Piercing the Veil: How to Connect to the Spirit Realm
Have you made successful contact with spirits from beyond? Now is the time to try! You do not need to be a medium in order to connect with spirits beyond the physical plane, but there are certain times of the year when it becomes easier. As a spiritual teacher and energy healer, I can feel the spiritually significant shift in seasons occurring this month, which means it’s the ideal time for you to bridge the gap between the physical realm and the spirit realm for guidance, support, love, and reassurance about the immortal nature of your soul. Blurred Lines Between Worlds
Autumn is a time of transition, a time when the leaves change color from red to orange to yellow, when the clear skies of summer become filled with rolling clouds, and the days begin to get darker earlier. The winds of change are in the air, and these visible forms of transformation on display from Mother Nature are a good reminder that there are other blurred lines occurring right now as well: between the living and the dead, between your body and your soul, between HHHeaven and Earth.
Spirit Invitations
The end of October has been a spiritually significant time for centuries. Ancient people held rituals and harvest festivals at this time to mark the end of summer and begin the preparations for the colder months to come. What we now call Halloween has its roots in Celtic harvest festivals, particularly the Gaelic festival called Samhain, which means “summer’s end.” These cultures recognized that this date was the midpoint between the autumnal equinox and the winter solstice, which makes it a period of indistinct boundaries between physical and spiritual, and a powerful time for communion with spirits. As part of their celebrations, the Celts would honor the dead and invite them into their homes, make offerings of freshly tilled food, and communicate with loved ones who had passed to the other side.
Transition Traditions
More recent and contemporary traditions still celebrate the thinning of the veil between worlds in similar fashion. The Mexican holiday Day of the Dead includes gatherings of friends and family to remember and celebrate loved ones who have passed on. People build altars and bring these along with the deceased’s favorite foods and drinks to the grave sites. Similar rituals take place around this time in many other countries as well. It seems the whole world is aware that the transition between seasons is also a time to pay tribute to the transition between life and death and connect with the spirit realm.
So how can you take advantage of this in-between time to increase your connection with the other side?
- Honor the deceased.
Just as Day of the Dead or Samhain traditions included inviting the spirits of loved ones to visit by putting out favorite foods and drinks, you can set a place at the table for a loved one during this month as an invitation. You might bring valued possessions of the deceased to their gravesite, or set up an altar or light a candle in their name, or have a party to tell stories about their life and celebrate the time they spent on Earth. Honoring the dead can happen many ways—choose the method that feels right to you.
Once you have made room for a spirit in your environment, be aware for signs of their presence. A photograph of them may levitate or fall off a wall, or an object the loved one gave you that you lost might suddenly reappear. You may hear their voice or even see an apparition. During this month of easy cross-overs between worlds, you can expect a noticeable response from the spirit realm, so stay alert.
- Pay attention to your dreams.
Spirits without bodies often prefer to make contact with you through your dreams. Sometimes a spirit will visit you to give you a warning of an impending event, or advise you about your health, or provide other helpful information or guidance. When you attend healing courses and have an active practice of energy healing and meditation, you become more open to the other side than many people are, so a spirit may visit you and ask you to pass on a message to someone else who is less receptive.
You can usually recognize a true visitation dream by a few tell-tale signs. The dream might feel much more “real” and vivid than other dreams; the spirit may reach out or hug you, and you still feel the contact when you wake; a deceased friend or family member will appear as a much younger version of themself; you may experience extremely intense emotions of forgiveness, anger, relief, and love; and lastly, there is likely to be a gut sense that it was that person “for real” and not just a memory or projection. As you’ve learned through energy healing, go ahead trust your third chakra, trust your intuition—it’s most likely telling you the truth.
- Remember you are not solely a physical being.
When you make a true connection with a spirit from the other side, it will reinforce what you learn in energy medicine: you are not just your body. You are a soul housed in a body for this lifetime on Earth, but when your body dies, your soul does not; it simply transitions back into the spirit realm, back where it came from.
Once you have interacted with souls who no longer have bodies, you will have no doubts that spirits live on, or that you will continue to live after you leave your body. When the veil is permeable, it’s easier to recognize that the illusion is the physical world; the reality is that you were born in the spirit realm and you will return there. This life is a stepping stone in a long soul journey. This expanded perception of mortality gives you the strength to confront the fear of death, which just may be the greatest gift of piercing the veil and connecting with spirits in the beyond.
The upcoming winter solstice is the next time of year when the veil between worlds will be at its most permeable, so if you are interested in learning more about how to connect to the other side, I hope you’ll consider joining me in person or by live stream in December for my Piercing the Veil event, where my special guest, James Van Praagh, internationally renowned medium and spiritual teacher, and I will bridge the gap between this world and the next. Hope to see you there!