The Afterlife Consultant - Rich Martini

At the insistence of my colleague and pal Jennifer Shaffer, I'm announcing (trumpets please) that I am starting consultations "about the flipside."

If you've heard me speak on the topic at "Coast to Coast AM" or on "Beyond Belief" you know that George Noory calls me "The Afterlife Expert."

I can't do what Jennifer Shaffer does as a medium - speak directly to folks on the flipside, and I can't do what Scott De Tamble does - spend four to six hours speaking directly to your guides on the other side while you're under deep hypnosis - but I can do something that touches on aspects of both.

And that is "talk to you and your guides about the afterlife."

I know that sounds odd. But in my experience, people are attracted to this field not because they're "just curious" - but because either someone on the flipside needs to speak with them, or one of their guides wants them to access this information.

And I do so without hypnosis of any kind.  In fact, it's often over coffee, in my favorite coffee shop.  So no one is hypnotized during these sessions, however, they all say that they "feel as if they've been hypnotized" because they see, sense or experience things they've never experienced before.

Here are a few examples that I've filmed:

1. Santa Barbara
2. Dr. Drew 
3. Live on the Radio


I always insist - to the point of being annoying - that anyone who seriously wants to examine or put themselves deeply into this research should seek out a trained hypnotherapist who does this kind of work.  I recommend finding a hypnotherapist who can take them further and much deeper than I ever have the patience to do so - and in that case, I recommend hypnotherapist trained by the Newton Institute. I do so because I've filmed dozens of sessions from folks who were trained by them.

With Jennifer Shaffer and Scott De Tamble

In Los Angeles, I often work with Scott De Tamble, who is an expert in this field. He has done hundreds of between life sessions, and I've filmed a few dozen of them.

When a person wants to have direct contact with a loved one on the flipside, I recommend reaching out to Jennifer Shaffer.  I've worked with Jennifer, she works with law enforcement and has done over 3000 cases already.

I've been on "Coast to Coast AM" as the "Afterlife Expert."  So if I'm expert at anything, it's at asking questions that elicit answers we don't think we're aware of.

So if you're in search of understanding the architecture of the afterlife, I can help you do that, as well as to help you access certain elements of that journey from dreams or other events.  If you've had a near death experience, or some other consciousness altered event, I can help you access the event on a deeper more profound level than your memory can.  

I've done this with a number of individuals live on stage (see above links) and recently I did so with a fellow who reached out to me here in Santa Monica.

This man had a dream one night where a voice said to him "You need to learn how to speak to your children after you're dead." 

The sentence startled him, had no idea who said it or why. He began to research the topic and found me living in the same town. He contacted me after reading a few books on the topic.

He was startled by the sentence.  It wasn't a topic he was researching, it wasn't something he was focused on, and needless to say, the sentence, as clear as it was, disturbed him.  Who said it?  Why did they say it? Was it a warning of some kind?

We met for coffee and discussed it.  He told me about his life growing up, the journeys he had been on, and nothing from what he described seemed to prompt this kind of message.  I broke it down into three pieces for him; 1. The sentence was said at a time when he wasn't stressed.  If he had been, had a health issue or some other stressful event, he would have associated it with that problem.  But since it was not, he would have no associations to attach to it.  2. It mentioned his children, which made it a more heartfelt message - if he had heard "you need to learn to speak to people on the other side when you're dead" it might have been dismissed as a generic "message."  But since his children were attached to it, it gave import.  3.  The message, for good or bad, had caused him to find me so I could walk him through it.

Then we began to talk about who the person was who might have sent the message.  He said he did not know who the voice was - but I asked him to "open himself up to the possibility that he might know who that was" and to "allow an image of that person to come to mind."  (Again, no hypnosis, just coffee.) At some point, he glanced over my shoulder and began to describe someone he saw in his mind's eye. A friend. Not from this life, but from previous lifetimes. 

We examined those lifetimes.  He remembered being a soldier with this fellow back in the 1300's in France, where they were comrades that helped people in the countryside to fight against other marauding people.  Like a mercenary, but the word "musketeer" came to mind.  He had a name and a place for these activities, and I was able to research and find them to be accurate.

We walked through another lifetime memory, that of him and this fellow fighting alongside soldiers in "red coats" against soldiers in "blue coats."  They were fighting for survival mostly, but in this case when asked to say his name back then, he spelled it as Pawnee. 

This fellow is not from the U.S. so he was not aware of the British soldiers paying the Pawnee to fight alongside of them against the Americans during the revolutionary and War of 1812.  He later looked up the outfits that he had seen in his mind's eye, and found accurate descriptions of what he saw.

Pawnee as described by this man who had never heard of the tribe.

But it's not enough to ask about previous lifetimes - more important is "What did these lives have in common?"  Or "how do these lives relate to your overall journey or theme of your life?"  He examined that as well, and at some point I walked him into visit his council.  

