Posted on 01 July 2024, 8:13

If I Could rewrite Chapter III of my 2011 book, The Afterlife Revealed, I would include comments made by Charles L. Tweedale, an Anglican minister, in his 1909 book, Man’s Survival After Death.  The title of Chapter III in my book was “Giving up the Ghost” and dealt with deathbed phenomena including a discussion of the so-called Silver Cord, along with a “misty body” forming over the dying person, and the separation of the spirit body from the physical body. I offered a number of observations, including those by such pioneering researchers as British physicist Sir William Barrett, South African psychiatrist Dr. Bernard Laubscher, on up to more current observations by American Dr. Raymond Moody, the psychiatrist who named the “near-death experience” and brought it to public attention, and Dr. Peter Fenwick, whose book, The Art of Dying, co-authored with his wife, Elizabeth Fenwick, provides an in-depth account of deathbed phenomena.

Beginning on page 88 of his 1909 book, later updated through 1947, Tweedale, Vicar of Weston (top photo), tells of the passing of his wife’s mother, Mary Burnett, which occurred on July 29, 1921. His wife, Margaret, daughter Marjorie, and a Mrs. Proud were all sitting at the dying woman’s bedside. The Tweedale report adds a factor not evident from most other accounts – that the building up of the spirit body and separation from the physical body do not necessarily take place during the final minutes of the person’s life. In the case he reports, there are some 16 hours between observation of the phenomenon and actual death of the physical body.

“The time was past midnight, and the room was brightly illuminated by a lamp,” Tweedale wrote. “Suddenly my daughter Marjorie saw a small cloud of grey smoke, which she describes as something like the smoke from a cigarette, hovering over the form of Mrs. Burnett as she lay in bed. At first it appeared to be about three or four inches in diameter, and it floated in the air a few inches above the bed-clothes and directly over the abdomen of the unconscious woman. Amazed at the sight, my daughter hastily directed the attention of my wife and Mrs. Proud to this strange phenomenon, and all three standing around the bed and close to it distinctly saw the cloud of smoke and observed it carefully. It gradually grew in size until it became as large as a dinner plate (I use their exact words). Then to their increasing amazement the upper part of the smoke cloud turned to a rich purple light – they describe it as King’s purple – and this cloudy disc of purple light hovered steadily in the air a few inches above the recumbent form.

“Soon to their further astonishment, a beautiful halo began to form around the head of Mrs. Burnett. It was at first pale in color, but gradually deepened to a rich purple, which stood out in conspicuous contrast to the white pillow. It stood off from the head about three inches, and was about four inches broad, the color becoming deeper on the outside edge, while the inside of the halo was fainter and more transparent. The outer edge was irregular, or serrated, as if divided into a number of lights or flames. As soon as this wonderful thing had well established itself the deep purple light began to surround each eye of the unconscious person and outlined the nose and finally surrounded the mouth. During all this time the big disc of purple cloud hovered in the air over the dying woman, and this disc or cloud of purple light, together with the halo and lights on the face, continued to be visible to the three witnesses for nearly twenty minutes, during which time they continued to observe the phenomena with the closest attention.

“My wife several times passed her hand through the hovering cloud of purple light without displacing it or meeting any resistance, but on closing her eyes the cloud and halo ceased to be visible, showing that they were objective and external to her eyes.”

Tweedale goes on to say that the death of Mrs. Burnett did not take place until some 16 hours after the cloud was observed by the three women, all of which time Mrs. Burnett lay unconscious. He concluded that “the cloud which hovered above the body was undoubtedly a manifestation of the Spiritual Body in process of being released from the Mortal Body” and that while hovering over the body a “psychic cord” connected the two bodies, and that the spirit body was released when the cord was severed.

My 2011 book provides a number of similar deathbed observations, but Tweedale’s is more detailed and more specific on the time factor. Several prior blogs have discussed the phenomenon and based on the number of comments, the subject matter has been the most popular. The prior blogs can be found in the archives for October 4, 2010 and June 11, 2012. Many of those commenting have provided their own observations of what has been referred to as “soul mist.”

Another Bedside Report

One very similar case set forth in my book is translated from the German journal,  Zeitschrift fuer Parapsychologie.  It also has a time factor. A clairvoyant man who preferred to remain anonymous reported sitting at his dying wife’s bedside and seeing an “odic body” take form over his wife’s physical body.  It was connected to the physical body by a “cord of od.”  The arms and legs of this odic body were flailing and kicking as if struggling to get free and escape.  Finally, after about five hours, the fatal moment came at last.  “There was a sound of gasping,” the man reported.  “The odic body writhed to and fro, and my wife’s breathing ceased.  To all appearances she was dead, but a few moments later she began to breathe again.  After she had drawn her breath twice, everything became quiet.  At the instant of her last breath, the connecting cord broke and the odic body vanished.”

