centuries.
Already disoriented or traumatized, these souls become even more bewildered when
they realize their families and friends no longer seem to notice them or pay attention when
they try to communicate. They may be feeling the extremes of very strong emotions, such
as terror or anger. Remember, nothing dies except the physical body. Disembodied souls
are as capable of emotions and feelings as anyone reading this page. And it is the energy
of very intense emotions that interacts with physical objects, sometimes unwittingly, and
at other instances intentionally. Such interactions are known as psychokinesis, which
produces phenomena such as phone calls from the dead, apparitions, boat-shaped clouds,
or the smell of dirt inside a room where none is evident. These events are often prompted
by a soul who very much desires to communicate with someone still in a physical body
but who cannot get that persons attention in a less disruptive manner.
Often, after someone has passed on to the nonphysical, we have thoughts about that
person that seem to pop into our heads from nowhere. Or that individual just seems to be
on our mind a lot, even though it may have been years since that person died. If more of us
realized what was really going on, we would recognize that this supposedly dead and gone
person is trying to speak to us. We would also know to talk back. Most of us just brush
aside gentle attempts at communication as imaginary, and thus meaningless, or as the
effects of lingering grief. The souls trying to break through become annoyed after being
ignored. Sometimes they become angry or hostile. Their efforts to elicit attention then take
a decidedly more forceful turn. They are desperate to be recognized and addressed.
Such was certainly the case with Rebecca. The rare blood type she found on her sheets
had no significance to her until she found out that her grandmother, who had passed on
some years earlier, had had that blood type. Sure enough, during the afterlife healing circle
Jana conducted, Rebeccas grandmother came forward eagerly, just bursting with things
she wanted to tell Rebecca. Afterward there were no more blood-stained sheets.

The demise of the physical body does not of itself endow a soul with wisdom or
ultimate enlightenment. This assertion contravenes extremely ancient and well-entrenched
beliefs about life after death that are rooted in many different religious traditions. All of
them in their own way state or imply that we attain some sort of improved or possibly
perfected state after death, on the condition that we have been good enough, however that
particular doctrine defines good. This belief is also present in academia. Laura
Markwick Kirkbys thesis from Chapter 2 stated, anything alive is progressively dying.
From this perspective death ends the physical dying process and hence can be considered
to be a healed state.3 But as you recall from the previous chapter (please re-read it if not),
souls not in a physical body were hardly healed or enlightened or all-knowing, all-wise.

They had issues with those still in body and sometimes expressed their frustration in
inappropriate ways, such as continually pestering their parents-to-be, just as children in
physical bodies do.
When you die, you dont become immediately self-actualized, said Julie Beischel,
PhD, director of The Windbridge Institute. She was talking with Angela Artemis, the host
of the Powered By Intuition online podcast. She continued, I was surprised to learn that
dead people are not scary, because popular culture will lead you to believe they are. They
are just people with no bodies.4 Julie, who earned her doctorate in pharmacology and
toxicology, has learned about the dead through her extensive experiences putting mediums
communicating with disincarnate souls through rigorous scientific testing of their
accuracy.
The stereotype she talks about still prevails, alas. Many people who dont consider
themselves formally religious are still secretly convinced that a nonphysical being is
bound to be enlightened and wise. This is why many such people give undue credence to
messages from mediums in a trance state. This stereotype is also why so many people
conduct their own impromptu sances, hoping to contact some disincarnate guru or
master. Theyll contact someone, all right. Its really very easy to communicate with
discarnate beings. The problem isnt departed loved ones with whom we share an
emotional bond. The problem arises when cosmic curiosity-seekers make casual contact
with a disincarnate jerk that plays mind games. Or, far worse, they tangle with a denial
spirit. Or they inadvertently tune into a soul that would be labeled crazy if it were still
dwelling in a physical body. For example, if a person in a mental institution dies while
sincerely believing that he is Jesus Christ, his belief is not going to change merely because
the physical body has ceased. Although no longer in a physical body, that soul will still
believe it is Jesus Christ. And it will be more than happy to convey the words of Christ
to anyone willing to pay attention.
Consider this from another perspective. Most of us would never open the front door to
our homes and yell, Come on in! to anyone passing by. Most of us also would not regard
a solo walk at 3 a.m. through New York Citys Central Park as a very prudent thing to do.
Yet people who misuse the sance for casual spiritual voyeurism are doing the equivalent
of inviting strangers into their homes and lives or walking alone in the park after dark.
Are we saying that all messages from psychics or mediums are from deluded or
mentally ill souls or worse? No. Mediums and psychics are often helpful, especially when
we are having problems trusting or understanding messages from the dead or the not-yet
born. These difficulties happen all the time because most of us have been taught not to
believe or even acknowledge the very spiritual abilities that enable us to communicate
with the other side, with soul-energy.
Let us now review these abilities and their many uses, including in the afterlife healing
circle.

Chapter 8

One of the central tensions of modern living is a widespread sense of disconnection

from the spiritual coupled with an almost equally ubiquitous longing to reunite with it.
From the number of books about children and near-death experiences or children and
pastlife memories, there also seems to be a pervasive belief that newborns and children are
somehow closer to the other side.
But no matter how old we are, we are still connected to the other side, to heaven, or to
whatever name we have for it. We simply do not recognize that connection for what it is.
To a certain extent, this perception of separation arises out of the conditioning and
programming we receive as children from our families and society that emphasizes the
concrete, the material, and logic at the expense of the imagination, the non-material, and
feelingthe non-rational. Conditioning and programming are two of the reasons we often
struggle to know the spiritual and emotional parts of our being through what seems to be a
fog or veil.
Another major factor in the separation between this side and the other side is the
harmful effects of non-vibrating self-judgment on the vibrating fields of human
consciousness. What do we mean by this? Remember, consciousness and energy are
equivalents (Chapter 7), and they vibrate, but self-judgment does not vibrate. Its beyond
the scope of this book to explain exactly how self-judgment impairs and hamstrings
consciousness, but suffice it to say that we are strangers to our deeper selves and to our
innate connection to spirit as created souls (the other side) precisely because we suffer
from the pernicious effects of self-judgment.1

If we are to succeed with the afterlife healing circle as we practice it, we will contact
the other side, the world of spirit. This means we need ways to interact beyond the five
physical senses of sight, sound, taste, touch, and smell. Like so many of us, John L.
Johnsen, an independent producer based in Florida, talks about these non-physical
channels of communication as a sixth sense, but we actually have a sixth, seventh,
eighth, and ninth sense, known collectively as psychic, or psi, abilities. Other names for
these senses are intuition, instinct, hunches, or gut feelings. So instead of a sixth sense,
we call them soul senses because they are some of the abilities of the spiritual body, or
unconscious mind. The soul senses truly are some of the gifts of the spirit mentioned
throughout the Bible.
The soul senses are also the primary means by which we are able to apply the
principles of love, connection, and trust. We need the soul senses to invoke and feel the
presence of love-energy. We also require these non-physical senses to detect the presence
of the soul(s) to whom we wish to speak, as that consciousness does not come attached to
a physical body. We also need to learn to trust the information we receive through our soul
senses no matter how illogical or strange it may seem.

These are the challenges inherent in our version of the afterlife healing circle, but they
are not all that different from the challenges of any kind of spiritual activity. How much do
we trust what we receive? Do we pay attention to it and act on it? The afterlife healing
circle is a good way to engage consciously with our spiritual and emotional natures and
strengthen our trust in this half of self.
In brief, the four soul senses are:
1. Soul vision, also called clairvoyance
2. Soul understanding, also called clairaudience
3. Soul feeling, also called clairsentience
4. Soul awareness, usually included with clairsentience but actually its own distinct
channel of communication
There may be additional channels of nonphysical communication, but these are the
ones we know and use every day.
Paranormal researchers often refer to psi abilities as telepathy, precognition,
psychokinesis, and clairvoyance. The first three names, however, more properly describe
what is taking place instead of how the nonphysical, intuitive information is being
transmitted. Some specifics will make this distinction clearer: Telepathy is mind-to-mind
communication, and it can take the form of thoughts (soul awareness), visions
(clairvoyance), feelings (clairsentience), or even an understanding or words heard inside
the head (clairaudience). The same applies to precognition. It is possible to have a vision
of a future event, or a feeling, or an understanding, or simply to know that an event may
take place. We have mentioned psychokinesis before. It happens when energy interacts
with matter, something we do every time we meditate or visualize to relax our muscles or
lower our blood pressure.
The difference between the soul senses and their physical counterparts is intensity. The
experience of the physical senses is far more forceful than the soul-sense counterpart.
Material colors are more vibrant, material sounds are more elaborate, material smells are
more distinct, material tastes are more complex, and material touch is stronger than the
nonmaterial. This is one of the reasons souls return again and again to a material reality
to avail themselves of a far stronger, richer, more involved sensory experience.
Just as the five physical channels of communication bring us information in material
form, the four non-physical senses convey information that is in nonphysical, or spiritual,
form. We may infer, then, that energy in any form, material or nonmaterial, is also
information. When we use our soul senses, we are simply scanning and interpreting
information as energy instead of as matter, for which we use our five physical senses.
We may also infer that the two sets of senses are interrelated, because we already know
that matter and energy are one and the same, differentiated only by their varying ranges of
frequencies. Think back to the turned-earth smell that helped alert Richard to the presence
of his friends dead father. The souls intense desire to gain Richards attention evoked the
material sense of smell. In addition, when we use our soul senses, we are activating the
subconscious mind, or emotional body, and the unconscious mind, or spiritual body. This
is the half of self that is capable of connecting us with souls who do not have physical

