Monday, December 17, 2012

The Mist at Death



Going through the SITU "junk boxes" and trying to discard contentless paper as well as redundant duplication ... it's an often-dull occupation but every so often you are rewarded with something interesting. The SITU files has/had a ton of FATE magazines. Often these were in duplications of four to a number. Well, as interesting as FATE can be, we cannot afford the shelf space for anything like that, and so they must go. I have a nearly complete run myself, so no help there. Several of my friends have their own or prefer to come over here and use mine [or now, Ivan's] and not lumber their own shelves. So, for some of these duplicates, I decided to "extract" the interesting articles and notes. place them into topical files, and recycle the remnants. None of these were REALLY old "classics", by the way. This makes content MUCH easier to access when one decides to make a review of a subject in the anomalies, and I've done the same thing with a duplicate run of PURSUIT. {and CUFOS' IUR}. I'll never do such a horrid act to anything rare but that does make research harder NOT doing so.

The relevance to a blog post is that in a very small number of FATEs that I was dismembering, there arose three notes from readers about "mists" rising from the bodies of relatives or patients at the moment of death. One hears, vaguely, of such things, but these were the first "personal report" sorts of incidents that I'd read. As my Mother is just going into hospice now, and maybe is facing her final soul-moments here in the physical universe, this coincidence stuck a little more tightly. [I am, by the way, perfectly at Peace with the possibility of an imminent passing, even of this person residing so near the center of my existence. Mother has lived a grand 96+ years, filled with outpourings of Love, and I am certain that God is proud of her. I'll feel her passing at the animal-level, but my own soul will ultimately be joyful for her new status in the next stage of her existence, surrounded by those who meant so much to her].

And so.... what did those readers say?



One person said this: [a woman was in hospital in a double room with an elderly patient in the other bed. She told this to her daughter] "Late one night shortly after twelve o'clock, my mother lay awake. Suddenly, she told me, she felt her attention drawn to Mrs. Melberger's bed. As she watched, she saw a white mist rise from her head. It hovered for a few seconds, then slowly began spiraling and floated away from the woman and out through the closed door of the room." This made the other woman nervous, but after a while she could fall back asleep. When she awoke the next morning, the other bed was unoccupied. Her nurse told her that the older lady had died a little after midnight that evening.

Robert Crookall of OOBE fame, wrote to FATE to mention that in a book by Reverend Maurice Elliott and his wife Irene, that they were present at a deathbed and witnessed some sort of angel-like "visitants" come saying that they were there to take the patient home. Shortly a "white hazy mist" began to form above the body and to take on the form of the near-deceased. The witnesses said that some sort of "cord" seemed to attach this mist to the physical body and the angel-visitants assisted in detaching it, whereupon the mistbody [soul as interpreted by those present] left the premises with a company of spirits.

The third anecdote was from a soldier in the Pacific Theatre [GUAM] of WWII. While treating a wounded soldier, a sniper killed the man who was accompanying the fellow who wrote to FATE. He in turn killed the sniper, made the other man that they had been treating comfortable, and knelt down next to his companion, now just barely with a beating pulse. The pulse flickered and stopped; his companion dying in his arms.

"As his heart stopped beating, I noticed what appeared to be a fine mist emanate upward from his face into the bright sky, and in this mist I saw a rainbow with all the colors of the spectrum. After a few seconds, it was gone."


Of course none of these stories would surprise meditative persons of a previous more-spiritually-oriented age, just our own which operates in puzzling denial of even the possibility of such a happening. Whether in a society emphasizing an afterlife or a reincarnation, our past is filled with imagery of soul-representing birds flying into the heavens or, like the Phoenix, burning and rising again anew.

Raymond Moody, he of the Stages of Near-Death-Experience fame, has apparently published a book, Glimpses of Eternity, which contains many further instances of the "Soul Mist" at the moment of death. Louisa May Alcott is apparently one famous person who witnessed such a thing, and, although I do not own the book and have not read it, there seems to be a whole list of more incidents.