It was there that he met some of the guides that have been overseeing all of his lifetimes, and I asked the members of his council detailed questions about their own path and journey.

We also spoke to an "entity" that appeared that incarnates here on the planet as a tree. We asked her questions about that journey and when asked about opinion of humans this feminine entity said "She feels sad." I asked "Why?" She said "Because humans have lost their ability to communicate with trees. Thousands of years ago they had the ability. But they have lost it. Not many humans can communicate with us."

I didn't invent this conversation. The man I was speaking with, fully conscious, had never heard of anyone "communicating with a tree."  But there, over coffee, we had this unusual conversation (from the man's subconscious answering my questions, like "Can we talk to this entity? Is it male or female, neither or both?") that allowed us to get an answer to a question that neither of us had ever thought to ask, or ever thought could be answered. 

Trees are sad on our behalf. At least this one was.

All of this took about two hours over coffee at my favorite spot.

Jennifer insists that people will want to "sign up" to do something like this with me on a regular basis. We'll see.

with Jennifer Shaffer and George Noory

So I'm offering this service to anyone who might be in Santa Monica who wants to reach out and talk about the flipside. I can so via phone, skype or in person.  

If you'd like to schedule a consultation, send an email to me at MartiniConsultants (at) gmail - and we can figure it out from there.  Thanks for tuning in!

Talking to Harry Dean Stanton on the Flipside

"Just open yourself up to the possibility that there might be an afterlife."

Luana on the Flipside (or a mirror in Rockefeller plaza)

This is a post about my pal Luana Anders (who passed away in 1996) and my pal Harry Dean Stanton (who passed a few weeks ago) and my conversation with them via Jennifer Shaffer (JenniferShaffer.com)

First some bonafides; I've known Harry Dean Stanton since I appeared in an episode of "Laverne and Shirley" with him back in the 80's.  I played a pizza delivery guy who whenever he rang the doorbell, was always shy a couple of slices of pizza.  "Hey fur face, where's the rest of our pizza?"  (Shirley's line) And I'd make up some story "Well, I was on my way here, and suddenly I saw this fire in a building, and I set the pizza down, and went over to the building and caught this baby that fell out of window... but when I got back to your pizza, a few slices were missing."  

All the while, wiping pizza crumbs out of my beard.

Charles Grodin got me the part, it was his idea, he called his pal Penny Marshall and she brought me in to do an episode.  I filmed the bit on the same night that Harry Dean Stanton was performing - singing songs actually, and later, when I ran into Penny she said "Oh, I forgot. We had to cut you. Harry's song went long." (Some years later we shared the "millennium cruise" aboard Bob Shaye's yacht - and I played piano while Penny sang. So there was a circle to that story too.)

But in Harry Dean's case, that circle closed yesterday in a cafe in Manhattan Beach.

Wine and Spirits anyone? (Jennifer's name for a cool talk show)

It's where I meet up with Jennifer Shaffer to talk about the flipside, and when we're there together, we sometimes "invite" folks to come and chat with us "if they're available."  It's a strange set up - we have a small knit group of folks we normally speak with, and our class cheer leader is Luana Anders, my pal who passed away some 20 years ago, who inspired this journey into the Flipside, and has been appearing to me and in my books since then.

She was very tight with Harry Dean Stanton.

Harry Dean Stanton "Everyone's favorite character actor"

How tight?  Well, I did not know this when she was on the planet, but a mutual friend told me about a trip he took with Luana and Harry Dean up to the Monterey Pop festival in 1967.  The film played at the Aero theater in Santa Monica recently, and I went to see it just to experience what they'd experienced - but I don't recall mentioning any of that to Jennifer.  Either way, as I'm about to report; she wasn't aware of it.

So yesterday we asked Luana to stop by.  I said "Lu, our mutual friend Harry passed away recently, I wondered if we might chat with him?"

Jennifer said "He's sitting next to her."

Harry with a close pal.

Now, allow me to pause for a moment - I know how weird this sounds.  But I can tell you that I've verified many of our sessions.  I've heard things from Luana (and others - I've filmed about 30) that I did not know (so it can't be cryptomnesia, something I read, Jennifer read, heard or was told me) but later proved to be true. (It happens in "Hacking the Afterlife" with Jennifer.)

This has happened numerous times, and the details she gives me are verifiable.  They're usually private - so I don't normally talk about this kind of thing in public.  (If Harry had children or a family, I'd share it with them privately. I've shared many details from our sessions with family members, but in this case Harry was a solo trapeze artist.)

I knew and got to hang out with Harry over the years as well.  

