I then prepared him for a jump back into the mists of time by the visual use of protective shielding. When we completed this important step of mental conditioning, I moved my subject through an imaginary time tunnel to his last life on Earth. It was a short life because he had died suddenly from the influenza epidemic of 1918.
As the initial shock of seeing himself die and feeling his soul floating out of his body begins to wear off a little, my client adjusts more readily to the visual images in his mind. Since a small part of the conscious, critical portion of his mind is still functioning, he realizes he is recreating a former experience. It takes a bit longer than usual since this subject is a younger soul and not so used to the cycles of birth, death, and rebirth as are many of my other clients.
Yet, within a few moments he settles in and begins to respond with greater confidence to my questions. I quickly raise this subject's subconscious hypnotic level into the superconscious state. Now he is ready to talk to me about the spirit world, and I ask what is happening to him.
S: Well ... I'm rising up higher ... still floating ... looking back at my body. It's like watching a movie, only I'm in it! The doctor is comforting my wife and daughter. My wife is sobbing (subject wiggles with discomfort in his chair). I'm trying to reach into her mind ... to tell her everything is all right with me. She is so overcome by grief I'm not getting through. I want her to know my suffering is gone ... I'm free of my body ... I don't need it any more ... that I will wait for her. I want her to know that ... but she is ... not listening to me. Oh, I'm moving away now ...
And so, guided by a series of commands, my client starts the process of moving further into the spirit world. It is a road many others have traveled in the security of my office. Typically, as memories in the superconscious state expand, subjects in hypnosis become more connected to the spiritual passageway. As the session moves forward, the subject's mental pictures are more easily translated into words. Short descriptive phrases lead to detailed explanations of what it is like to enter the spirit world.
We have a great deal of documentation, including observations from medical personnel, which describes the out-of-body near-death experiences of people severely injured in accidents. These people were considered clinically dead before medical efforts brought them back from the other side. Souls are quite capable of leaving and returning to their host bodies, particularly in life-threatening situations when the body is dying. People tell of hovering over their bodies, especially in hospitals, watching doctors perform life-saving procedures on them. In time these memories fade after they return to life.
In the early stages of hypnosis regression into past lives, the descriptions of subjects mentally going through their past deaths do not contradict the reported statements of people who have actually died in this life for a few minutes. The difference between these two groups of people is that subjects in hypnosis are not remembering their experiences of temporary death. People in a deep trance state are capable of describing what life is like after permanent physical death.
What are the similarities of afterlife recollection between people reporting on their out-of-body experiences as a result of a temporary physical trauma and a subject in hypnosis recalling death in a past life? Both find themselves floating around their bodies in a strange way, trying to touch solid objects which dematerialize in front of them. Both kinds of reporters say they are frustrated in their attempts to talk to living people who don't respond. Both state they feel a pulling sensation away from the place where they died and experience relaxation and curiosity rather than fear.
All these people report a euphoric sense of freedom and brightness around them. Some of my subjects see brilliant whiteness totally surrounding them at the moment of death, while others observe the brightness is farther away from an area of darker space through which they are being pulled. This is often referred to as the tunnel effect, and has become well known with the public.
My second case will take us further into the death experience than Case 1. The subject here is a man in his sixties describing to me the events of his death as a young woman called Sally, who was killed by Kiowa Indians in an attack on a wagon train in 1866. Although this case and the last one relate death experiences after their most immediate past lives, a particular death date in history has no special relevance because it is recent. I find no significant differences between ancient and modern times in terms of graphic spirit world recall, or the quality of lessons learned.
I should also say the average subject in trance has an uncanny ability to zero in on the dates and geographic locations of many past lives. This is true even in earlier periods of human civilization, when national borders and place names were different than exist today. Former names, dates, and locations may not always be easily recalled in every past life, but descriptions about returning to the spirit world and life in that world are consistently vivid.
The scene in Case 2 opens on the American southern plains right after an arrow has struck Sally in the neck at close range. I am always careful with death scenes involving violent trauma in past lives because the subconscious mind often still retains these experiences. The subject in this case came to me because of a lifetime of throat discomfort. Release therapy and deprogramming is usually required in these cases. In all past life recall, I use the time around death for quiet review and place the subject in observer status to soften pain and emotion.
Case 2
Dr. N: Are you in great pain from the arrow?
S: Yes ... the point has torn my throat ... I'm dying (subject begins to whisper while holding his hands at the throat). I'm choking ... blood pouring down ... Will (husband) is holding me ... the pain ... terrible ... I'm getting out now ... it's over, anyway.
Note: Souls often leave their human hosts moments before actual death when their bodies are in great pain. Who can blame them? Nevertheless, they do stay close by the dying body. After calming techniques, I raise this subject from the subconscious to the superconscious level for the transition to spiritual memories.
Dr. N: All right, Sally, you have accepted being killed by these Indians. Will you please describe to me the exact sensation you feel at the time of death?
S: Like ... a force ... of some kind ... pushing me up out of my body.
Dr. N: Pushing you? Out where?
S: I'm ejected out the top of my head.
Dr. N: And what was pushed out?
S: Well-me!
Dr. N: Describe what "me" means. What does the thing that is you look like going out of the head of your body?
S: (pause) Like a ... pinpoint of light ... radiating ...
Dr. N: How do you radiate light?
S: From ... my energy. I look sort of transparent white ... my soul ...
Dr. N: And does this energy light stay the same after leaving your body?
S: (pause) I seem to grow a little ... as I move around.
Dr. N: If your light expands, then what do you look like now?
S: A ... wispy ... string ... hanging ...
Dr. N: And what does the process of moving out of your body actually feel like to you?
S: Well, it's as if I shed my skin ... peeling a banana. I just lose my body in one swoosh!
Dr. N: Is the feeling unpleasant?
S: Oh no! It's wonderful to feel so free with no more pain, but ... I am ... disoriented ... I didn't expect to die ... (sadness is creeping into my client's voice and I want him to stay focused on his soul for a minute more, rather than what is taking place on the ground with his body)
Dr. N: I understand, Sally. You are feeling a little displacement at the moment as a soul. This is normal in your situation for what you have just gone through. Listen and respond to my questions. You said you were floating. Are you able to move around freely right after death?