So, are these experiences veridical objectively? Are they "evidences" for the lucky few that some subtle essential "me" discards the failing body in the end, and giving slight last manifestation of that separation here in SpaceTime, sails its way on to God?

I, as a Catholic, believe that something like that happens, and will, probably shortly, happen with Mom. But whether the event is accompanied by a subtle "mist", rarely glimpsed by a fortunate few, the scientist in me cannot say.

Blessings to you all as we grow close to Christmas. Don't feel sorry for me, if Mom passes. That will be one of her days of Glory, mist or not.


34 comments:

  1. Hello Prof, it's interesting material and a subject that strikes many of us somewhere deep inside. I can't say I believe in the veridicity of the accounts or be as sure as to disbelieve.

    One thing that we might agree upon is the appeal of the possibility that such phenomena could exist as reported. It's an attractive concept that offers so much reassurance.

    Just this evening I was reading an interview with Noddy Holder of Slade fame. He described his most prized possession as being an old Art Deco clock that stopped at 3:30...the moment his father died. Sure, we could cite coincidence or brush such experiences aside without a second thought.

    Or we can appreciate the value of subjective experience and let it bring comfort that there just might be something else going on.

    I hope your Mom and your back enjoy Christmas without any unexpected 'mists.'

    All the best for Christmas and whatever follows in the New Year.

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  2. Thanks.

    My faith is thankfully quite strong and I don't need "miraculous witnessings" to buoy it up. but many seem to. I'll happily live in a universal design which has or has not "mistings" near death. That helps a lot with the old objectivity.

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  3. God bless you and your Mom, and to both of you a very blessed Christmas.

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    1. Thanks for your kindness, Pavel. Mom is actually dying right now as I type, as she has begun her last transition by no longer eating. The "animal" in me feels this as very sad, but all the other elements in my being exult in that she is going to the Midst of God's Love, where her loving life has manifested that she belongs. It is God Who is getting the great Christmas Present this time. .... and I'll see her again, I hope, in my turn.

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  4. prayers for you both, patty

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  5. I witnessed a mist that almost looked like smoke issuing from my mother's mouth the night before she died. There were four other people in the room, but I was the only one that witnessed it. My sister saw the look on my face when I saw it, but it disappeared quickly, within seconds. I always thought that the dead were just sleeping, awaiting a future resurrection to the earth. This vision has shaken my beliefs to the core. I am 100% certain that there IS life after death now. I'm just confused as to what form it takes. People can chose to believe me or not, but I am a very sane person who never, ever believed in such things until I saw it for myself. I saw it as sure as I am typing this account of it. What to make of it, I don't know. My mother never responded again after that. It occurred at around 6 p.m. on a Friday night, and she died at 8:20 a.m. on Saturday morning.

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    1. Thank you, Beth for that extremely interesting and personal experience.

      None of us knows what the "mist" might signify, but it nevertheless seems to be real. I am going to speculate [so don't take me too seriously] that as the Soul of the Person [which is their true immortal spiritual self] "turns" away from its normal fixed linkage to the physical world and begins its purely spiritual journey, this final "letting go" creates a mild "energy rupture" between its spiritual {willful} influence and the physical body. Under the right conditions, we still-connected-to-the-physical humans can see that moment as a lightly released "substance". Whether that is steam-laden air or something stranger doesn't make any real difference. Either way we are being privileged to witness the result of the Soul's turning completely towards the Spiritual.

      I wish I had that privilege as you did, but in my case I had other "signs" that Mom's and Dad's Spiritual Journeys had begun. Thank you again.

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    2. I also experienced this 2 weeks ago the white mist was coming out of her mouth and chest it happened over 2 days my 2 daughters also seen it but only once it was heartbreaking and Amazing

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  6. Thanks for your post. I had never come across such a phenomenon until last night when my wife's grandmother died. My brother in Law, a rational atheist type reported seeing a mist coming out of his grandmothers head at the very moment she died, he told his dad, who was not surprised, at all. He even told my brother in law that this is normal, as he himself had witnessed it several times. By the way, I live in China so am amazed to see that the references here to a strange smoke or mist rising out of the head at death are so strikingly similar to my bother in law and father in law's accounts.