bodies. We cannot reach or interact with discarnate souls through our conscious, rational
mind.
Although they may seem weird to the rational part of our mind, the soul senses really
are not any more mystical or magical than the physical senses. As souls in physical bodies,
almost all of us possess all four non-physical channels of communication. Unfortunately,
very often the information the soul senses bring to us cannot be quickly verified through
one or more of our physical senses. And while we are in physical bodies, we tend to
believe that the physical is somehow more real than the nonphysical. Yet our feelings,
similar to odors in the air, are real enough, even though we cannot see or touch them.
Moreover, the conditioning and programming we receive from birth on teach us not to
acknowledge and certainly not to trust the nonphysical senses, because they do not
function in a rational manner. Of course the soul senses are not rational. They are not
meant to be rational. They exist for a different purpose. We lop off fully half of our being,
the emotional and the spiritual, and relegate this huge part of self to second-class status,
when we ignore or deny the nonphysical information we receive constantly through our
soul senses.
Small wonder the dead and the not-yet born seem so far away. We are socialized from
birth to discount and distrust the very half of self that connects us to the other side.

Because the soul senses do not function the way the rational part of our mind does, it
helps to describe how they operate, to make it easier to recognize their subtle signals.
Soul awareness does precisely what its name implies. It arrives as an instantaneous
awareness about some situation or person, even if weve only just met the person or
encountered the circumstances. We know, but we cant explain why we know or
how we became aware. And, frankly, we dont care how or why we know; we just
know. Awareness works the fastest of all the soul senses and is the only soul sense
that needs no interpretation at all. The information is plain.
Soul feeling manifests as physical sensations on or within the body and are
especially strong in the area of the solar plexus, but can be located anywhere. What
these physical sensations mean will differ for each person, which is why it is
impossible to interpret them accurately for others. As we pay closer attention and
our ability to detect soul feeling improves, we begin to take note of a particular
sensation and what event or situation it preceded. In that way we build our own
personal feeling library and never need to consult anyone else to obtain the
meaning of our own, unique soul feelings.
Soul vision (literally) shows itself either as pictures inside the head or as a
visualization that appears external to self. It is the best known of the four soul
senses, although it takes longer to express than soul awareness or soul feeling. Soul
vision can be symbolic, or it can unfold a very detailed view of events that either
have already occurred or may happen, depending on the intents of those involved.
Again, any symbols perceived through soul vision are unique to the person
receiving them.

 Soul understanding seems like a plodding tortoise compared to the other three
nonmaterial channels of communication. Soul understanding is just that: it arrives as
an understanding. Soul understanding also conveys words or phrases that are heard
either inside the head or as spoken words.
Each of us possesses all four of these soul senses in greater or lesser degree. But just as
we usually favor one hand or another, or have one eye or leg thats stronger than the other,
each of us has two stronger soul senses and two weaker ones. Before birth, some of us will
opt to be strongest in soul awareness, then feeling, then understanding, and vision last.
Others will reverse the order. Still others have entirely different soul-sense strength orders.
Each of these soul-sense orders conveys definite personality traits and gives us certain
abilities and certain weaknesses. Those strongest in awareness, for example, are terrific at
public speaking, because what they need to say flows quickly and naturally into their
conscious minds. Those strongest in soul understanding are naturally disciplined. The
reason we choose a specific strength order has a lot to do with both the lessons and
purpose we choose for a physical lifetime. One way to be certain of the order we chose is
to ask our spirit guides, or angels. (We will say more about their intimate role in the
afterlife healing circle in the coming chapter.)
Keep in mind that no order is better than another. Some people are distressed because
they find it difficult to see auras. This may merely mean that they are not strong in soul
vision. However, they may be able to develop their feeling or awareness and read an aura
just as precisely through the other soul senses. For example, soul feeling is how Jana
detects auras, and her accuracy constantly amazes those whose auras she scans.
In the eastern half of the world, the majority of people are strongest in soul awareness
and soul feeling, whereas people in the western part of the globe are just the opposite
predominantly strongest in soul vision and soul understanding. This is a big factor in why
East and West are so very different and have such trouble relating to each other. But it also
sets up more diversity in peoples worldviews and perspectives, which can be
advantageous, provided we know about the different soul-sense orders and respect the
strengths and opportunities of each perceptive mode.
Most of us find that our two strongest soul senses are so intertwined with our physical
senses that we just assume that how we perceive and process information is the way
everyone else thinks and processes it, too. That is not so. It is important to become wellversed in the different modes of perception conveyed by our own and others varying soulsense strengths, so that we may learn to communicate respectfully with everyone.
Although our soul senses are usually on all the time, they fade into the distant
background of our everyday lives because we are not paying attention, out of
misunderstanding and that tragic lack of self-trust. We notice only when information
comes through one of our weaker soul senses because we tend to notice such
unaccustomed forms of perception. Think back to Jana hearing the voice of one of her
spirit guides outside of her head. Yaqui was communicating through her absolute weakest
soul sense, soul understanding. It commanded her attention. The same happened when
Astrid heard the joke in the shower. Her father was reaching out through her weaker soul
sense in order to break through to her.

This also plays out in Eastern mystical traditions, which place a high value on visions.
Visual information stands out to those in the East precisely because the dominant soul
senses in this half of the world are not visual. People who reside in this part of the globe
tend to receive intuitive information through soul awareness and soul feeling, but these
two communication channels seem so mundane that they do not give their feelings or
awareness as much credence as they do their less frequent visions.

We have been discussing one of the big challenges to the success of the afterlife healing
circle: participants ability to believe the information they receive through their own soul
senses. Most of us simply do not have much faith in intuitive or nonphysical information,
provided we even recognize it for what it is in the first place. Nor do we have much trust
in self. The two issues are actually related.
John, the film producer, often receives fleeting feelings that he instantly dismisses. Ill
note it at the very mildest levels and then just let it go, he said.
On occasion, Johns intuition is a little harder to ignore. A couple of days before
receiving word from his son about his daughter-in-laws pregnancy, he knew something
was up and heard a little girls voice inside his head saying, Hi, Grandpa.
I said to myself, Now thats just got to be strange, he recounted.
Before his daughter-in-law gave birth, John felt the souls presence leave the tiny body.
She just wasnt there anymore, he said. The baby was born with a severe birth defect
and lived only a few days.
Later John sensed that the soul had returned, and, sure enough, word came that his
daughter-in-law was pregnant once again, giving birth this time to a healthy baby girl.
Many of us have to learn the hard way to start paying attention. I learned a big lesson
when I found out I was really pregnant, and now I take those feelings quite seriously, said
Deborah, who dismissed intuitive messages from her fourth child that turned out to be
accurate and valid.
Honoring our intuition is really about learning to trust ourselves, a huge issue for most
of us. Lack of self-trust is why so many of us turn to the Ouija board or table tipping. Both
function as physical props that we can latch onto when we are not able or willing to rely
on our soul senses. The problem with these tools is that they put frustrating limits on the
conversation either by confining the communication to yes and no (table tipping) or taking
a long time to spell out even short answers (the Ouija board).
A lot of questions are not yes-or-no, Michigan resident Deb Christiansen told us. She
and about seven of her friends have been table tipping on a regular basis for several years.
At first they relied exclusively on two taps for yes, and one for no. But soon that wasnt
enough. Having become more adept and more confident, she said, information now will
pop into their heads (soul awareness at work here), and the tables movement simply
confirms it.
Conscious experience of our soul senses endows us with ownership of the information
we receive. This makes an enormous difference and is part of the afterlife healing circles

real power to transform through being actively involved in communicating instead of just
a bystander, such as when we have a medium or a psychic provide information for us.
When you go and get a reading, you are just hearing words, said Rondi, the mother
of the twins we met in Chapter 5. Its an intellectual understanding, but you are not
getting caught up emotionally. The healing circle was a total experiencemental,
physical, emotional, and spiritualthat engaged us on every level.
Marc, her husband, added, The healing circle is a lot different than any kind of reading
Ive ever had, and Ive had a few dozen of them. Its very different to get into that
vibration, especially due to the circle arrangement. Everybody was enabled. Everybody
was filling in each others blanks.