The clairvoyant man also told of being able to see “layers of cloud” drifting into the room as his wife was dying.  At first, he assumed it was cigar smoke from an adjoining room and jumped up to express his indignation.  “Overcome with wonder, I looked back at the clouds,” he reported, commenting that he was completely aware and definitely not imagining what was taking place.  “These floated silently toward the bed and enshrouded it completely.”  He then saw a vaporous body form above his wife’s physical body, attached to her body by a vaporous cord.  Soon after his wife took her last breath, he observed the cord break and the vaporous body disappear. “I must leave it to the reader to judge whether I was the victim of a hallucination brought on by grief and exhaustion, or whether perhaps my mortal eyes had been privileged to catch a glimpse of the spirit-world in all its happiness, repose, and peace,” he ended the report.

Dr. Bernard Laubscher, a psychiatrist, (bottom photo) was told by different caregivers that they had observed misty vapors and lights around deathbeds. Some of them reported a ribbon-like cord stretching from the back of the “phantom’s” head to the body below. As Laubscher came to understand it, the vaporous material has the same makeup as ectoplasm, the mysterious substance given off by physical mediums before materializations (left photo as photographed by Dr. William Crawford with Irish medium Kathleen Goligher, although not a deathbed photo). It acts as sort of a “glue” in bonding the physical body with the spirit body, and the more materialistic a person the denser the ectoplasm and the more difficulty the person has in “giving up the ghost.”

What was called ectoplasm, or teleplasm, by some of the pioneering researchers was called od, or odic force, by many German researchers, including Johannes Greber, a Catholic priest (middle photo) who became a psychical researcher and then parted ways with the Church because of the conflicts between what came to him through two young trance mediums and the teachings of the Church.  The former made much more sense to him than the latter.  In his 1932 book, Communication with The Spirit World of God, Greber quotes many of the supposedly advanced spirits who communicated with him through the two trance mediums.

Condensed Od. 

It was explained to Greber that the physical body is nothing but od condensed into substance, and that such is also the case with animals, plants, and minerals.  The growth of those bodies and their taking material shape, Greber was told, are subject to the laws of odic condensation.”  The communication continued:  “The od representing the vital force of the body always remains associated with the od of the spirit and hence with the spirit itself. It is the motive power for the body at the disposal of the spirit, just as your terrestrial motive powers are at the engineer’s command.  If then the supply of motive power for the body is diminished below the point required to maintain life in the body, the spirit departs from the same and corporeal death ensues, just as the engineer abandons his engine when he cannot keep it running for lack of power.”

Greber was further informed that od flows through all parts of terrestrial bodies and radiates beyond them to a certain distance. It has been called the odic body, astral body, fluid body, and spiritual body. This radiation has been referred to as the aura and can be seen, Greber was told, by so-called clairvoyants endowed with the gift of seeing spirits. It was further stated that it has color, which varies for each creature, running from the deepest black through billions of shades to the most resplendent white.  “You mortals cannot even conceive of the variety of these colors,” Greber quoted one spirit communicator.

The explanation continued:  “...every created thing leaves behind it an odic trace of its existence uniting the day of its coming into being with the last day of its life. . . Such a band is formed by the od of every creature on its way through life.  It is by a trail like this that migratory birds return to their old haunts and that the swallow comes back to the same eaves under which it built last year’s nest.  The odic sensitiveness of these creatures is extremely delicate, but is active only so long as they are in good health, for because of the weakening of their odic powers, sick animals lose the odic sensitiveness necessary to enable them to follow their own or another creature’s trail.”

It was further explained that there are many degrees of odic condensation or materialization, from that visible only to a clairvoyant to the complete materialization of spirits.  It all depends on the amount of od available to the spirit world. A complete materialization requires so much od than no one medium is capable of supplying it, and the spirits must draw od from others in the room.  This is why partial materializations, such as a hand only, are more common.

The spirit is the source of life but the shaping and the scope of our lives are determined by the odic force associated with the spirit, referred to as “vital force,” the messenger continued to explain to Greber.  This force manifests itself by vibrations of the od.  Every manifestation of the intellectual life, every thought, and all volition are expressed in corresponding odic vibrations, set in motion by the spirit, as the bearer of the od.

