Visits From Heaven. Josie Varga

was left in place while the brain was most likely discarded. The body was then covered with a type of salt called “natron” before being wrapped in linen strips and placed in a coffin.

      Although everyone would eventually die, the “ka,” it was thought, would continue to live on. However, for a short time immediately following death, the soul would be at rest while the physical body was mummified. The deceased could then join with his “ka” which, after being reconnected with the “ba” (his personality traits), would be resurrected as an “akh.” This, the Egyptians held, was the soul's rebirth in the afterlife.

      Today, many still believe in the existence of an afterlife. In a study released in 2008, the PEW Forum on Religion and Public Life reported that 92 percent of all Americans believe in God while 74 percent believe in life after death. If I had been conducting this survey, I would have added one more question which is: If you believe in life after death, do you then believe that it is possible for the deceased to continue to communicate with the living from beyond?

      An after-death communication or ADC is a term coined by Bill and Judy Guggenheim, the original researchers of this phenomenon and authors of the groundbreaking book, Hello From Heaven, to mean”…a spiritual experience that occurs when someone is contacted directly and spontaneously by a deceased family member or friend.” It is direct because it does not include any intermediary or third party such as a medium. It is also completely spontaneous because the deceased always initiates the contact.

      Although I am among the 74 percent of Americans who believe in life after death, I never thought that I would ever write a book on the topic. Truthfully, you might say that the idea was actually given to me during a very special “visit from heaven.”

      The epilogue of my first book, Footprints in the Sand: A Disabled Woman's Inspiring Journey to Happiness, contains an inspirational e-mail written by my husband's friend and former boss, Rich, who died during the World Trade Center attacks on September 11. In it, Rich talks about the passing of his father but more so about the importance of living life to its fullest. About five months after the book's release, Rich came to me in a vivid or seemingly real dream that would not only forever change my view of the afterlife but would also strengthen my faith in God.

      In the dream, I saw myself going through this long hallway. I had no idea where I was, yet there seemed to be a force pushing me forward as I eventually made my way through a doorway at the end. I walked into this room and looked around seeing a bunch of desks and windows. Although I say “walked,” it was more like I glided as I do not remember my feet ever touching the ground. I should also mention here that I actually felt myself moving. It was as though my soul was out wandering while my body remained in a deep sleep. All of a sudden, Rich appeared before me. He was wearing glasses and smiled reassuringly at me as he telepathically communicated, “Josie, thank you for mentioning me in your book.”

      I had never met Rich in person when he was alive on this earth. I had only spoken to him on the phone and knew him through pictures, yet I had no doubt that this was my husband's friend standing before me. I looked up at him squinting because it was hard to look straight at him. The only reason I can give for this is there seemed to be a density or fog about us. To this day, I don't know why I did this, but I looked at him and said, “Rich, you have to give me proof that this is really you.” He looked at me with a comforting glance and walked over to a desk picking up a cell phone. On the cell phone was a picture of him, his wife, and his son.

      He then spoke to me again saying, “Boston is O.K.” I had no idea what this meant, but the next thing I knew I was going through a window and found myself on the street looking up at a pickup truck. In the bed of this pickup truck was Rich standing behind his wife and son. He looked at me motioning for me to give his family the message. I don't remember anything much after that except for waking up, panting, and sweating in a sitting position feeling like something had just hit me in my chest.

      I must admit I was scared and confused. Nothing like this had ever happened to me before. Though I could not understand what just happened, I was certain that I had to get this message to his wife. It was about 8:00 a.m., and my husband was already at work. I rushed quickly to call John and told him what had just happened. His response was nothing that I didn't expect. “You've got to be kidding me,” he yelled. “You want me to call Rich's wife who just lost her husband and tell her that he said that ‘Boston is O.K.'?” He was convinced that I had lost my senses.

      I persisted telling him that I was certain the experience had been real and not a dream. It had been unlike anything that I had ever experienced. As I would later find out, I had just experienced a form of OBE (out-of-body experience) known as astral travel. When this occurs, the soul leaves the physical body to travel in its astral body to other dimensions or realms of reality. My husband listened reluctantly but finally agreed to forward to Rich's sister-in-law an e-mail written by me explaining what had occurred. He would ask her to forward the e-mail to Rich's wife only if she felt it was appropriate.

      The following week we were on vacation when my husband received a response on his BlackBerry from Rich's sister-in-law. In short, she explained that her sister was considering moving to Boston where their brother lived. But, because they had purchased their home just before her husband's untimely death, she felt guilty about moving. My husband read this message to himself but did not grasp what the message meant until he read the e-mail aloud to me.

      We both looked at each other in complete shock. I had never even met his wife let alone know that she had a brother in Boston. Now, it all made perfect sense to me. His words, “Boston is OK”, were meant to let his wife know that she need not feel guilty about moving. He was telling her that it was alright with him.

      At first, I honestly did not know what to think. A deceased friend had given me a message in my dreams that had actually been validated. What next? What did this mean? While I had no doubt that I had visited with Rich's spirit and that he was alive and well, my ego self had difficulty processing this information. Yet, while my unconditioned self or spirit believed what I had experienced was perhaps more real than anything I had witnessed on this earth, my ego self was afraid and doubtful. After all, I reasoned, if Rich were dead and if he did, in fact, communicate with me, then, not only was this confirmation of the existence of an afterlife, but it also pointed to the possibility of the dead being able to communicate with the living.

      I did not realize it then, but this event would ultimately lead me on a spiritual quest which would later result in the book you now hold in your hands. I had been given a gift. Not only did Rich communicate with me, but he also gave me information that his family was able to validate. Surely, if this event had happened to me, then others must have had similar experiences.

      Before I go further, I feel compelled to tell you a little about myself. I was born with a disability (cerebral palsy) and suffer from severe bilateral hearing loss. I was the youngest of three with one brother and one sister. My parents, hard-working Italian immigrants, did everything possible to provide us with the best life possible and raised us as devout Roman Catholics.

      I strongly believe in God, Higher Power, or Supreme Presence and always will. I believe in the power of prayer. I am married to a wonderful man and have two beautiful daughters, Erica and Lia, who come first and foremost in my life. To me, the only thing that matters is love. I wish to make one thing clear and that is I would never do anything that I believed was evil or even remotely associated with the “occult,” devil, or Satan. There are many who believe that Satan pretends to be the spirit of the deceased in an attempt to deceive the living. While I will not try to sway anyone who chooses to take that stance, I have to wonder why something so evil would want to bring joy to someone else. Why would the devil want to bring comfort to the living? Jesus himself made many “visits from heaven” appearing before many of his disciples after his death.

      The beginning of my search led me to the story of Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, a psychiatrist who pioneered the study of death and dying and is credited with raising awareness about bereavement issues. Dr. Kübler-Ross frequently told a now famous story about a former patient of hers named Mrs. Schwartz who had appeared to her to ask that she not give up her work. As the story goes, Dr. Kübler-Ross was making her way over to an elevator after the conclusion of one her seminars