So just how do we attain this enabled state, even if we do not think of ourselves as
psychics or mediums? How can we possibly fill in others blanks intuitively?
Its truly not all that difficult, especially because were doing it already. Dont think so?
Ever had the phone ring and know whos on the other end of the line, even when that
person hasnt called in a while and there was no reason to expect a call? Ever entered a
seemingly empty room only to retreat quickly because it was so uncomfortable? Both are
instances of soul senses providing nonphysical information.
The soul (or psychic) senses do not strike uncontrollably or randomly, as is commonly
believed even by those who have done extensive research in parapsychology. It is more
than possible to turn up the volume of these senses or turn them off altogether if we so
desire. It is all a matter of paying attention and practicing. Being psychic isnt so much a
chance encounter with a fact of life unknown to me, Astrid explained. Its much more a
journey into the flow of energies that I focus my attention to.
Think of the soul senses as nonphysical energy-information receivers that work clearest
and strongest while we are in receptive mode. This means we are open to our emotional
and spiritual bodies and are calm and unpressured. This is the exact opposite of how our
mental body takes in physical information. The mental body concentrates and pushes; the
emotional and spiritual bodies relax and receive. We unlearn the way we have been taught
to learn, because that approach does not work for the soul senses. So make a game of it in
much the same manner as Deb and her friends do. The more joy and light we bring to
exploring and using our soul senses in a directed and conscious manner, the easier it
becomes.
Deep relaxation really aids the entire process. One great way to relax that we teach our
students is blending the energy of our beingour thoughts and emotionswith the
energies of the sky, a tree, or calm water. Blending energies is not at all about taking over
or dominating. It is about simply becoming one with whatever we blend with. Blending is
expanding our own separate soul energy into and with the sky, the tree, or the water. The
energies are separate and distinct, and yet they meld together.
Begin by assuming a comfortable position and location, sitting or standing, as
preferred. Feel the desire to blend in your heart. Do not rush this. Take the time to feel this
desire as deeply and strongly as possible. Next, direct that desire down from the heart into

the solar plexus, and from there outward and up into the sky, over to the tree, or down into
the water.
Enjoy the expansive sensations that come from expanding the energy field. Take time
to notice information that arrives about the sky, the tree, or the water. Expanding your
energy field makes it far easier to pick up information about that with which you blend.
Dont try to force any information, however, and dont try not to try. Just be receptive.
Allow any information or perceptions to flow to you naturally.
Once you have become comfortable with blending into the sky, a tree, or water, and
using that to help you relax, you may try blending with a person, using the same process
as before. In blending energy with a person, you actually go into that persons own soul
nature, and receive information back via your soul senses. The same blending process
allows us to read accurately the energy of a particular group. You are literally expanding
your individual energy-consciousness into the energy of a group consciousness. In so
doing, you receive information that is specific to each unique group, and allow the
members to hear what they as a group need most to hear.
Blending with a group is how the best charismatic talkers and speakers work. They not
only blend their energy with other people, but they are also pulling or attracting the energy
of each person in the group into their own. In doing so, they establish a rapport and
command greater attention, because their audience can feel with them.
Those not well-endowed with soul feeling tend to find blending a bit of a mystery until
they have practiced it a while and start to sort out all of the sensations that come their way
when they are blended. Instead, they may enjoy blending with a photograph. It is
relatively easy to intuit the energy of a person in a photograph, which is probably why
many native peoples do not care to have their pictures taken.
For this exercise, you need one or more photos of someone you dont know but whom
someone else present does. Blend with one of the photos. Have a pen and paper handy and
write down every quality or character trait the photo reveals about the person in it. Check
the accuracy of this information by discussing it with the person who knows the subject in
the photo. The results may be astonishing.

There are plenty of resources on the Internet and in many other books if you want more
information about developing the intuitive side of your being. Invariably, we find that
when we get in touch with our soul senses and begin to use them consciously and with
purpose and direction, we become much better acquainted with our deeper selves and
become aware of a far larger reality.
The distance between us and the dead or the not-yet born, and the invisible helpers we
have by our sides, shrinks considerably. The gap also closes between our painful loss of a
loved one or our uncertainties about impending parenthood, and the resolution we need.
Now we are ready to talk more about the invisible helpers that keep the afterlife healing
circle safe provided we know to include them.

Chapter 9

Even though at times we may feel alienated, isolated, and bereft, none of us comes into
this world entirely on our own. We always have help and friendship right by our sides in
the form of loving, invisible mentors who want nothing more than to play an active role in
supporting us before, during, and even after our physical sojourns on Earth. All we need
do is ask for their help and then be ready and open to receive their guidance. (The
blending exercise from the previous chapter can help us open up.)
As vibrating, eternal soul-energy, we choose to experience each physical lifetime. We
usually have a purpose for the life we have selected. Such purpose is general, such as
teaching, healing, counseling, inspiring, creating, being of service, and so forth. Our life
purpose immediately attracts to us other spirits who want to share that purpose but do not
necessarily desire to do so in a physical body. We then select a group of souls to help us
along the way. Often we make our choices based on the fact that we know these spirits
already from other physical lifetimes on Earth (or elsewhere). We trust these beings and
they trust us. Sometimes we include souls who have a particular expertise that we believe
will be especially helpful to us, and sometimes we just want to try something new while
on earth.
Then we arrive in our physical bodies. As very young children, we interact with our
spirit friends as the invisible companions we play with and who comfort us. Well-meaning
adults, however, admonish us that these friends are not real. We start to distrust our soul
senses, the means by which we communicate with our guides. Eventually we give up on
our soul senses and our friends so that we may grow up and become well-adjusted.
Our guides remain with us anyway, sending us their love and support, hoping to
reconnect in a more direct manner. They fulfill different roles on our behalf. Yaqui is
Janas spiritual growth guide, the one who is most focused on her spiritual well-being.
Candaces spiritual growth guide is a soul she calls Sun. When Yaqui helps Jana with her
teaching, counseling, or therapy, the entire room fills with the softest, gentlest energy that
melts all hearts. Sun is very loving, too, but his essence has a distinctly intellectual cast to
it. Between them, Jana-Yaqui and Candace-Sun, they appeal to and connect with a broad
range of people.
Many guides take on the function of jokester. By linking the mental and emotional
bodies, humor is the easiest and best way to tune into our own hearts wisdom. Helping us
uncover and appreciate the hilarity and absurdity in life also aids in keeping our spiritual
connection alive and healthy through reconnecting with the emotional body. Many of us
have attended a solemn occasion only to find we are thinking an absurd thought or making
an outrageous observation. This is very likely our jokesters doing.
Guides are also healers, teachers, legal experts, even business consultants! One of
Janas guides is a handyman who invariably astonishes his physical counterparts. They
cannot understand why or how Jana (with his help) is able to tell them the actual
mechanical problem even before they inspect the broken machine. This guide, who calls

himself David, also examines every plane before Jana or Candace fly and sends back a
report on its air-worthiness. We will not board any aircraft that does not meet with Davids
approval.
Guides usually reveal themselves to us in a form we can relate to, meaning human, but
some guides have present themselves as comic book figures or cartoonsfor example,
Wonder Woman or Rocky and Bullwinkleif thats what will help us bond with them.
The forms and names they take on are simply a matter of making them, their love, and
their assistance readily available to us by matching our needs and expectations.
Very often our guides know our deeper issues far better than we do at the conscious
level. This makes them useful allies in bringing up children, particularly when they are
very young. Many years ago, the 2-year-old granddaughter of one of our students started
biting other toddlers at her daycare. The center threatened to expel the little girl, and her
family was at a loss until her grandmother remembered to ask the childs guides for help.
The woman reported that her granddaughters guides not only explained the situation but
provided successful suggestions for how to stop the biting.
Guides are also amazing when it comes to any kind of healing work. Jana and Candace
tap the energy of their own guides and call on clients guides when counseling and for
sessions of Sunan therapy. When we cannot consciously fathom what the issue is or why
we are acting or feeling a certain way, our guides help cut out the guesswork and can offer
invaluable advice and options that are unique to each of us, our purpose, and our
emotional and spiritual needs.
Is it possible for all of us to meet our guides, up close and personal? Of course
provided we are willing to trust our soul senses. Because guides do not have physical
bodies (except in rare cases of extreme emergencies, when they can materialize1), we
cannot sit down with them for a cup of coffee and a chat. We rely on intuitionour
hunches, gut feelings, visions, and inner hearingto be able to receive their messages and
send ours in return. One way to reignite our relationship with our guides is an introductory
meditation, which we can do on our own or with help if needed. However we choose to
become reacquainted with our guides, the energy and effort we put into doing so will
come back to us many times over in the form of increased feelings of love, acceptance,
and well-being, not to mention all the practical help they will provide. Their (nonexistent)
fees cant be beaten, either.