The skeptic says, “Well, I was present at my mother’s deathbed and I saw no such thing.”  It may be that it oozed out of the mother’s body hours before the skeptic arrived, or the skeptic was not gifted with eyes that can see soul mist. Some people can hold their breath under water for five minutes or more, while others can’t hold it for a minute.  Our physical abilities vary considerably.  There are enough witnesses to soul mist to strongly suggest that the phenomenon exists.  Shouldn’t science be more interested in it?   

Michael Tymn is the author of The Afterlife Revealed: What Happens After We Die, Resurrecting Leonora Piper: How Science Discovered the Afterlife, and Dead Men Talking: Afterlife Communication from World War I.
His latest book, No One Really Dies: 25 Reasons to Believe in an Afterlife is published by White Crow books.

Don,

Did anything of note happen on 8 July 2021? I do lose track of time. 1066 was a big year from memory.

It was interesting with this message. Most people walk in to a Spiritualist wanting a message and when you are giving messages there are many saying That’s me and you know that it is not them. We call them message grabbers. Sometimes the person does not want to be identified and are waiting until the evidence is too great for them to remain quiet.

This message was another type. It was to be sent to his colleagues (he passed late thirties early forties in age). It was included so that they would react but unless you were wanting a message people don’t react. I always feel sad when messages don’t land.

A fellow engineer died (we studied together and I gave his eulogy) and one year later his message was to tell his wife about something. I spoke to her the next day with “I had a dream last night and .... wanted to say this…” It was spot on as she had been upset that something had not gone well and had been asking him if it was ok. She said “That’s funny I was asking .... about this and your dream has given me the answer”. I don’t mention life after death to many people. I have found reactions vary.

Thanks,
Bruce

Bruce…

You may (or may not) be pleased to know that 8 July 1021 was a day upon which absolutely nothing of any note appears to have happened!

DCP

Michael and Amos,

A few years ago (8 July 1021) I received a comment which my wife wrote down. She was going through her collection yesterday on another matter and handed me this which I thought was nice to add:

Writers are like stars in Heaven - some twinkle brighter than others - seeing them is the passion.

This was from a writer who had passed and was not from my normal crew.

I was prompted to send it in as the contributors to these discussions follow their passions for reading various writers. I have two groups of books, management and psychic as they allow me to travel to new points of view. Each book was a well rewarded journey.

