Can a soul be gone before death?

QUESTION:

"My name is Jill. I'm 58. My dad is 88 and my mom is 86. My dad's been sick with heart problems since 1966, at which time he and my mom moved to the northwoods of Wisconsin. Later they moved to North Carolina, which is where they both reside now.

"My dad's been sick with shy-dragers disease for many years, and through it all has maintained a sense of self and humor. In the last year, the disease has caught up with him. He is finally back home after a three-month nursing home stay. He is so quickly losing his mind! I haven't seen my folks for many years but stay connected via phone. I think I've missed the opportunity to say goodbye to him, as his memory is leaving so very quickly now, and his health is so bad.

"MY QUESTION: I read your articles on your website about the soul coming and going before a person actually dies. Can his soul be gone many, many months before he actually dies?

"I am a Reiki Master/Healer. I've also been able to see orbs since I was a very young child, and have had many moments of psychic ability. It never ceases to amaze me! I've been working very diligently on these abilities and was recently able to help a friend during the weeks and days while her father was dying. I received not only verbal messages from her father, but saw pictures in my head during the last weeks of his life.

"I personally didn't understand most of what I saw and heard, re. her dad, but upon receiving her permssion, gave her what I knew. Instantly, it not only made sense to her, but also to her mother and sister, as well. Within hours of telling her what I heard and saw, her father passed away; but I saw the difference what I had said to her made. It not only helped her entire family laugh outloud, but smile and accept/let go of their pain.

"This gift I've been given had never been so strong as this particular time. I want to learn how to do this, and how to really hone in. What a fabulous thing to give someone during the hardest time of their life. I don't work and therefore have no money to enroll in classes for mediumship, etc. What a shame. I know it's just under the surface and need a teacher to help me - but there isn't anyone to be my mentor without money. I've been trying for many years to do this on my own through research and lots of reading/studying, but I am stuck.

"Do you have any suggestions?

"Although I myself understand death/dying, why is it so difficult when it's about my own family? I surely hope you will respond to my questions. I seemed to find your website at the moment I needed it most.". . . Jill

ANSWER:

It is always more of a challenge with your own family - to have and maintain the objectivity you must have to be a good healer. That's why physicians will not treat close members of their own family, and neither should psychics. Your heart tips too easily when assessing needs and methods. Intuitive people are invaluable when working with the soul or spirit levels, but are not necessarily that effective in the physical plane unless that is their particular expertise.

Becoming a medium might appeal to you, yet, there are other better ways to expand your faculties of perception and your abilities to perceive different realities and energetic matrixes. Any good sensitivity training is a place to start, and you've pretty much opened that door with Reiki. Becoming involved with metaphysical churches, meditation groups, higher learning studies, or just being around a good mentor, are excellent routes to deepening your contact with The God Within. That Source is infinitely more powerful that diverting your soul structure through mediumship. I have found over the years that a person who is truly self-realized is far more aware and awakened than one who detoured through mediumship or psychic development. It's strange, but, if you dedicate your efforts into developing the virtues and living as though you were indeed a Divine Being having a human experience, you automatically become more psychic, more intuitive, more creative, more innovative, and more in tune with things "future." I love what happens automatically when our intention is set aright. The natural processes take over then and guide us in the best possible ways. I see it as putting God first. The rest unfolds in right timing and right ways.

The way of the soul, my soul, your soul, anyone's soul, operates according to greater levels of wisdom and opportunity than what is available to us on our personality level. I view prayer and meditation as ways to merge with the soul, becoming one with The One. Because of this, the soul can enter a baby's body at any time - some at conception, some not until weeks later after being born. You can usually tell if the soul is involved in the pregnancy as there will be something very mindful about the baby's actions while still in the womb - often dreams will be as if the soul of the baby is trying to communicate with the mother or father. After birth, the soul is present once that "spark" appears in the baby's eyes.

The same is true for the coming of death. It is not unusual for the soul to leave years before the body dies. This early exit can involve back and forth "visits," the soul experimenting with a good time to leave and stay gone, the soul waiting around for some incident to occur before leaving, and so forth. What is the most common - the soul usually exists once pain is too intense, once everyone is there who should be, once incidents occur that the soul wants to occur, once the timing is right for the soul's journey. There are many reasons, more than we can know. In my audio presentation "As You Die" (available in either CD or DVD), the last 10 to 15 minutes are so designed as to be played after the individual has died. The purpose of this is two-fold: the ability to hear is the last faculty lost in dying, and, during the death event and immediately after is usually the time of soul separation and soul release. Those last minutes help the soul to let go and go on. I have been amazed over the year when families obtain "As You Die" after their loved one has left, to help the family with their grieving. They say the presentation helps them to understand and feel more at peace. (You can obtain "As You Die" either from the online bookstore at www.pmhatwater.com, or from the producer at www.focusvideos.com. (Yes, I did the presentation and it is my voice you hear.)

I hope my suggestions and thoughts assist you on your journey to the heart of the Self. Blessings, PMH

ANNOUNCEMENT:

*** Near-Death Conference on Enhanced Abilities experiencers come to have, is October 16-17 in San Diego, CA. Nothing like this has ever been tackled before by IANDS (International Association For Near-Death Studies). Make arrangements to come now. Contact IANDS, services@iands.org; www.iands.org; (919) 383-7940. Also contact the Conference Chairperson, Ann Ellis, at ellisann@juno.com for more information, should you need another contact. I will be presenting a paper on enhanced abilities and discernment. Hope you can come.