Although they are as loving and supportive as they can be, our guides want us to know
that they are not perfect by any means. They are souls on their own journeys of spiritual
growth and self-discovery, just as we are. We and they have simply agreed to travel
together for a while to help each other. Yesas imperfect and screwed up as many of us
believe ourselves to be, we still have something to offer our guides. It takes regular and
deliberate, conscious communication with them, however, to make the exchange a twoway street.
Our guides also want to emphasize that they cannot command us in any mannerhow
we feel, what we believe, or the actions we perform. They cannot violate our free will.
They are mentorstrusted advisorsnot dictators. We, the authors, are not the only ones

sending this message. It comes also from observations by mainstream professionals such
as psychiatrist Gerald Epstein, who noted in a book published many years ago that the
inner guides who appeared to his clients during meditation would not act unless the
clients specifically asked them to do so.2
Think back to Janas first encounter with Yaqui. He encouraged her to frame her words
as a request (Are you asking?) so that he was free to start helping her in a direct manner.
Jana also recalls being harangued one time by Manta, her healer, who may not have been
the most enlightened soul to join a group of spirit guides. Manta was using a lot of You
should and You must and being very forceful about telling her what he thought she was
supposed to be doing. Suddenly, Mantas energy abruptly vanished and the lecture ceased.
He returned a bit later a lot softer and less insistent. As I was suggesting, he began
again. Yaqui had taken Manta aside and reminded him about the limitations that free will
places on guides actions and behavior. Because Jana has been communicating directly
with her guides for many years, she has provided Manta, Yaqui, and the others in her
group with many opportunities for their own spiritual growth. They appreciate it deeply
and return the favor every day.
The same principle that prevents guides from violating our free will, even to help us,
also applies to souls not in body who try to communicate with us. If we consider these
souls annoying or disturbing, we may tell them to cease and desist, and most of the time
they will heed us. Well address the issue of how to handle the ones that ignore our
requests shortly.
Exercising her right not to be pestered is exactly what Rayni did. After two years, shed
had enough of being importuned by the soul trying to come in as her last child, so she told
him where to go, so to speak. It worked. Candace also has had visions of a person trying to
use energy to find out what was going on with her. Candace silently told her to back off,
and she did. Candace also asked her guides to help keep her energy at bay.
One last point about free will and spirit guides. Because guides do not impose their
mandates and values on us, they similarly fail as a credible crutch to shield ourselves from
our true responsibility. Jana and Candace are always skeptical of phrases similar to, My
guides are telling me to do such and such, or the ever-present variant, The universe is
telling me. We dont buy it. Guides and the universe (and even God) are not in the
business of ordering our lives. Thats our job. But our guides will help us explore all of
our options, which our fears or other limitations often prevent us from perceiving.

In addition to emotional and spiritual support, guides act in two capacities directly
related to what they do during the afterlife healing circle. We have already mentioned that
guides are involved in all manner of healing. This includes energy-healing modalities such
as Sunan therapy, and more conventional medicine, too. If guides will make their presence
obvious in sessions between a psychiatrist and his patients, theyll participate in any kind
of healing, provided they are invited to join.
The other related role for spirit guides is that of protectorprobably their bestrecognized function. In our world full of cars, buses, trains, planes, boats, and other forms
of mechanized travel, protectors put in plenty of overtime paying attention when we are

distracted. The real wonder is that we have as few accidents as we do, especially in this
age of cell phone conversations or texting while driving, walking, or otherwise engaged in
what become hazardous activities when we are not paying full attention. As psychiatrist
M. Scott Peck concludes in his book The Road Less Travelled, each of us has protection
all around us all of the time.3
It is critical that we make use of this protection at a certain point in the afterlife healing
circle, as we will outline in the next chapter. When we do ask for their assistance, it does
not matter whether or not we know the names of our guides. What does count is that we
deliberately call on them for protection for each circle. They will be delighted to comply
with our request.
Think of guides as spiritual bouncers, keeping at bay all manner of discarnate jerks and
game-players and, even worse, attacks or attempts at possession. They reduce the
incidence of weird or unsettling phenomena to pretty much zero, too. Jana and Candace
have conducted and participated in many, many healing circles. With our guides
protection, we have never experienced any floating horns, disembodied voices, spooky
mists, or any other odd eventswith one exception
We often use chairs that swivel because they make it easier for all those involved to
reach a comfortable position in the circle arrangement. One time, before the start, one
womans chair kept moving slowly back and forth, even when she pulled her feet off the
floor and no one else was touching the chair. The floor was reasonably level, and no one
elses chair was moving unaided. We chuckled and went back to the task at hand. Once we
called on the guides, the movement ceased.
Thats the extent of the paranormal activity we observed during the afterlife healing
circles we have been involved in. Of course, if thats what youre looking for, you can
certainly find it, whether you use the afterlife healing circle approach or rely on the Ouija
board or table-tipping: just omit asking for protection, and let the fun begin. Yes, we are
being somewhat sarcastic here, because without protection, what may well happen will not
be amusing at all. It will be scary at least, if not downright dangerous.
We are convinced that if more of us were in conscious and frequent communication
with our guides, there would be a lot fewer instances of hauntings, diabolic home
invasions, and even possession, all of which are far more common than the media or
religious authorities care to admit. Free will is such that even denial spirits must obey if
we are clear in our own hearts that we have the right to be free from attack, and then
summon our own energy and the protection of our guides and insist that all unwelcome
invaders clear out. If we want the aid of a priest or shaman, that is our right, too, but we
have the tools to keep ourselves safe on our own terms, provided we know to ask and then
act on that knowledge. We are not helpless in the face of dark forces.
What we are discussing here might be mistaken for what is sometimes referred to as
spiritual warfare, a practice that invokes energies to drive out so-called demons or evil
from a location or a person. Spiritual warfare is an oxymoron. Waging any kind of war,
even at the energetic level, is not a spiritual endeavor. Those involved in this kind of
activity are intruding where they have not been invited. It is one thing to use our own
energy (and that of our guides) to clear out the spaces where we live and work. It is also

one thing to use our own energy (and that of our guides) to fend off unwelcome visitors or
attackers. But its another thing entirely to declare that others spaces or bodies are
corrupted somehow and anoint ourselves as the cleansing agents. Twisting energy to
invade or control is a gross violation of free will and as such entails very unpleasant
consequences for those who do it.
Again, this is about using our energy where we have a right to put it and in a manner
that does not violate others boundaries (another term for free will). When we visualize or
pray for peace or healing, we are not trying to force the issue. We are making a request at
the energetic level. Its important to feel the difference between energy that supplicates
lovingly and energy that does not ask before it barges in to take over. The latter energy is
neither loving nor helpful.
While standing guard against any would-be energy-invaders during the afterlife healing
circle, our guides also lend their energies (meaning, their love) to those in the physical
group, making the circle all the more effective. Group energy is a potent magnifier, which
is why Jesus told his followers, For where two or three are gathered together in my name,
there I am in the midst of them.4
Jesus was talking about how group energy is even more of an attractor than the energy
of just one person or soul, and how the energy of the group draws his presence in spirit.
This same dynamic operates during the afterlife healing circle, when the energies of those
in physical bodies combine with the love-energies of all of their guides to attract the
soul(s) in question. The presence of all this love also helps magnify the energyinformation gleaned through the soul senses, making it possible even for those without a
lot of practice using their intuition to obtain helpful information.

Now we come to the point of reviewing the remaining steps involved in conducting the
afterlife healing circle. Although this approach is flexible and adaptable, there is a
sequence that, if followed faithfully, will keep participants secure and help make the circle
successful in bringing about the healing resolution the inquirer seeks.

Chapter 10

We have mentioned the inquirer before. The inquirer is someone who wants to
communicate with a soul not in a physical body. If we have made known that we are
willing to conduct the afterlife healing circle, and a possible inquirer contacts us, then its
up to us to establish whether the inquirer has a legitimate need.
This is the time for a conversation and some gentle questions. Inquirers are often very
emotional and want to disclose all they know about the beloved departed. Do not allow
this. Instead, at the outset, explain that in order for the afterlife healing circle to work, the
inquirer must not divulge any details about the soul in question (the deceased person
whom the inquirer wishes to contact). This respects the left brains need for specific
evidence, as we will explain shortly.
Questions that we do want to ask include:
1. What do you want to get out of the afterlife healing circle?
2. Did you have a personal relationship with the deceased?
3. Have you felt or sensed this persons presence around you?
4. Has this person been on your mind or in your thoughts a lot lately?
5. When did this person pass over?
Be sure to ask the last question because in instances of a very recent traumatic death or
suicide, the afterlife healing circle may not be successful. The soul in question may be
confused about crossing over or just in an unaware state and not ready to speak to anyone.
Listen carefully to the inquirers replies, and trust your intuition, those always-active
soul senses. The inquirers answers will help determine if the person is a good candidate
for the afterlife healing circle. In instances of contacting the not-yet born, the first question
still applies: What does the inquirer hope to get out of the circle? Please do not use the
afterlife healing circle to find objects, lost wills, or assets of any kind especially of the
illegal variety. Remember: just because someone has asked for the circle, that does not
obligate us to conduct one for that person. Not only do we have the right to feel
comfortable with the inquirer, but we fare best by establishing some sort of rapport to help
ensure the success of the circle. Also, do not force the afterlife healing circle down the
throat of a highly fearful person. It wont be all that helpful, because a frightened inquirer
will be in a state of heavy denial, and that type of inquirer is not passive during the
proceeding.
After youve vetted your inquirer, choose a place to conduct the circle. Whereas the
stereotypical sance is held at night, in a small, closed room that has little or no light and
plenty of dark corners (to hide the special-effects apparatus for the faked floating horns,
the mist, and the disembodied moaning and groaning), in reality, it is possible to conduct
the afterlife healing circle at high noon in the middle of a fieldif that time and location
will make the inquirer most comfortable. We generally use the living room of a house and