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  7. Good questions. There was an article at the site "noetics.org" on one of the phenomena that appear during death.
    .
    According to them there is a massive release of photons from the cells of the organism (my anatomy teacher at university used to say that the body also releases all endorphins at the same time).
    .
    I sometimes ask myself how many anda what"elements" (substances, energy, etc) are suddenly freed if this event is somehow related with the departure of the spirit like the occurence of the mist.
    .
    Best wishes,

    Alaor

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  8. My sister left us Saturday evening. As I sat with her after her death, I saw mist leave her mouth and nose for a very brief moment

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  9. I have noticed many posts state the mist comes from the persons mouth. When my Mother died my Daughter and the hospice nurse ando all of us standing around Mom when she passed. I saw a puff of smoke leave her body seemingly to come from the middle of her body.. It went up and just like a puff of smoke. I asked my Daughter and the nurse to look at that but no one saw it except me. Why?

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    1. Well, who really can say? I've read other thoughts that the mist comes from the forehead, others from the heart, others a more general "cloud." We, the audience, are seated in many different angles and heights, and distances from dimmer or brighter lighting. And, perhaps even more likely, since this is probably a more spiritual phenomenon than a physical one, it depends partly upon the state of the observer, or the relationship between observer and deceased.

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    2. My mother died in 1995 and I seen a wisp of smoke come from her head it hovered for a second and then floated through the ceiling no one else in the room seen this you speak of a relationship between patient and observer she gave me away at age of 4 my sister who she kept did not see this happen and I think to this day she does not believe what I saw for years I even doubted myself until I saw a show about a woman that lost her son and seen the same think I seen I just can't understand why I seen and my other two sisters and brother didn't

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    3. Thank you. All of these experiences tend to pile up together a small mountain of reports, which should lead the rest of us to the view that we should at the very least be sympathetically open-minded towards the possibilities that these moments are "gifts" of some kind which message us to honor the concept of post-death survival. As a Catholic, this is an idea near the core of my personal faith, but it does not hurt to hear others' experiences of the possible supernatural.

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  10. My father passed away last month after a struggling fight with heart disease. He and I were not close while I was growing up and as a matter of fact we didn't grow close until his recent struggle with life. He was hospitalized earlier this year and ended up having a surgery to remove an abdominal hernia. He acquired a staph infection which lead to sepsis. He was in and out of his right mind. I only knew this because he rarely spoke to me in his natural state. A childlike innocence that he exuded while he was sick prepared us for a newfound love. A bond created between us that brought us together. Daddy received his salvation and was baptized during this period. I rarely left his side after this. He remained hospitalized for months after this until ultimately his death met up with him. The doctors came in and told my sister and I that daddy would not survive. We rallied the family together to come and visit and slowly but surely, each member trickled out of the room to go home. Left with only four us at daddy's bedside, it was late in the night. I sat down in a chair at daddy's feet and began to read. It was nearing 2 am and I was getting tired. Upon yawning, I glanced up from my book and looked at daddy who seemed so peaceful. As I stared at his helpless body, I began to see a white essence that clouded up above his head and chest. I closed and rubbed my eyes thinking maybe the room had gotten hazy or I was tired but I opened my eyes back up and the essence became quite misty and began to drift upward. Chills ran through my body as I'm witnessing this phenomena which only lasted a good ten seconds. The mist never took form of anything recognizable but had a tail or funnel-like shape near the bottom of it, almost as if it was being sucked from my dad. This mist rose a good foot from daddy's body before it started to dissipate. I looked around at my sister and asked if she saw what just happened and she did not. Here I am one month after his death and I am convinced of what I saw. His spirit exiting his body for his glorious entrance into the presence of the Lord. I believe God gave me an eye for this experience to spread the gospel to those who believe their isn't a life after this. I've never felt so close to God as I do now.

