Did you know you can be of assistance to those who have recently died?
This three-part series explores the nocturnal out-of-body experience (OBE), how you can help the departed during sleep, and ways to help them while you’re awake.
Part 3 of 3
Helping the Dead While You’re Awake
There are a number of ways you can help lost or troubled spirits in the afterlife.
- You can provide reassurance and explanations to orient the newly dead to their new situation.
- You can pray for them to progress toward the higher realms.
- You can invite them to study about the afterlife with you.
Heath and Klimo explain that anyone can help the newly dead:
Although having a developed psychic ability enhances your effectiveness and gives you more options for helping spirits, there are some methods—such as prayer or a one-way conversation explaining what happened to the dead—that can be used by everyone, regardless of talent.
—Pamela Rae Heath and Jon Klimo, Handbook to the Afterlife
Providing Reassurance to the Newly Dead
A common reason why spirits get stuck on the earth plane is fear. Sometimes they believe they will be judged harshly by God. Others just don’t know what to expect on the other side, so they cling to what they know: the earth realm.
Therefore, what the newly dead often need is simple reassurance. Some newly departed do not accept that they are in fact dead. If not, they may reject the spirit helpers who come to assist them and will instead turn to the living for help and comfort.
Heath and Klimo claim that you don’t need to be psychic to help in this way. “Just be calm and reassuring as you explain (whether out loud or in thoughts) what is going on, and how the dead can look for others around them in spirit who are trying to help them.”
Note: You can get an understanding of the death and crossing over process in What Happens When You Die.
You can also recommend to them that they pray for those in the higher realms to come and find them. Spiritualist John Wadsworth claims that, “If they call for help, the prayer makes a sort of path upon which [higher spirits] can find them.” (A Guide Book to the Land of Peace)
Praying for the Dead
Prayer is very helpful to those in the afterlife.
When asked about what could be done to aid a soul, medium George Anderson once said, “You are already helping your friend more than you know by praying or thinking about him, which sends spiritual ‘hugs’ to the hereafter.” (Anderson and Barone, Walking in the Garden of Souls)
Medium P. M. H. Atwater was often told that prayer is seen by the departed as beams of light that reach them with tangible help (Heath and Klimo).
Crookall explains that the newly dead need our prayers just as the living do. He says, “Religion has taught that when people die, the ties with their surviving loved ones are basically severed, and those who are left no longer have any power to help those who have crossed over. This is unfortunate because it is not true.”
We can help the recently departed by praying for them. The dead who have crossed over into the higher astral realms do what they can, but they need our help. “By praying for the newly dead—sending instructive, helpful thoughts—we can help the angels in their task of welcoming the dead into Paradise.” (Robert Crookall, During Sleep)
Hereward Carrington, in Your Psychic Powers, states that:
“Many of the ‘spirits’ who have passed over, being nearer earth than ‘Heaven’ mid astral realms, soon after their transition, are more easily reached by the living than by other spirits—so far as comfort, advice and assistance are concerned—and, for this reason, prayers of the living are often a great help to those who have recently ‘passed over’ and are extremely earthbound by reason of their mental and moral characteristics.”
—Hereward Carrington, Your Psychic Powers
Olive Pixley shares the story of someone in Spirit who reveals the power of prayer:
“I never knew what prayer was before I came here. It is the force that operates in my world, as electricity does in yours. Prayer materially alters our conditions. When you pray for those who have passed on it is like giving them presents: you alter conditions that can be changed only by the force of prayer.”
—Olive C. B. Pixley, Listening In
Studying the Afterlife with the Departed
Crookall suggests that you can be of the most help to loved ones who have passed on by familiarizing yourself with spiritual truths about the afterlife. How to do this? Reading this blog and the books referenced here is a good start!
Many earthbound spirits return to earth and strive to gain from earthly teachers what they failed to learn when they were living. Those souls who did not learn their lessons while they lived in the body are distressed to cross over and find out the spiritual reality that their lives have brought them to.
—Robert Crookall, During Sleep
When you sit down to study, issue a mental call to your loved ones to come and study with you. In this way, they may also learn about the realities of the afterlife and how to meet its challenges.
Conclusion to the Series
The newly dead sometimes pass into the spirit world not knowing how to cross over into the higher realms. We who are living are often better able to help them find their way to the light.
We can help them while we sleep by determining to visit them in our dreams. We can also help them while awake by providing reassurance to them about their new state, by praying for them using constructive thoughts, and by inviting them to study about the truths of the afterlife with us.
There is abundant evidence to show that the departed are in some instances helped and enabled to make their first advance in the spirit world not so much by angel ministry as by the sympathy, forgiveness and prayer of those still in this mortal life.
—Rev. C. L. Tweedale, Man’s Survival After Death
Set your intention to help those who are crossing over. When it is your turn to follow the way of all the living, you will ensure a warm welcome into the afterlife.
If this series has helped in your understanding of the crossing over process, or you have an experience to share, I’d love to receive your comments here.
If you’re interested in a mediumship reading, see my page Psychic Readings and Spiritual Healing.