set the time during the mid- to late afternoon. If the circle is meant as a soul rescue, its
helpful to conduct it in the place where the lost souls seem to congregate. Throughout the
proceedings, we keep the curtains open; if the session is at night, the lights remain on. We
are not out to scare up any nasty surprises.
We arrange enough chairs in a small circle to accommodate all participants. We also
put a box of tissues on the floor in the middle of the circle. They are always in demand
after (and often during) the circle to mop up those healing tears.
The person who issues instructions and keeps the afterlife healing circle on track is
called the conductor. The conductor invites the remaining participants. Allow the inquirer
to bring a trusted friend or relative if he or she so desires. The best group size for the
afterlife healing circle is between four and eight people total. Larger groups are somewhat
unwieldy, and discourage participants from speaking out about the information they are
receiving from the soul in question.
Participants do not need training in using the soul senses. In fact, we try to include
people whove not received any type of instruction in using their soul senses because they
bring fewer expectations to the circle and thus are often more open to what does come
through. But we also do our best to pick those who are able and willing to follow the three
principles of love, connection, and (self-) trust. The best candidates to participate are
loving and open-minded. Dont make the session more difficult by using it to try to prove
something to a friend or relative who thinks any interest in this stuff is grounds for an
insanity plea. Skepticism is fine; denial, however, will hamper what we are trying to
accomplish by blocking the love and therefore the information flow.
Getting back to the initial questions we doand dontask of the inquirer, remember
that the less information the conductor and other participants possess about the inquirer
and soul in question, the better. This is why we do not allow possible inquirers to tell us
anything about the person they wish to contact. This deliberate lack of advance
information helps assure the inquirer that participants received their information only from
the soul in question and not from some other source. This is critical to help that rational
left brain begin to trust the information the circle participants are receiving. Say as little as
possible about the inquirer and the soul when inviting the rest of the participants. Just tell
them someone needs the afterlife healing circle. Also make sure all participants know and
understand their role during the circle as we explain it in this chapter.
If the conductor thinks it will help participants relax, arrange to play recordings of
baroque or classical music while everyone arrives and gathers for the event. Anything by
Bach, or Pachelbels Canon in D are good choices. The idea is to begin lifting the
groups energy vibration frequency while reassuring any member(s) with the jitters.
Absolutely no heavy metal, rap, or pop music; their vibrations would be
counterproductive.

The inquirer always sits right across from the conductor in the circle. The conductor
decides where everyone else will sit. Again, use those senses to obtain an overall
impression of the different soul energies of the participants. Then try to alternate
masculine and feminine energies. This doesnt mean always alternate men and women.

Some males have a very gentle energy, whereas some womens energy is strong, more
push than pull. The mix of the two helps balance the love-energy flow around the circle.
If the inquirer has brought a friend or relative, seat that person to the inquirers
immediate left. The reason for this placement has to do with the flow of love-energy. The
left side of the body is the receiving side, and the right side sends energy. When
participants send love from their hearts, it will flow down their right arms through their
right palms into the left hand of the person to their right. Love-energy from participants
flows counter-clockwise around the circle. If the inquirers supporter is to the immediate
left, then the supporters love is what the inquirer will feel most strongly in the flow.
After seating participants, the conductor reminds them about the important part they
play in the afterlife healing circle and the role of the inquirer (keep reading for more
details). Once participants are clear about what they are to do during the proceedings, ask
all in the circle to join hands. Tell them to place their right palm on top of the palm of the
left hand of the person to their right. Again, this is to facilitate the counter-clockwise flow
of love from the participants.
Make sure that they are comfortable, as they may spend up to an hour in this position.
The conductor then directs all present to close their eyes and focus on their breathing.
Adding some basic biofeedback techniques for slowing down the breathing rate is helpful
here. Its an excellent way to calm everyone and clear their minds for whats next. Once
participants are calmer and their minds are cleared, the conductor may offer a simple
prayer of thanks. At this point, Jana uses her soul-feeling to assess the group, and in her
prayer she speaks directly to any lingering uncertainties she senses in the circle members.
Next, the conductor further lifts the energy of the group by asking members to imagine
standing in a column of white light. They may see this light, feel it, know that they are in
it, or simply understand it, according to which soul sense is strongest for each person. Jana
always asks the circle members to lift their minds, hearts, and souls to their creatorand
to their invisible friends all around them. She gives them a few minutes to enjoy that
feeling of connection.
Next, the conductor asks participants to send out love from their hearts, down their
right arms, and toward the person on their right until the love flows all the way around the
circle. The conductor also asks them to use their soul senses to visualize that love or feel
its vibration, to be aware that it is there or simply to understand that it is present. It is this
love, which is magnified considerably by group energy and which includes the special
love of the inquirer, that draws the soul to the circle and helps keep it there.
This turbocharged love feels wonderful, and instantly soothes all those in the circle.
Sometimes it is a little too effective, and many of them simply sit in contentment and feel
little compulsion or need to speak up. They have a job to do, however. They have gathered
to bring forth information and aid in resolution, and have specific tasks to accomplish, as
we shall find in a bit.
Now is the time for the conductor to lead all participants in calling on those invisible
mentors and friends, even if it seems silly or as though it will not make a difference. It
will.
Always ask aloud for protection.

Whatever names we use for them, whether we call them guides or angels or something
else entirely, is beside the point, so long as we call on them to protect us during the circle.
Guides cannot act without specific permission every time we conduct the afterlife healing
circle.
After the conductor asks for protection out loud, the conductor then directs each person
in the circle to voice (speak out loud) a request for protection. The conductor next asks
each participants guides or guardian angels to stand just outside the circle and allow in
only the soul(s) sought by the inquirer. Theyll be delighted to do so.
This one simple but absolutely crucial step will make all the difference in the world.
Our guides protection eliminates spook jerks, disincarnate crazies, and even denial spirits
(also known as demons or even Lucifer himself). Theyll just have to get their jollies at
someone elses expense. Meanwhile, we can go about our healing mission in peace and
complete safety. Amen to that!

Once the requests for protection have been spoken and the love is flowing around the
circle, the conductor asks the inquirer to speak the name of the soul in question. The
inquirer verbalizes the souls full name two times and a pet name or nickname the third
time. Sometimes, the soul hesitates to enter the circle because there are strangers present.
If thats so, the conductor should ask the inquirer to repeat the same name sequence aloud
once more.
Other times, the soul is so eager to enter it doesnt wait until the inquirer has finished
speaking for the first time. Usually, the soul will pass into the circle over the inquirers
right shoulder, but occasionally the entry point is different. It doesnt really matter. And
often the inquirer or other members of the circle can detect the souls entry into the circle
even without the welcome from the conductor.
Once the soul is in the circle, the conductors job is to keep it there by sending even
more love straight from the heart. Most souls realize they need to assure the inquirer of
their true identity. They almost immediately begin sending highly personal and sometimes
very specific information about themselves. If the soul in question doesnt know what to
do at this point, the conductor and other participants may ask it for evidential material and
explain that the inquirer needs this information.
How does the soul send information? How do participants ask it questions? Through
those four soul senses, which not only receive, but also convey thought-energy that is then
picked up as images, vibrations, words, or awareness by participants own intuition. Here
is where our societys general lack of trust can be an issue, but the group love-energy also
enhances the energy-information so that it is a lot stronger and therefore easier to send and
receive. Provided the conductor is comfortable and confident with the process, other
participants can be less assured and still be very helpful.
The work of the other participants is to verbalize what is called evidential material or
trivia. It is vitally important that the conductor emphasize to all involved (except the
inquirer) that they are to speak aloud every single piece of information they receive
without editing. Again, this is where our general inability to trust our soul senses can

really hamstring our efforts, because it seems safer just to say nothing and let someone
else do the talking.
However, as Deb, the woman with a group of table-tipping friends, points out, If
everybody sits in silence, then nothing ever happens. She is spot on. The very act of
speaking out loud helps keep the energy moving around the circle and encourages the soul
to provide additional specific details. Free and open expression is a spiritual right, along
with free will. When they do speak up, time and again, participants have pulled
information seemingly out of thin air about people or events that only the inquirer or the
soul in question could have known.
Very often, evidential information arrives in the form of physical sensations that can be
unsettling, especially in cases of violent death or death from an illness such as cancer of
the throat or lungs. A throat or chest may feel tight, or one or more of the participants may
develop a pain in the head or some other area of the body. If for no other reason than selfinterest, participants should verbalize what they are receiving or they will keep on
experiencing the discomfort or pain. Speaking up frees them from the sensation, provided
it is not theirs.
Even with these instructions and reminders, participants often still hesitate to say
anything out loud, which is counterproductive. Jana, for example, was taking part in the
afterlife healing circle many years ago and could tell that the man sitting next to her kept
receiving something but was holding it back. After this happened three times, she
encouraged him to speak up.
This is really silly, he replied hesitantly. It just doesnt make any sense. I see a white
picket fence, but its not upright. Its standing on one end.
The inquirer gasped, Now I know its my son!
Years earlier, as a boy, the inquirers son had taken an old piece of picket fence, turned
it so that the posts were horizontal and nailed it to a tree trunk so that his dog could climb
up and join him in his tree house. It was something only he and his grieving parent, of all
the participants in the afterlife healing circle, would have known.
During her session, Clara was finally convinced of her mothers presence when one of
the participants talked about seeing a field of red poppies, waving in the wind. Then
another person mentioned a cross, while Claras daughter immediately said she saw a
skull.
I knew it was my mother then, Clara explained. Red poppies were my mothers
flower. She had them all over the house when I was growing up. And the Skull of Adam
forms the base of the Russian Orthodox cross. My daughter wouldnt know that. She was
brought up Presbyterian.
The point? As we have said before, the information the soul is sending is for the
inquirer, not the participants. That is why it often seems strange to participants, and they
are tempted to shift into their left brains to analyze it. Dont do that. Instead, speak up. The
conductor will have informed the inquirer before the session begins to respond to each
piece of information verbalized in one of three ways: Yes, No, or I dont know.
Sometimes the soul in question provides information that the inquirer isnt sure of or

