Journey with Spirit

What Happens When We Die?

When I began meditating and connecting with angels, I found myself drawn to finding my departed father on the other side.

If we are eternal beings, can we connect with departed loved ones through prayer, dreams and meditation?

My father died when I was three years old, leaving a void in my life. My parents were close to divorce before my father’s death, so my mother was often unwilling to share details about him. A part of me yearned to know him, to realize that he did love me despite his early departure from my life.

Breathing deeply, I entered a deep meditation. My angel guides joined me, and I asked to be shown images of my childhood with my father. I was transported back in time, suddenly viewing images of my father laughing and holding me on his lap, pushing me in a swing and hugging me before bed. I saw him coming to visit during the time he and my mother were separated. I saw how he wanted to be close and comforting to me, but was unable to get past the anger of my mother to reach me. I saw myself crying at the front picture window, watching him drive away.

These images came quickly, and I could feel the emotions of my younger self. I felt great relief knowing that my father was an important part of my early life.

According to a 2003 Harris Poll, 84 percent of Americans believe in the survival of the soul after death and 82 percent believe in heaven. I believe that there is place where souls return to after death, and that a well-traveled path leads to this state of eternal existence.

After connecting with my father in the meditation, I felt like I had met his eternal spirit. The interaction was rich and fulfilling, and I sensed that he had been waiting for me to ask for this meeting. I continued to meditate with my father’s spirit, learning more about him and healing the past. But one question lingered after every meditation: What really happens when we die?

These types of existential questions cannot be answered by human logic alone. Through meditative journaling, I turned to God, asking for understanding on what made this connection possible. My answer came through an angel of great truth and light—Archangel Uriel, who leads us back to our inner hearts of wisdom and love.

A Message from Archangel Uriel

“The road to heaven is a golden path of light that extends from your heart center to the source of all creation. This connection exists right now, forever linking you to the heart of God. As you open your heart to new experiences and the awareness of the presence of God on Earth right now, you remember how to connect with beloveds on the other side of heaven.

“This connection is like a coin in your hand. If you hold the coin flat, you can see only one side. Does that mean that the other side does not exist because you can’t see it? A part of you knows that the flip side of a coin usually has a significant building on it. When you turn the coin over, you can see this image. The same is true of your eternal connection with Spirit. You can see your life on Earth clearly, but your view into the eternal realm is obscured. You turn the coin over to see the divine world by meditating and sitting in quiet contemplation. By breathing in the life breath of God, you quiet the soul and gently open your heart center. The path becomes clear, allowing you to link with your higher spirit-self and other spirits in the divine realm.

“In asking what happens when we die, you wonder if there really is eternal life. There is fear that you are nothing more than a speck of dust, and that you will blow away into nothingness upon death. That reality is the furthest thing from the truth. You are light and you shall return to light upon your human death. Your human body is a shell, a vessel that allows you to navigate and experience this human life in seeming separation from God. You are like a child on Halloween, experimenting with a different persona for an evening filled with the possibility of fear and love, anger and hope, and distrust and truth. In your costume, you can lose sight of the road of light, and you can become led astray. Upon death, you instantaneously remember your golden path of light and you exit the physical body in a burst of light. All that you are, this light in totality, surges through the heart center, returning to the God source of creation. You experience total union with all that you are, knowing that it has been but an instant that you were away from your awareness of God in union. The night of Halloween ends, and you devour the tricks and treats from your life in human form.

“So to answer a complex question simply, you need to reframe your question. Instead of asking What happens when we die?, you can ask What happens when we return to union with God? For truly, your spirit lives on and your journeys of growth never cease. You continue to unfold in the glory of who you are: a grand eternal being of light and love.”

Using Your Eternal Connection for Healing

Using prayer, dream work and meditation, you can spiritually heal issues with loved ones on the other side. The path to eternal existence is visible during life, providing a healing connection with this heavenly realm.

Contemplative Prayer

I will guide you to affirming your eternal connection in Through the Veil.

Praying for departed beloveds is a common tradition in many religions. In Buddhist mourning traditions, prayers help the recently departed during post-death transformation, awakening their spirit to the true nature of death. In Catholicism, each November the church prays for the eternal rest of souls transitioning to heaven, saying Eternal rest grant to them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them. May the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace.

In times of grief, you can create your own simple prayers for the transition of beloved ones. All that prayer requires is a sincere heart stating the intention for healing and the grace of resolution to occur. My stepgrandfather died recently after a long illness. I did not know him well because his relationship with my stepfather had been strained by geographic distance and emotional pain. But I felt drawn to the light of his passage, praying, Dear God, may your light of love lead him home. May the light of truth heal all wounds, repair all broken commitments, and restore all hearts anew with peace.

Healing Dreams

The death of a loved one can bring up painful memories. This transition offers an opportunity to release the past to the light. With my own father, I felt an underlying fear that he didn’t love me. After my first cathartic meditation with him, I began to use my dream time for healing past pain. Native American traditions believe that dream catchers, hung above the sleeper, catch knowledge and memories while warding off bad dreams. In Christian traditions, dreams often symbolize revelations from God. As I lay down to sleep, I asked my angel guides to work with me through dreams to release painful issues with my father.

I had a vivid dream where my father guided me to a brook. As we sat by the water’s edge, he threw small stones into the shallow water, creating tiny ripples that were quickly washed away by the current. When I awoke, I was struck by the image of his smile. My father loved to go fishing, and I felt like I had shared sacred space with him. Rather than making a catch, he reminded me to let go of the painful stones from our relationship. This pain has rippled throughout my life, but I am free to release it to the greater power of the healing stream of life. His smile felt like grace that restores all things anew.

To use dreams for healing, keep a pad and pen by your bed to write down your dreams. Breathe deeply as you lay down to sleep, visualizing white light surrounding your body. See this light stream from the heavens, filling you with calming love. Now ask God and your angels to help you heal painful issues with your beloved through vivid dreams that you can remember. Be aware of your dreams when you awake during the night. Write them down before they slip away. Using symbolism important to your life, interpret your healing dreams.

Revealing Meditations

Breathe deeply, ready to experience the Beloved Connection Meditation.

I found that meditation offers a powerful healing method for connecting with a beloved and releasing pain. The Baha'i tradition believes that when you meditate, you speak with your own spirit. In this quiet state, you may ask questions of your spirit, which will reveal reality. Hindu teachings say that meditation and grace reveal the self hidden in the heart. Meditating upon a beloved allows your inner spirit to heal these issues.

A simple way to connect with a departed beloved through meditation is to breathe deeply, visualizing white light surrounding you. See yourself walking in a favorite spot you shared with your loved one. Ahead in the distance you see your beloved surrounded by light. When you reach your beloved, you hold hands and connect emotionally, asking questions and sharing your feelings. When you’re ready, step back from your beloved, seeing this soul again surrounded by the loving light of God.

These three simple methods can be used at any point in your healing process to gain a deeper understanding of your relationship with a departed beloved and remember your eternal connection.

Find More Do-it-Yourself Spirituality Tools

Home
Use author Vicky Thompson's do-it-yourself spirituality tools to create your own simple spiritual practices.