Thanks,
Bruce

As always Mike another very thought provoking subject. I’m currently reading ‘On the threshold of the unseen, an examination of the phenomena of spiritualism and of the evidence of survival after death’ by Sir William Barrett. He also wrote ‘Death-bed Visions’ and below is a few extracts from that book.
Many well authenticated cases are on record where the relatives of a person, watching by the death-bed, have seen at the moment of death a cloudy form rising from the body of the deceased and hovering for a time in the room and then passing away.
Lady Mount Temple informed me that something of this kind was noticed by a psychic friend of hers, who was present at the death of Lord Mount Temple. Others present did not see it.
In a letter that has recently been sent me of a late well-known dignitary of the Church (a Dean) in New South Wales, he describes the death of his son a few years ago.
He says that at about 3.30 p.m. he and his wife were standing one on each side of the bed and bending over their dying son, when just as his breathing ceased they both saw “ something rise as it were from his face like a delicate
veil or mist, and slowly pass away.” He adds, “ We were deeply impressed and remarked,‘ How wonderful ! Surely that must be the departure of his spirit. We were not at all distracted so as to be mistaken in what we saw.”
The following cases are recorded by Mrs. Joy Snell, in her book, “ The Ministry of Angels ” :
‘’ It was about six months after I began work in the hospital that it was revealed to me that the dying often really do see those who have come from the realms of spirit life to welcome them on their entrance into another state of existence.
“ The first time that I received this ocular proof was at the death of Laura Stirman, a sweet girl of seventeen, who was a personal friend of mine. She was a victim of consumption. She suffered no pain, but the weariness that comes from extreme weakness and debility was heavy upon her and she yearned for rest.
“ short time before she expired I became aware that two spirit forms were standing by the bedside, one on either side of it. I did not see them enter the room ; they were standing by the bedside when they first became visible to me, but I could see them as distinctly as I could any of the human occupants of the room. I recognized their faces as those of two girls who had been the closest friends of the girl who was dying. They had passed away a year before and were then about her own age.
” Just before they appeared the dying girl exclaimed,  It has grown suddenly dark ; I cannot see anything ! ’ But she recognized them immediately. A smile, beautiful to see, lit up her face. She stretched forth her hands and in joyous tones exclaimed, ‘ Oh, you have come to take me away ! I am glad, for I am very tired.
“ As she stretched forth her hands the two angels extended each a hand, one grasping the dying girl’s right hand, the other her left hand. Their faces were illumined by a smile more radiantly beautiful even than that of the face of the girl who was so soon to find the rest for which she longed. She did not speak again, but for nearly a minute her hands remained outstretched, grasped by the hands of the angels, and she continued to gaze at them with the glad light in her eyes and the smile on her face.
“ Her father, mother, and brother, who had been summoned that they might be present when the end came, began to weep bitterly, for they knew that she was leaving them. From my heart there went up a prayer that they might see what I saw, but they could not.
“The angels seemed to relax their grasp of the girl’s hands, which then fell back on the bed. A sigh came from her lips, such as one might give who resigns himself gladly to a much-needed sleep, and in another moment she was what the world calls dead. But that sweet smile with which she had first recognized the angels was still stamped on her features.
“ The two angels remained by the bedside during the brief space that elapsed before the spirit form took shape above the body in which physical life had ceased. Then they rose and stood for a few moments one on each side of her, who was now like unto themselves ; and three angels went from the room where a short time before there had been only two.’
“ About a month after the death of Laura Stirman, which I have just related, another friend of mine died in the hospital, a Mr. Campbell, a man of 45. It was pneumonia that carried him off . He was a good and devout man and for him death held no terrors, for he was sure that it was but the transition to a happier, more exalted life than can be lived here. His only regret at dying was that he wrould leave behind him a dearly-loved wife ; but that regret was softened by the assurance that their parting would be only for a time, and that she would join him some day in that other world whither he was going.
“ She was sitting by his bed, and, believing as he believed, was awaiting the end with resignation. About an hour before he died he called her by name, and pointing upwards, said, ‘ Look, L — — , there is B - ! He is waiting for me. And now he smiles and holds out his hands to me. Can’t you see him ? ’ ‘No, dear, I cannot see him,’ she replied, ‘ but I know that he is there because you see him.’ B— was their only child who had been taken from them about a year before, when between five and six years of age. I could plainly see the little angel with curly flaxen hair and blue eyes, and garbed in what I call the spirit robe. The face was just that of a winsome child, but etherealized and radiant as no earthly faces ever are.
“The father had been greatly weakened by the ravages of his disease, and the joyful emotion occasioned by seeing his angel child seemed to exhaust what little vitality he had left. He closed his eyes and sank into a placid sleep. He remained in that state for about an hour, the angel child meanwhile staying poised above the bed with an expression of glad expectancy on his radiant face. Occasionally he looked lovingly at his mother.
“ The breathing of the dying man grew fainter and fainter until it ceased altogether. Then again I witnessed what had now become a familiar spectacle to me — the formation of the spirit body above the discarded earthly body. When it was complete the angel child grasped the hand of the now angel father, each gazed into the eyes of the other with an expression of the tenderest affection, and with faces aglow with joy and happiness they vanished.
“ Later on in the day, the widow (Mrs. Campbell) said to me ‘ I am very glad my dear husband saw B - before he died ; it was natural that B - should come for him to take him to the angels, for they loved each other dearly. I shall now be able to think of them as always together and happy. And when I receive my summons I know that they will both come for me.’
“ After I had left the hospital and had taken up private nursing I was engaged to nurse an old lady (Mrs. Barton, aged 60), who was suffering from a painful internal disease. She was a widow and her only daughter lived with her. . . . The time came when the end was very near. The mother had been for some time unconscious, and the daughter was kneeling by the bedside, weeping, her face buried in her hands. Suddenly two angels became visible to me, standing on either side of the bed. The face of one was that of a man who, when he departed from this life, was apparently about 60 years of age. His beard and hair were iron-grey ; but there was stamped on his features that indescribable something indicative of exuberant vitality and vigour, which shines forth from all angel faces I have seen, whether in other respects they present the semblance of youth or old. age. The face of the other angel was that of a woman, apparently some ten or fifteen years younger.
” The dying woman opened her eyes, and into them there came that look of glad recognition I have so often observed in those whose spirits are about to be released for ever from their earthly tenements. She stretched forth her two hands. One angel grasped one hand and the other angel the other hand, while their radiant faces were aglow with the joy of welcoming to the better world her whose earthly pilgrimage was finished.
‘ Oh, Willie/ she exclaimed, ‘ you have come to take me home at last, and I am glad, for my sufferings have been hard to’ bear and I am very tired/ Then she added, ’ And you too, Martha ! ’ With the joyous light still in her eyes her hands remained outstretched for perhaps half a minute. Then they seemed to slip from the grasp of the angels. All her sufferings were over.
“ The daughter had raised her head at the sound of her mother’s voice, and her tear-dimmed eyes seemed to reflect something of the glad surprise depicted on her mother’s face.
“ ‘ I can doubt no more after this,’ she said to me when her mother had breathed her last breath ; * I know that mother saw father and her sister, Aunt Martha. I know that they came to take her to her rest in heaven.’
” Eagerly she listened to me when I told her a little later how I had seen two angels depart with her angel mother. ‘ I believe it ! I believe it ! ’ she cried, ‘ but, oh, how I wish that I could have seen it too ! ’ ”
Incidentally I was talking to elderly neighbours of mine around the start of the year who had recently lost a close family member and I was telling them about the experience I had shortly after my mother passed away. They then told me that they had lost a child through miscarriage many many years ago to which I expressed my condolences. E******* the wife then mentioned that J***** the husband while waiting for her at the hospital after the loss of the child saw a misty light develop and in that light he saw a woman holding a small baby in her arms. J***** is a very down to earth person and is not religious and has no belief in anything after death and even after that experience his views remain the same but he knows what he saw was not imaginary or dream like although he has no explanation for it.