simply doesnt know but can check out later with family or friends. To head the next
question off at the pass, yes, we can use the afterlife healing circle to conduct crime
investigations. We need one of two things for the session to be fruitful: the first is the
active participation of a person with close emotional ties to the being against whom the
crime was committed; the second is a request for help from the police. We have not been
involved with any type of police work because local authorities, shall we say, look
askance at intuitive methods of detective work. We have no burning desire to persuade
them otherwise because we dont need to prove ourselves to anyone.
After the inquirer has been assured he or she has contacted the right soul, he or she is
emotionally ready to continue to the next stage of the afterlife healing circle. This second
phase consists simply of giving the inquirer and the soul the chance to talk to each other,
assisted by the other session participants.
What comes out as a result of these discussions is usually loving and comforting, but
not always. In one instance, the afterlife healing circle revealed the existence of past
sexual abuse of the soul by the souls mother, who was also the mother of the inquirer.
One of the participants became so indignant that she almost disrupted the circle entirely
through her energy and her comments. Try not to judge the information that comes forth,
because again, that will shut down the love-energy flow. Should issues arise that require
follow-up, there is a different time for and way of addressing those concerns.

The second part of the afterlife healing circle is always very emotional, if for no other
reason than the inquirer finally has some evidence that a loved one thought dead and lost
forever is, in fact, still living, if not in a physical body, and very much found. Or the
inquirer finally has contact with a soul of a child not yet born. The evidence of such
communication is provided partly through the trivia, which are necessary to satisfy the left
brain. The heart, however, is much more open to messages from the soul. As the second
half progresses, inquirers often begin to pick up thoughts and especially feelings from the
loved one in the circle on their own.
When speaking to a child not yet born, Jana at this point encourages the parents to
introduce themselves and ask the soul why it chose them as parents. The parents should
also want to know what they can do to help the child fulfill his or her purpose for this
coming lifetime. This will make parenting so much easier once the child is in a physical
body again. Jana also takes the chance to encourage the soul to be fully present during
birth to make the process faster and less painful, and to let the mother know if the fetus
experiences any problems during the pregnancy.
The joy of such a reunion or meeting is impossible to comprehend except through
direct experience. Resolution replaces anguish. Parent meets child, and both become better
prepared for the years ahead together. Tears flow freely from relief, not grief, or from the
joy of anticipation. The healing spreads from the inquirer and the soul to every member of
the circle.
Once the inquirer and the soul in question have exchanged what they needed to say, the
conductor steps in to offer a brief prayer and thanks to the guides who have helped keep
everyone safe. It need not be lengthy or formal, and those who participated may also

express their gratitude out loud.

We maintain a long list of current and former students, clients, and friends who have
volunteered eagerly to be part of the afterlife healing circle whenever we hold one. They
come out of love and a desire to be of service to others and are not paid any money for
their time. Instead, we offer them coffee, herbal tea, soft drinks, or cold water. The time
before and after the circle gives them a chance to catch up with old friends, make new
ones, and chat with people who dont think all this stuff is so weird after all.
Likewise, we do not charge inquirers for the afterlife healing circle, although we do
charge to teach people how to conduct them. Lets face itamong the public, the sance
has a worse reputation than used-car dealers or TV pitchmen. Some even erroneously
regard the afterlife healing circle as a form of devil worship, which it most emphatically is
not. We avoid this issue entirely simply by never charging for the afterlife healing circle
and by encouraging those we train also to conduct them at no cost as a community service.
This means that we have only a limited amount of time to devote to the afterlife healing
circle, which is one reason we wrote this book. We are hoping it will help spread a
practice that can result in so much good.

Remember, anyone can rig up a floating horn or an ethereal voice in the dark, but no
one, however wellversed in deceptive practices, can fake the feelingsthe profound and
powerful sense of relief and release that surrounds and embraces the inquirer, the soul, and
the other participants during the properly conducted afterlife healing circle. It is the kind
of healing that transforms liveson this and the other sideforever.

Chapter 11

The afterlife healing circle can transform lives by providing much-needed resolution,
but it is by no means always a resounding success. Those who insist on no mistakes
whatsoever most likely will not be satisfied with this method of contacting the other side.
For example, Jana once conducted the afterlife healing circle for a woman who insisted
that the soul in question recall an exact moment on one particular day during their
relationship, and feel about it the very same way she did. The soul was confused and
exasperated because the moment did not hold anything close to the significance for the
soul as it obviously did for the inquirer. The latter left disappointed, and the others in the
group were frustrated that the inquirer kept validating the information they were bringing
forth, yet still said it was not enough to satisfy her.
Expectations invariably limit our ability to be open and receptive in many profound
ways, so its important to approach the afterlife healing circle with as few expectations as
possible. We truly never know what information we will receive or how we will receive it
when we contact souls not in physical bodies.
In one of our afterlife healing circles that allowed parents to meet their child in the
womb, the soul clearly presented a male image and energy and even asked for a boys first
and middle name, to which his soon-to-be parents agreed. Yet a sonogram some weeks
later in the pregnancy revealed that the fetus was female. Confused and disconcerted, the
mother called us, and Candace did some automatic writing with a soul who calls himself
Dr. Sunan. This loving healer was a physician in his most recent physical lifetime and is
one of the leaders of the Sunan Society. Dr. Sunan told Candace that the soul in the womb
intended to come in as a little boy, but felt tremendous hostility to that prospect from the
expectant father and decided that might not be such a good idea. Dr. Sunan also explained
that gender is highly fluid and not determined until much later in a pregnancy than
medical science currently understands. The soul thus had the opportunity to change
genders and come in as a girl. Candace provided Dr. Sunans account for the gender shift
to the mother, who was satisfied with it and just as happy to have a girl.
The afterlife healing circle is by no means the only method of soul communication.
There is the ancient Greek technique of mirror-gazing made popular through a bestselling
book by Dr. Raymond Moody.1 Another bestselling author, James Twyman, was
conducting experiments a few years ago in using lucid dreaming for soul contact. Each of
these approaches has its own strengths and weaknesses, and may better suit many of us
than the afterlife healing circle. Its up to each of us to discover our preferred method, and
it never hurts to explore until we find something that feels right and provides the healing
and resolution we need.
Often our fears or lack of trust make it simply impossible for us to use the afterlife
healing circle or any other means of soul contact, at least temporarily. That is when
psychics or mediums can step in to assist us. Mark Ireland, ironically the son of a very
famous medium in the mid-20th century, Richard Ireland, found mediums enormously

helpful to him after the unexpected death of his younger son, Brandon. His first reading
was from Allison DuBois before she became a household name through the television
series Medium. Mark, an Arizona businessman who authored a book about his search to
come to terms with his loss, says, Mediumship readings, I found, if theyre good ones,
can be very therapeutic for parents or anyone who has lost a loved one, child or
otherwise. He was quick to add, however, that its not a good idea to rely on mediums or
psychics to the point of using them as a crutch. I think a person has to develop their own
sense of spirituality and not become balled up in this shell of grief, he said.2
We agree wholeheartedly, and know that the experience of using our own soul senses to
obtain information from souls not in physical bodies is one of the fastest and most direct
ways to grow in our spirituality and self-trust, which are intimately linked. There is no
substitute for direct personal experience, however helpful and accurate a psychic or
medium might be at pinpointing and delivering details and facts about a departed loved
one. Facts and details may (somewhat) satisfy or even astound the conscious mind, but not
the heart and spirit, which have very different needs.

When we focus solely on this physical world, we limit ourselves to a material reality
and to the physical senses. Materially focused, we may have some vague concept of
spirituality or a creative force or energy, but regard it all as far outside of ourselves. God is
impersonal and irrelevant to us in our everyday material existence.
Materially focused, we believe we are bodies that may or may not have a soul. That
soul, if it exists, has no role in daily life. It leaves that physical body at its death and
somehow merges with this separate being called Godif the physical being has been
good during life. If not, some sort of punishment awaits.
Materially focused, we generally believe that we have only one shot at life and that if
something cannot be seen, heard, smelled, touched, tasted, or measured in some way then
that something does not exist. It is part of that unknown, and whatever is unknown simply
does not exist in our thinking as material beings. Rarely do we allow ourselves to feel or
even become aware of our emotions because, after all, emotions are frivolous and
irrational, which is bad to the materially focused.
When we focus solely on the material, our spiritual aspect may or may not be
demonstrated through belonging to an organized religion or sect. As a rule, when we are
solely focused on physical reality, comes from our validation outside of self. In other
words, we have no value except as we prove that value to others. We as materially focused
beings measure our self-worth by how much we possess and how much power we exert in
the surrounding world.
Physically oriented, we are caught up in expressing self primarily through the mental
body (conscious mind) and the physical body. The mental body believes that we must
push for things in life; that if its easy, its not worth it; and that life is very complex and
complicated. Perception through the physical senses is limited to appearances, some
surface verbal communication, and superficial emotional sensations. Perception limited
only to the physical senses lacks the ability to penetrate into the depth of issues or
relationships to perceive the whole.