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    1. Thank you for your report of this experience. As you have read, others have been privileged to see a similar phenomenon. Perhaps the best "hypothesis" that we can hope for is that the mist appears to our minds in certain states of consciousness and represents (somehow) the spiritual accompaniment of the soul. If the afterlife is real (and as a lifelong Catholic this is what I believe), our souls must either retain or somehow are "gifted" a spirit-body of some nature to allow our otherwise sense-deprived soul the ability to connect consciously to the spiritual life. Perhaps you have seen some evidence of that spirit body. Still here on this Earth, of course we don't know. It's still about Faith.

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  11. The Hospice Chaplain said she had only a few hours. I asked my mother, "if you can, let me know that you're okay after you leave?" She wiggled her eyebrows in agreement. An hour and forty-seven minutes later, sleeping on a cot next to her I was awakened by every sound imaginable. Bells, horns, voices. Then a hard push upward. The room was quiet. I said Mom. Staring at her face, she took a last deep breath and then her face froze. It looked liked she turned off. Then a blueish-white mist rose from her chest area. It acknowledged my presence and then anxiously went through me and out the window. I believe that my mother died and was born on July 28, 2017. I know that she is alright.

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  12. My mother passed away in March, while on hospice. I knew that it was just a matter of time before she passed. I sat with her and prayed continuously that If God was going to take her to not let her suffer and to make the transition a very peaceful one. About 1:30 a.m., I became really tired and decided to stretch out in the other bed in her room. At 1:55 a.m., something woke me up suddenly. I looked over at mom, and her breathing had slowed down significantly. I watched her take two breaths, and then I observed cloud like substance coming up from the lower part of her body. It appeared to have several layers an depth. At the base of this cloud substance and right next to her body I observed lights that were constantly popping on and off in no certain pattern. Sort of like looking at Christmas lights going off and on in through a fog. The cloud like substance continued to get deeper above her body and continued to travel up her body. I took my glasses off and rubbed my eyes to make sure what i was seeing was real. Also, I began to feel the most amazing peace I had ever felt, and felt as though I was sitting in God's presence. After about 30 seconds or so, I began to see a blurry substance from the ceiling to the top of the cloud like substance. It was as though I was looking through a heat wave. Then, after about 10 seconds more, it all dissipated.

    God gave me an amazing gift. Whenever I miss her of feel sad, this memory comes to me and comforts me.

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    1. Wonderful story --- and a really nice last "message" from God and your Mom.

      I believe that these things happen just as we see them, but each slightly differently, on purpose. I believe that this is God's way of granting the personal percipient (in this case You) a very memorable last joyful goodbye, but by not making all experiences exactly the same, our reports don't convey the sense (to a non-observer) that this is a hard pattern of the interaction of the Spiritual with the physical. Paradoxically for the atheist debunkers, this variety also makes the phenomenon tough for them to thoughtlessly wave off as some unknown pattern of brain hallucination. So the Deity has done just exactly the right thing (as usual): Given a great gift to the individual, while requiring the rest of us to maintain Faith --- and making it uncomfortable for the materialists while doing so.

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  13. My father past away in June 2017 and mom followed shortly after in November. She was in hospital on and off a nebulizer. Late on the Saturday evening my niece and i were sitting with her when i noticed a white mist starting at the mouth area drifted towards her chest and then disappeared upward. It wasn't huge and was circular in shape . I at first thought it was the nebulizer but she wasnt on it. I asked my niece if she had seen it but she hadn't. My mom passed away a day later. I do know i saw this and it wasnt my imagination. Just unsure what it was.

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    1. Thank you for adding your witness to the fine number of similar experiences that have been shared here and elsewhere on the internet. We need to share these experiences with others to hold off the strange direction that our world seems bent on taking toward utter denial of the spiritual. Regardless of exactly what your own witness was, it joins with many other incidents where the "meaning" of the phenomenon is very clear. Rest in the Peace of having been given a glimpse and a final gift from your Mom.