Thanks to all for the comments and recommendations so far.  I neglected to mention that there have been reports of the soul mist leaving the body AFTER physical death as well as before, although I would have to dig through my files to find those reports and I am not up to that right now.  As I recall, it was suggested that the more materialistic the person, the longer it takes for the release.

Newton,
In reference to reincarnation, you wrote that “as wondrous as my life has been, I DO NOT want even to consider having to do it all again.”

I think I have to agree with you if reincarnation means coming back as the same personality, living the same life over again.  Of course, that can’t be the case unless we are all caught up in some loop in time where we keep coming back into the same time period with the same parents, same sex and everything else the same.  I don’t think that is how reincarnation works.

In my book “Reluctant Medium” about Pearl Curran, I wrote a chapter about reincarnation.  Here is a quote of mine from that chapter:

“In some simplistic way, one might say that Pearl Curran was the reincarnation of Patience Worth but reincarnation is likely to be a lot more complicated than that in that both Pearl Curran and Patience Worth might have just been physical manifestations of the same Soul Consciousness over time; that is, two personalities of that Soul Consciousness but not reincarnation of one personality as another personality.  That may be a small distinction but one worth considering in that it is the Soul Consciousness that incarnates again rather than a previous personality of the Soul Consciousness, so technically, Pearl Curran was not the reincarnation of Patience Worth but they were the same Soul Consciousness experiencing a physical life as different personalities.”

That may not be clearly stated but I think that each of us, our conscious self, that which talks to us in our head, is our Soul Consciousness.  It is the spirit entity that survives after the physical form dies.  The Soul Consciousness contains all of the past life personalities.

Eric M. Weiss in his book The Long Trajectory: metaphysics of reincarnation and life after death (2012) writes, “the personality that survives bodily death is itself mortal, and dies before any reincarnation takes place.” Weiss goes on to define a soul (Soul Consciousness) as “some entity other than personality that somehow holds memories of past lives and is, rather than the personality itself, the entity that reincarnates.”

Dr. Oscar Lazar has another idea that allows personalities to continue to live, incorporated into the Soul Consciousness.

“Basically, we all have a higher self, a kind of main soul in the spiritual world, which contains all our aspects from previous and future lives. This main soul always remains in the spiritual world, and when we incarnate only parts of this main soul are extracted, combined and formed into a new individual human soul.  This constellation of soul parts is unique and will only exist once in this form.  However, this human soul of an individual is permanently in contact with its main soul rather in the way of a radio link.  If one has lived one’s life as this unique person, all one’s soul parts will return to the main soul complete with one’s new experiences after death.  So, when I die one day as Oliver the soul aspects that made me up will merge again with my main soul.  There I am stored eternally as Oliver and will never incarnate again in this constellation.  In these circumstances no one need to fear that the soul of a loved one has already reincarnated and can no longer be encountered.  In a new incarnation new parts of my main soul would again be combined and a new individual would be formed.  This new individual soul would then also carry the experiences and memories of me (Oliver).   