When we are focused solely in the physical, we are constantly affected by our
environment and the problems of others. We frequently feel emptya fraud, perhaps, an
empty shell expressing ourself in a lack of self-worth, confidence, and continuity,
depending on external experiences both for pleasure and for pain. As physically focused
beings, we are slaves to the whims of societys standards and expectations. We also
depend on the stimuli of pain and pleasure to believe we are even alive.
When we expand our focus to include the emotional and spiritual, however, we
recognize first that we are souls that, at this point, dwell in physical bodies. We understand
that as created souls, we are eternal, that we have lived before and will always live. We
recognize that there is no final compromise, no final solution. When we enlarge our focus,
we are aware of the utter simplicity in the truth that we are eternal energy-essences that
continue to grow in awareness and knowledge until finally we come to realize we are cocreators with Godalways have been, and always will be. We know to the core of our
beings that we never cease to exist or to create.
Spiritually focused, we discern the environment and relationships with other people
through our soul perception as well as our physical senses. In consciously employing all of
our (at least nine) senses, we bring a depth of perception, understanding, and wisdom to
the surrounding world. As spiritually oriented beings, we regard this world as a
schoolhouse, this lifetime as an opportunity for growth, love, and understanding. We know
we can communicate with our own souls through the soul senses and also with God and
loved ones not in physical bodies. We also know we are capable of consciously tapping
into universal mind at will in order to grow, to understand self, and to understand self in
relationship to the surrounding world.
As spiritually focused beings, we also know our purpose and direction in the course of
this physical world. We are consciously aware of our oneness with the Source, with the
One, and perceive the oneness of all as a bonded unity. Our fears of death and the
unknown diminish because we can feel the reality that there is no such thing as oblivion,
only transformation. We know also that consciousness goes with the soul, that our
uniqueness is expressed daily through a physical body, and that we in the physical world
are not separate from or lost to spiritual realities.
As we expand our focus to include the spiritual, we are better able to affirm physical
life through joy and happiness, and no longer feel so much emptiness within. Instead, we
experience a profound connection with self, with God, and with all around us, whether
people, animals, entities, or other things that exist within the physical and nonphysical
realms.
The afterlife healing circle is a unique way to bridge what may seem an impossible
chasm and disconnect between the material and the spiritual. Yet the reality is far more
hopeful and loving, and the afterlife healing circle provides personal experience of that
hope and love. Its up to us to exercise our free will and open our minds and hearts to the
seemingly implausible possibilities the healing circle affords us.
As our invisible mentors and friends often bid us, go now in peace and joy with all our
love.

Appendix:
The Steps in Brief

BEFORE THE START

The conductor determines the inquirers motive in asking for the afterlife healing circle.
Make sure it is for healing resolution or to solve a genuine problem that cannot be handled
in any other way.
The conductor does not ask for details about the soul in question, but does make sure
there is an emotional connection between the inquirer and the soul. In soul rescues, make
sure there is simply a legitimate connection between the inquirer and the soul(s) in
question (for example, the soul is causing problems in the inquirers home or place of
business).
The conductor invites two to five participants and encourages the inquirer to bring a
spouse, trusted relative, or friend(s).
The conductor asks other participants to arrive earlier than the inquirer and instructs
them that they are to verbalize everything they receive intuitively, no matter how strange.
The conductor may play classical or baroque music softly in the background to help relax
participants and start raising the energy vibration level.
When the inquirer arrives, the conductor makes the introductions and spends a bit of
time to ensure everyone is as comfortable as possible. The conductor shares with the
group as few details as possible about the soul in question.
The conductor shuts off the music (if its playing) and seats the group in a circle, with
the inquirer opposite the conductor. Alternate people with strong energies and those with
softer energies. Put the inquirers companion or the person with the most loving energy to
the inquirers immediate left. Put the person with the strongest energy to the conductors
immediate left to act as a battery for the conductor to keep the energy moving. Place a
box of tissues nearby.
The conductor instructs the inquirer to respond to the other participants in one of three
ways: Yes, No, or I dont know. Nothing else.

AS THE CIRCLE BEGINS

The conductor tells the seated participants to join hands, each persons right hand
covering the palm of the upturned left hand of the person to his or her right.
The conductor leads the group in a relaxation meditation, using his/her intuition to
sense when participants are as calm and centered as they can be.
The conductor asks aloud for protection and asks everyone to verbalize his or her
requests for protection.

The conductor instructs the inquirer to speak aloud the soul in questions full name
twice and nickname once. This can be repeated if needed. In cases where parents have not
yet chosen a childs name, simply ask the soul waiting to be born to this mother or parents
to come into the circle.

DURING THE CIRCLE

Once the soul in question enters the circle, the conductor reassures the soul that the
group has gathered to foster communication between the soul and the inquirer. Other
participants may also welcome the soul.
The conductor keeps reminding participants to verbalize any information or
impressions they are receiving.
The inquirer answers only Yes, No, or I dont know. The inquirer listens
carefully to all information and responds as truthfully as possible.
Participants other than the inquirer must verbalize everything they are receiving. If they
feel physical sensations and do not speak, they will continue to feel these sensations.
Speaking releases the energy.
The conductor continues to move love around the circle throughout the session.
Once the inquirer is satisfied that the soul the inquirer seeks is in the circle, the group
pauses to give both sides time to say what they need to say to each other. The conductor
and the other participants may assist here if the inquirer seems hesitant.
Once the inquirer and the soul in question have said what they needed to say, the
conductor offers a prayer of thanks for the blessings of the healing. If the soul is a
departed loved one or an entity that has decided to seek another mother, participants may
encourage the soul to move toward the light so that it may continue its path.

AFTER THE CIRCLE

Participants release each others hands and open their eyes. The tissues will be needed
and welcome at this point.
Before disbanding, the group needs a bit of time to discuss and review the experience.
The inquirer may now respond more fully to the information the other participants
received and explain its significance.

Keep in mind that the afterlife healing circle is free-flowing, and each circle is unique
in how it unfolds. As long as participants remember to ask aloud for protection, they can
skip or forget every other step and still do just fine.

Notes

CHAPTER 1
1. Wagner, Stephen. Terrifying Sances. About.com: Paranormal Phenomena.
http://paranormal.about.com/od/lifeafterdeath/a/aa100508.htm, accessed March 2015.
2. Yahoo.com Answers, https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?
qid=20071111105754AA6nfWG, 2007.
3. Brian Dunning, personal interview.
4. Phyllis Sloan, personal interiew.
5. Phyllis Sloan, personal interview.
6. Astrid Stromberg, personal interview.
7. Healing messages: The potential therapeutic benefit of mediumship readings in the
treatment of grief (Research Brief). The Windbridge Institute (2012).
www.windbridge.org/papers/ResearchBrief_Grief.pdf, accessed March 2015.
8. Briana Henderson Saussy, personal interview.
9. DeRohan, Ceanne, Right Use of Will: Healing and Evolving the Emotional Body,
Santa Fe, N.M.: Four Winds Press, 1984, 1986.

CHAPTER 2
1. Kirkby (ne Markwick), Laura, Circles of healing around the world: An exploration
of the association between spiritual healing and circles in art, pp. 315316, PhD
thesis, Townsville, Queensland, Australia: James Cook University, 2004.
http://eprints.jcu.edu.au/7964/, accessed March 2015.
2. Circles, Restorative Justice Online, www.restorativejustice.org/universityclassroom/01introduction/tutorial-introduction-to-restorative-justice/processes/circles.
Reprinted with permission from www.restorativejustice.org (c. 20012014, Prison
Fellowship International Centre for Justice and Reconciliation).
3. Jones, Dan, New Light on Stonehenge, Smithsonian Magazine, October, 2008, pp.
3646.
4. Kirkby, Circles of healing, p. 23.
5. Circles, Restorative Justice Online.
6. Ibid.
7. Ibid.

8. Truth and Reconciliation Commission (South Africa), Wikipedia,

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Truth_and_Reconciliation_Commission_(South_Africa)#Impact

accessed March 2015.

9. Circles, Restorative Justice Online.
10. Ibid.
11. Bolen, Jean Shinoda, MD, The Millionth CircleHow to Change Ourselves and the
World, Berkeley, Calif.: Conari Press, 1999, p. 14.

CHAPTER 7
1. DeRohan, Ceanne, Right Use of Will: Healing and Evolving the Emotional Body,
Santa Fe, N.M.: Four Winds Press, 1984, 1986, p. vii.
2. Talmadge, Candace L., and Simons, Jana L., Hope Is in the Garden: Healing
Resolution Through Unconditional Love, Dallas: Sattva Institute, 1999, p. 83.
3. Kirkby (ne Markwick), Laura, Circles of healing around the world: An exploration
of the association between spiritual healing and circles in art, p. 23, PhD thesis,
Townsville, Queensland, Australia: James Cook University, 2004.
http://eprints.jcu.edu.au/7964/, accessed March 2015.
4. Artemis, Angela, Among MediumsAn Interview with Author Julie Beischel, PhD
(& Giveaway!), PoweredbyIntuition.com, April 21, 2013,
www.poweredbyintuition.com/2013/04/21/among-mediums-an-inter-view-with-authorjulie-bieschel-phd-giveaway, accessed April 2015.