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  14. I also experienced the mist from my father. He always told me that he wanted to let me know in a big way if there was an after life. My sister and I were sitting at his bedside when this mist appeared. I thought his oxygen mask he had on was mialfunctioning. Then, reality stepped in and I knew my Dad was giving me a show of him leaving me to a much grandier place. True to his word, if there would be this place...he would show me. I'm so blessed that God allowed him to present to me his crossover to his spiritual place. Another phenomenon, was earlier in the night I saw these amber rods placed above my Dad's bed against the wall. They were about 4inches long and they just hung there. I thought my eyes were seeing things since I was so tired from being up for several days at his bedside, but when I would try to clear my eyes they were still there. I've looked on the internet to see what this could mean but I haven't been able to find anything about it. I was alone and as morning approached the amber rods were gone. What was this? My mother, who left me years earlier was alone when she passed. I was by her side for months but I needed some rest and wanted to see my family. She lived in illinois and my family was back in Colorado. I was there for a few days and then she was gone. I was so sad I wasn't there. I was only going to be away a week to get some rest and check in on how my family was doing. She passed without me there. She was everything to me and it broke my heart that I wasn't with her. I don't know if one of those amber lights were her with Dad and I that night, but it really felt like it could have been. What are your thoughts on this?

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    1. No one can intelligently comment on the amber rods that you saw. It is understandable that you didn't "investigate" them (ex. by going around the room checking for light sources, which can be very subtle and otherwise non-obvious, but without that checking to ensure that no "ordinary" source made the light no outside commentator has anything to go on.) As with all spiritual moments, the value is the value it has to you. You aren't going to get "Proof" of anything --- that's not how this Life Adventure of Faith works. But we can get "signs" and encouragements to meditate upon and give thanks to the Maker.

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  15. I experienced similar I was at the bedside of my mother the night before she passed my brother and sister were also present when I saw a mist appear at the side of my mum , it looked like a figure was trying to form but as I was staring at it and asking my siblings if they could see it it started to move round my mum and then she had a mist like steam leaving her nose and mouth and the top of her head then my siblings witnessed it too this mist moved around the room and the three of us for at least 4 hours my mother passed away 24 hours later I feel blessed that I witnessed this .

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    1. Thank you for giving others the chance to hear your experience. It's always worth it to let the rest of us know when something potentially profound happens to any of us. Our reductionist societies try to erase these things, sadly.

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  16. Hello, My beloved sister passed on 2015, my other sister and I were with her the night she died. My other sister was sleeping. and I had been writing her obituary next to my dyeing sister. Something cought my peripheral vision to the end of her bed toward her feet. I was verytired because we had stayed with her for the padt seven days, so I rubbed my eyes and thought I had something in my eyes. What I saw was a HUGE (like three feet) round bubble that looked JUST like a bubble bath soap bubble (I could see some mist that looked like smoke moving IN IT and a bright beautiful rainbow halo around the bubble. It started floating VERY SLOWLY over her feet(about 6 inches)from her sheets and was slowly turning and traveling all over her body. The huge bubble would come down and very delicately touch her sheet and bounce up about 6 inches and move upwards her body until it reached her head and then it dissipated in a puff. It probably lasted like a minute or two. I was at awe! As soon at it dissipated, my other sister that was napping woke up and I told her what I just experienced and she was puzzled. I stepped out of the room to use the restroom and when I came back in my sister had just passed away. I asked my other sister to take photos of the room with her phone and the photos had lots of orbs looking circles ALL around the room. Until now that I came accross your web, I can relate to all who experienced some familiar things.

