An Angel By My Side: Amazing True Stories of the Afterlife. Jacky Newcomb

      If you want to learn to play the piano, then guides with musical talents will step forward. If you want to learn to paint then a guide with an interest in art will come and assist. If you want to become good at handling money then a guide with knowledge in this area will be attracted to you … you get the idea. I believe that what many people experience as ‘angels’ are probably their personal guides. Most of us can’t tell the difference and I don’t think it matters as long as the energy is positive, and ‘feels’ and acts in our highest interests.

      When I was a child I used to see a male figure in my bedroom – I would wake up several times a night and this person was always standing in my room, but as I awoke the figure would fade away. The visitor was a spirit. Was this my guide watching over me? Was his voice the ‘inner counsel’ that supported my life? Was he my ‘intuition’and my ‘natural instinct’? Did he have a name even?

      As soon as possible I decided I needed to make a portable angel board; something we could carry around rather than a bag of letters. Di, Debbie and I would get together with our friend Wendy and it could be at any of our houses, so we needed to be prepared. We had to be able to chat with our friends anywhere and at any time.

      I felt that I needed to take charge of the task and raced into town to buy a large sheet of card from our local art shop. I decided to be creative and was keen on using a gold-coloured board to make our communication instrument. To be honest, it never really worked out well. It looked great but they didn’t seem to be able to see the letters. I think the gold card reflected too much. Or maybe I had just made it too complicated?

      We always communicated with the ‘other side’ in full light – preferably daylight, but at least sitting in a room with all the lights on. I spent hours creating fancy symbols as ‘short-cut’words but in the end, most of the time we just used the plain white card on the reverse side of the board which was easier for the spirits to ‘see’.

      Eric was good with the symbols, but most of the other spirit visitors could barely communicate for more than a few seconds anyway, due to their own difficulties with moving into our plane of existence. We made up the white side of the board with just the A–Z letters (printed from the computer in a large font) to make it simple, and the words ‘yes’and ‘no’. Now at least we had a choice. Longer messages with Eric on the gold side of the board, and short ‘hello’s and ‘we love you’s from other relatives on the white side.

      Debbie’s house was the chosen venue for the first home contact. Debbie had a spare room downstairs with a door we could close – to keep the children out. It was always funny if someone came to the door when we were working. Should we smile as they walked into the room? Should we rush and hide what we were doing? Should we close down the session, invite them in or send them away? It was always a dilemma.

      Wendy was nervous as well as excited. I could see the whole experience through her eyes and remembered how in awe we had felt when presented with ‘the big secret’, in the early days of our contact with the heavenly realms. She hadn’t been involved at all at this point and everything was new to her. Already, we felt like the experts, which is bizarre now I think about it.

      We set up the room much as we had before – I had typed out a special message (a sort of prayer) to invite our loved ones and we asked that each of us be surrounded by a white light of protection. I always imagined myself surrounded by a fluffy white cloud and it made me feel safe. Our protection ritual seemed to do the trick.

      By this time I had bought a bottle of frankincense oil and placed two or three drops of oil into the water at the top of my oil burner. The messages were always clearer when we used the oil but most people didn’t like the smell! Still, the messages were more important so we worked with it anyway. You can get used to anything if you have to, and after a while I even started to like it. Debbie always complained but I insisted.

      Naturally, Eric came through first, and then relatives and friends for all of us. Di is much younger than the rest of us and hadn’t experienced the deaths of the great aunts and uncles like we had. Her first visitor was George. George was an elderly gentleman that Di used to work with and she was stunned when he contacted her through the board. He’d made an impression on her in life and so a connection was still there in death. He remained firmly in her heart and I really believe that love is the link which binds us all – it’s all we need to reach out to those that we have loved and lost, and they certainly seem to be able to feel this energy that we send out and, in turn, reach back to us.

      Wendy’s grandma came through, as well as other relatives and friends. Sometimes Wendy asked a question in her head and it was a shock when her reply was spelt out on the board, especially when she didn’t even have her finger on the glass. I think she realized fairly quickly that it was real, but it was still a shock.

      It took several more sessions for us to feel comfortable and for us all to feel the experience was ‘normal’. Another friend joined us shortly afterwards and the five of us often worked together. I used to pop round to my sister’s and then come home and chat about it with my husband. It never seemed odd when he asked, ‘Anyone interesting come for a visit tonight?’ or ‘How was Eric tonight?’ even though Eric had been dead to his physical body for many years.

      I soon began to see how widows became obsessed with spirit communication during the war years! Using a spirit board to chat with those on the other side could have its benefits too.

      Eventually, after several weeks of practice everyone was ready to test out the theory of communicating with their own spiritual guides and guardian angels. Could they contact us in this way? Could angels even spell? Eric told us he was a ‘spirit guide in-training’, so we gave it a go.

      ‘Eric, who have you brought through tonight, and who is the message for?’ I asked formally.

      The pointer moved towards my side of the table.

      ‘Is the message for me?’

      YES

      KAB …

      ‘It’s okay, try again.’

      KABM

      ‘Kabm? What’s that? Is Kabm my guide?’

      YES

      ‘How do I even say that?’

      KABAM

      ‘Kab-am?’

      YES

      ‘Wow! Kabam is my spirit guide, my own personal spirit guide?’

      YES

      So that was it! It worked! This was like receiving the first spirit communication all over again. We really could communicate and I was flushed with excitement!

      ‘Do you have a message for me?’

      X

      The X, they told us, was a kiss, or a short way of saying, ‘I send you love.’ It became used a lot by other spirits too.

      We each met our spirit guides that night. Eric helped them communicate at first and then later they were able to work the board themselves. Kabam was usually the best, but I think that was because I usually took charge of the angel board, and Kabam was my own guide.

      Over the next few weeks I asked more and more questions about my life, but strangely, nothing about his … and he didn’t offer anything. Spirit guides can answer questions but can’t tell us everything. They can’t tell us what to do or how to do it. Sometimes they offer guidance and always loving support of our own choices. They can help us with other things if we ask the right question in the right way.

      We were always polite. Our chats with our guides were like being with life-long friends. I remember when my own guide had to go away for a short while and Eric stepped in to take over. I actually cried. Now, I know that sounds silly, but I felt like a part of me was being taken away. Of course he came back a short while later (I think he was gone about three weeks). Sometimes, when they couldn’t tell us what was coming up they would spell, ‘it’s a secret’, or ‘it’s