CHAPTER 8
1. Talmadge, Candace L., and Simons, Jana L., Hope is in the Garden: Healing
Resolution Through Unconditional Love, Dallas: Sattva Institute, 1999, p. 87.

CHAPTER 9
1. Talmadge, Candace L., and Simons, Jana L., Hope is in the Garden: Healing
Resolution Through Unconditional Love, Dallas: Sattva Institute, 1999, pp.3739.
2. Epstein, Gerald, MD, Healing Visualizations: Creating Health Through Imagery, New
York: Bantam New Age, 1989, pp. 212213.
3. Peck, M. Scott, MD, The Road Less Travelled, New York: Simon & Schuster, 1978,
pp. 235243.
4. The Holy Bible: King James Version, Matthew 18:20.

CHAPTER 11
1. Moody, Raymond A., Jr., MD, Reunions: Visionary Encounters With Departed Loved
Ones, New York: Ivy Books, 1993.
2. Ireland, Mark, Soul Shift: Finding Where the Dead Go, Berkeley, Calif.: Frog Books,
2008.

Resources

Deborah Frueh
www.InternalWilderness.com
Ken Hudnall
www.kenhudnall.com
Mark Ireland
www.drrichardireland.com/book.html
Rayni Joan
www.raynijoan.com
John L. Johnsen
www.grendelfilms.org
Briana Henderson Saussy
www.brianasaussy.com
Phyllis E. Sloan, PhD, The Unknown Connection: Spirituality, the Paranormal, and You,
Washington, D.C.: Alpha Run Press, LLC, 2006.
Astrid Stromberg, Ph.D.
www.brilliantessence.com
The Sunan Society
www.sunan.com
Sharn Wyeth
www.knowthename.com

Index
agape, 106
angels. See spirit guides.
anger, 30
afterlife healing circle,
abortion and, 86-88
attributes of, 39-40
benefits of, 25, 28-29
crime investigations and, 154
difference between sance and, 20
evidential material or trivia in, 152-155
how to conduct, 143-157
importance of love in, 107
limitations of, 29
location for, 145
managing expectations regarding, 159-160
motives for conducting, 79
necessity of emotional connection in, 72-74
necessity of love in, 107
nonhierarchical nature of, 45
paranormal activity during, 138-139
purpose of, 24-25
safety of, role of spirit guides in, 51
SIDS and, 88-89
suicide and, 89
therapy vs., 29
unadvised reasons for conducting, 71-72, 144
whole self engaged in, 38
why conduct, 26
beforelife, 67
beings,

discarnate, communicating with, 101, 110

nonphysical, 44
Beischel, Julie, 110
birth and death, two mathematical equations to express, 104
Bolen, Jean Shinoda, 45
Brilliant Essence, 27
California Institute of Integral Studies, 41
Changling, The, 19, 23
chi, 106
child, unborn, contacting an, 67-71
circle
as an alternative for problem-solving, 43
as spiritual healing archetype, 36
traditions, European, 38
circle, indigenous peoples and, 36, 38
circles in art, spiritual healing and, 35-36
circles,
most famous of European, 36
justice, 38-39
talking, 38
clairvoyance, 116
communication, nonphysical channels of, 114-117 (see also psychic abilities)
community,
inclusion of spirit guides in, 51
inclusion of the other side in, 44
conductor, role of, 145-146, 147, 148-151, 154
Conjuring, The, 23
consciousness,
destruction of physical body and, 107
self-judgment and, 114
Darville, Timothy, 36
dead and the living, divide between the, 91

death,
birth and, two mathematical equations to express, 104
persistence of consciousness after, 104
reality of life after, 62
deaths of loved ones, unresolved issues concerning, 27
denial spirit, 33, 31, 110-111
denial spirits, existence of, 31-32
discarnate
beings, communicating with, 101
souls, 110, 117
divine love, 105
Du Bois, Allison, 161
Dunning, Brian, 23
Einstein, Albert, 104
authors reinterpretation of equation of, 106-107
emotional body, 30
emotional bodies, wounded, 31
energy,
sciences definition of, 105
soul as, 104-105
energy-healing
modalities, 137
work, 42,
Epstein, Gerald, 135
God, 105
mediated connection to, 45-46 (see also top down hierarchies)
other names for, 46, 48
hauntings, 107-108
heal, linguistic roots of the word, 37
healing,
importance of spirituality in, 45
purely scientific model of, 45

spiritual or emotional, 37
hierarchies, top down, 46
holy, roots of the word, 37
Hudnall, Ken, 20-21
inquirer,
motives of, 80
questions to ask, 144
screening the, 72
intuition, honoring our, 122-125
Ireland, Mark, 161
Jesus, 47, 141
Johnson, John L., 114
Jordan, Meg, 40-42, 43
Kirkby, Laura, 35, 37, 109
life, continuum of, 25
love, 29, 64, 107
ability to, 105
control as the opposite of, 33
Gods unconditional, 31, 33, 74
materially focused, results of being, 162-164
Medium, 161
mediums and psychics, helpfulness of, 111, 161
Millionth Circle, The, 45
mirror-gazing, 161
Moody, Raymond, 161
name instructions, pre-birth, 99-101
nonphysical beings, 44
senses, conditioning
and programming
regarding our, 118
not yet born,
contact from the, 96-101

contacting the, 67, 80-86

other side, 44
our perception of separation from, 113-114
part of self that connects us to, 118
Ouija board, 22-23, 123, 139
Ouija boards, 24
Peck, M. Scott, 138
paranormal activity, 107-109
parapsychologists, 29
Perdue, Jeanne M., 24
physical bodies, souls that dont have, 104, 117, 160, 162 (see also discarnate souls)
poltergeist
effect, the, 31, 33
events, 30
phenomena, 29
feminine anger and, 30-31
poltergeist, authors belief regarding the, 30
possession,
documented cases of, 31 (see also denial spirit)
process of, 32
Powered by Intuition, 110
prana, 105
prayer, 26
precognition, 116
pregnancy, unwanted or poorly timed, 27-28
psi abilities, 115, 116
psychic abilities, 115 (see also soul senses)
psychokinesis, 108, 116
psychotherapy, limits of traditional, 27, 28
qi, 106
quanta, 104-105
Road Less Traveled, The, 138

Rohan, Ceanne de, 31

Saussy, Briana Henderson, 28, 41-42
sance,
dangers of conducting, 23-24
fear regarding, 24
stereotype regarding, 23
trickery and, 21-22
sances, fraud regarding, 24
self,
emotional and spiritual parts of, 20, 28
ignorance and prejudice against, 20
inability of science to address, 28
four parts of, 38
trust in, 123
self-judgment, pernicious effects of, 114
Sloane, Phyllis, 24, 26
soul
awareness, 118-119
communication, other methods of, 161
feeling, 119
rescue, 74
senses, four, 115-116
how to develop, 125-128
difference between
physical and, 116-117
strength order of, 120-122
understanding, 120
vision, 119-120
soul,
energy that forms the, 105
eternal continuum of the, 102
souls without physical bodies, angry or hostile, 109

communications from, 44, 91-102

gentle attempts at communication from, 108-109
haphazard, random, confusing messages from, 103
stereotype of goodness or enlightenment of, 109-110
souls,
discarnate, 110, 117
disembodied, 73
emotions and feelings of, 108
South Africas Truth and Reconciliation Commission, 40
spirit communication, unadvised attempts at, 22
spirit guides, 44, 51, 131-141
childhood and, 132
free will and, 135-137, 139
imperfection of, 135
rare cases of materialization of, 134
spiritual
abilities, 111 (see also soul senses)
authority, consequences of handing over our, 45-48
equality of all created souls, fundamental, 48
practice, grassroots, 17
warfare, 140
spiritual, widespread disconnection from the, 113
spirituality, grassroots, 25
spiritually focused, results of being, 164-165
Stromberg, Astrid, 27, 95, 122, 125
Stonehenge, possible uses of, 36-37
stories, authors personal, 51-63
subconscious mind, 30, 117 (see also emotional body)
Sunan
method, 63
three simple principles of, 64, 69
Society, 63-64, 160

therapy, 59, 63, 137

table tipping, 22, 124, 139
telepathy, 116
Twyman, James, 161
unborn child, contacting an, 67-71
Wainwright, Geoffrey, 36
whole, roots of the word, 37

About the Authors

Inner-shift specialist Candace L. Talmadge has been a professional writer since 1976.
She has been a syndicated political columnist and has written full time or freelanced for
major print and online media. Candace takes clients to meet their guides, and publishes the
Green Stone of Healing speculative fiction series under the byline C.L. Talmadge.
Connect with Candace at www.thehealingcirclebook.com.
Jana L. Simonss resume looks like it belongs to several people. She changed
industries and fields numerous times over many years until she found her true calling:
teaching soul-sense development and a unique form of energy healing known as Sunan
therapy. Although retired, Jana continues to work with clients on a limited basis. With
Candace, she has also coauthored earlier nonfiction that explores emotional healing
resolution through Sunan therapy. Connect with Jana at
www.facebook.com/thehealingcircle.