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  17. My grandfather passed in September 2004. I cared for him during his last eight weeks. He had advanced cancer and was 88 years old, completely lucid. We were aware he was within hours. We held him and let him know how much we loved him and it was ok to go. His breathing rhythm became less regular. I was facing him, holding his left hand. I watched a wisp of vapor, quite white come off his shoulder and rise toward ceiling. Something in his face and body changed, his soul had left his body, I am certain. His body struggled on for 3-4 minutes but he was gone. I asked a nurse friend who ran nursing homes, she told me it is a common sight. Amazing and faith affirming that we are eternal beings simply spending time in our earthly bodies.

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    1. Thank you as always on this blog for your contribution to the truth of these important events. As we all can read from all the remarks above, this is a real part of spiritual reality. My own housemate, a retired Catholic priest, will die soon --- cancer and with in-house hospice care --- but tempting as it is, I will not set up any "scientific" attempts to see anything like a mist. The mist, when it comes, seems an unasked-for gift. I'll let these profound things come or go as they may, according to the wishes of The Creator. But Blessings to all of you who care about such matters --- you are wise people.

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  18. This is uncanny. It just shows that something can be relatively common, and yet remain socially invisible if nobody talks about it. Right now, I am writing a book about apparitions, and so have reread Vivienne Rae-Ellis' 1990 compilation, "True Ghost Stories of Our Own Time". On pp 174-5 she records the following story. Her informant, Angela Moody was working one night in a hospital in Surrey, England. About 1 a.m. a 68-year-old lady died, and they laid her flat, planning to return later to lay out the body properly. Unfortunately, she and the staff nurse, Janice were not able to come back for another two hours. They washed the body and wrapped it in a shroud, and while Janice was at the foot of the bed, attaching the name tag, Angela was working at the head. She turned, and saw something she thought only happened in cartoons: Janice’s hair was standing on end, and she was pointing. About a metre above the bed, a transparent smoky haze was rising, changing into a mass with every second. After perhaps ten seconds, it had taken on the shape of the woman’s body. At one accord, they bolted, getting caught in the door as they attempted to pass through together.
    Therefore, uUnlike the other experiences mentioned here, the mist appeared two hours after death.
    On another note, I was touched by your account of your mother's passing, and recalled the words of Psalm 116:15: "Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints."

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    1. Thanks for the story of the nurses. There is no doubt that things such as this happen. But they point to the Spiritual, so the reductionist debunkers will not tolerate presentation of the anecdotes. They threaten their cosmos (small and incomplete as it is.)

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  19. My mother was in the process of dying for about 4 days. The night before my mother died, I saw a small cloud of gray smoke go up above her head and it rised until it went through the ceiling. Through the next few hours her breathing was shallow and pulse went in and out. At the time before she died, I felt this urge to pray and I put my hand on her skin on her belly. As I prayed , she stopped breathing but still felt her heart beat through her belly, then I felt a strong pull of energy from her stomach up to her head, and a pop and then her pulse stopped. I felt a peace come over her and the room. This experience changed my whole perspective on the after life and what is ahead of our souls. I am thankful for being able to hold space for her during this transition. I dream about her often and always think about that experience. Before she passed I asked her to please be there for me when my time comes and she promised she will. For anyone reading this, just know that love and peace is on the other side, I know this in my heart. Let’s make the best of this experience called life.

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  20. Farewell

    My mother was in the process of dying for about 4 days. The night before my mother died, I saw a small cloud of gray smoke go up above her head and it rised until it went through the ceiling. Through the next few hours her breathing was shallow and pulse went in and out. At the time before she died, I felt this urge to pray and I put my hand on her skin on her belly. As I prayed , she stopped breathing but still felt her heart beat through her belly, then I felt a strong pull of energy from her stomach up to her head, and a pop and then her pulse stopped. I felt a peace come over her and the room. This experience changed my whole perspective on the after life and what is ahead of our souls. I am thankful for being able to hold space for her during this transition. I dream about her often and always think about that experience. Before she passed I asked her to please be there for me when my time comes and she promised she will. For anyone reading this, just know that love and peace is on the other side, I know this in my heart. Let’s make the best of this experience called life.

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