I don’t agree entirely with Dr. Lazar but I think he is in the right ballpark.’’

That’s just a thought, Newton.  - AOD

As I look back on my life, it’s like an Ali/Frazier fight, with highs and lows of stunning proportion. Which is why, as wondrous as my life has been, I DO NOT want even to consider having to do it all again. If reincarnation is true in some sense, maybe we choose, before we come here, whether we want to go whole hog in one grand and glorious shot and thus get it over with, or take our often agonizing spiritual growth in chunks. Here’s that comment:

I ran the name of Martin Spiller in Michael’s blog search engine and came up empty, so let me clue in those interested to two unusual and fascinating books by this author. The first is called Science, Math and God and is a most helpful synopsis of the ever-deepening entrenchment of materialism into what we call science, and how silly this entrenchment looks in the context of even sillier “scientific” theories constructed, at the expense of common sense if not sanity, to rule out any supernormal aspect of reality.

The second book by Martin Spiller is the most comprehensive explication of the afterlife that I have ever come across, actually too comprehensive to suit my somewhat agnostic tastes. The title of this highly (overly?) detailed monster is The Structure of Heaven. He’s obviously a smart and dedicated guy, with two solid books sold through the Kindle bookstore and probably other sources, but I otherwise have absolutely no idea who Martin Spiller is.

From my reading, Andrew Jackson Davis provided the possibly first, accurate descriptions of the ‘silver cord’ and the astral/spirit body mist often witnessed by attendees.

Mr. Tymn & White Crow Books,

Thank you for your ongoing efforts on behalf of Psychical research and Spiritualism.

Michael,

I am always interested in those religious people who changed their views after attending a seance that transformed their previous outlook.

Johannes Greber (a Catholic priest). In 1923, he attended a séance and his life was then dramatically changed. His wife was also a medium. He described the various sub-categories of psychic ability and how the psychics worked.

Mediums are intermediaries or human instruments employed by the spirit-world to make itself manifest to man. In as much as the spirit-beings require odic power for the purpose, mediums are
persons who serve the spirit-world as sources of odic power. “It is chiefly their own od which mediums surrender to the spirits manifesting themselves.

The mediums are, however, at the same time points for collecting the od liberated by the non-mediums in attendance at the so-called spiritistic seances. Exactly as sometimes happens in building an aqueduct, when the water from the main spring is supplenented by that of many smaller springs, so the medium’s capacity to supply od is increased by his collecting within himself the feebler odic power of the other persons present.

“While all people possess odic power, in most cases this is too closely bound to the body to be surrendered readily. Hence it is not available to the spirit-world in adequate strength. “People qualified to function as mediums are highly sensitive. This means that because of the ease with which they can part with their od, the impressions made upon them are deeper than in the case of other people.

In Spiritualist circles if it is possible you place strong mediums at 12 and 6 o’clock. I usually took the 6 o’clock position.

Thanks
Bruce

Michael…

In your discussion of Johannes Greber, you mention that “the odic force” could be perceived (by those with the ability to see it) as the “aura” surrounding our bodies. We’ve been told by many commentators that 1) the aura’s color will change as our underlying mood or emotions change, and that 2) animals seem to be able to see or detect our aura.

Not many years back, we were in the position of having to “put down” a family pet, a very old cat who had been my personal favorite, actually sleeping on my pillow at night. We had a close bond. When the unfortunate day came, Wattie (the cat) was nowhere to be found. I finally discovered him hiding on a cushion in the corner of my closet. I would not be at all surprised, my mood being as low and foul as it was at the time, if this reaction was the result of his seeing my aura—which he normally experienced as being of whatever not particularly unpleasant appearance—all of a sudden showing up as a raging black. That’s as likely a trigger as anything else (like ESP) that I can think of…

Michael, what an interesting blog. Thanks. Five years ago I made a Youtube documentary entitled ‘Giving up the Ghost’  which includes a photograph of the white smoke leaving the body of a dead or dying man, as well as having a discussion of the phenomenon, with first hand reports from surviving watchers. Currently it has had just under 5,000 views. if you might be interested here is the link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lrtl0bo0XAo&list=PLLB-82YMhiPFPKSm2Ke69aK0DKTftpvo0&index=25&t=3s

Mike,

Another good one. It’s interesting how quantum physics concepts like matter and energy and quantum objects are paralleled in many of the Spiritualist descriptions — the terms are different, but they’ll seem to be referring to the same phenomenon.

Mike S.