We jammed at a party one night - playing guitars, him crooning his Spanish repertoire - Harry knew them all.  We also spent a night drinking at Dan Tana's with Dabney Coleman at their booth. I mentioned seeing Harry at Dan Tana's to Jennifer, and Harry said "Until four a.m." (which was accurate.) We drank until the wee hours, smoking cigarettes outside; Harry was always friendly to me because of the Luana connection - but he firmly did not believe in an afterlife.  He spoke of that disbelief often.

He was kind of famous for talking about it - this was the only path and journey, and after that, nothing. (As the director of his most recent film Lucky points out: "He was deeply spiritual person who was 100% certain that there was no God and there was only a void and we were all going to disappear into nothing and no one was in charge," Lynch says. "He was deeply committed to that worldview.")

His film "Lucky" goes into it in detail, although I haven't seen it yet, I'm sure he gets a lick or two in there about this being the only go-round on the merry-go-round.

That is, until I spoke to him yesterday. On the Flipside.

HDS - Entertainment Weekly

Jennifer did not know who he was, did not know who I was referring to, and I carefully avoided saying his full name or credits or how they knew each other.  But I suspected that it might have been "unusual" or "difficult" for Harry to accept the fact that there IS an afterlife, and it would likely have given him some pause.

It did.

(I filmed this event, it will be a chapter in my next book, but in essence this is how Luana and Harry described the process via Jennifer.)

Luana Anders in the 1960's.

About a week prior to his passing, Harry said, Luana started appearing at his bedside.  He said she was wearing her hippie outfit - specifically the one that she was wearing when they drove up to Monterey in 1967.  

Harry said "I thought I was hallucinating."  He said that he recognized her, but assumed it was a trick of the brain to have her appear in this memory.

I asked Luana what happened next.  

She helped him remember the drive to Monterey.  (Jennifer at first said "Santa Barbara" and I said "I think it was further north.")  Upon crossing over, Harry saw himself in this car, driving up to Monterey.  He "assumed it was a dream."  

There was a third friend in the car as well. Let's call him "Fred."  (I reached out to "Fred" yesterday as Harry had a message for him, and answered some questions raised here) 

Harry said "I thought this is what happens when people die - they go to a happy memory, like a dream, and then they're in that dream forever in kind of a loop."  The idea that a dream or memory would just play out over and over when someone was no longer on the planet.

Then, he said, they had a flat tire.

And as they were fixing the flat tire, Harry said he "realized this was not something that had happened" - that they did not have a flat tire on this trip.  

So he looked at his friend "Fred" and said "We didn't have a flat tire." And "Fred" said "I know."

It was at this moment he realized he wasn't in a dream - but "in the afterlife."  Harry chuckled as he said (through Jennifer) "Luana gave me a soft landing by doing that."

I said "I'm in touch with the other friend in the car - "Fred" - he's still on the planet, just to be clear, when you were speaking to him while fixing the flat tire..." Harry interrupted "I was talking to his higher self."  (It's a term I often use to describe the energy that is always "back home" in the afterlife.) 

(According to the thousands of cases done by Michael Newton of people under deep hypnosis (7000 over 30 years, as detailed in "Flipside") people claim we bring about a third of our energy here, and the rest is "always back there.")  

So when Harry saw his pal "Fred" helping him with the tire, he realized he was talking to the "higher self" version of his friend.

He added "And the higher self version is much less uptight than he is down on the planet."  

Jennifer didn't know that - could not know that - but I know that.  This "Fred" fellow is famously taciturn, doesn't speak unless questioned, he's described by all who know and love him as a "doesn't speak until spoken to" kind of guy.  So for Harry (through Jennifer) to describe him that way was precisely as I know him.  And it made me laugh.

He said ""Fred" is heartbroken, you need to let him know I'm okay."

I said "What have you been doing since you arrived back there?"  He said "Seeing friends. Thousands of friends.  You can tell my ex that I saw our child who passed away."  I said "Who is that?"  He said "Look it up - we had a child in 1962 (Jennifer said "the date 1962 comes to mind" - so don't know if it happened then, or she was born in 1962, or some other connection to that date) and that child passed away.  Let her know that I'm with that child."  

I said "Harry, I have no way to access her."  He said "Google it."  

So I will.  (People don't lose their syntax or personality when they get to the flipside.  They're not gone. They're just not here.)

I asked "Is there anything you want me to share with people, your friends, fans, or just anyone?" He said:

"Tell them there is an afterlife.  Tell them to believe in an afterlife."

I laughed.  I said "Harry you were famous for claiming there isn't one. Who is going to believe me when I say "Harry Dean said "You should believe in the afterlife?"

He said "My point is that you spend so much time worrying about whether there is one or not, if you just open yourself up to the possibility, then you won't spend so much time, like I did, on that hamster wheel worrying about whether there is one or not."

I said "So how did you come to believe there wasn't one?"

He said "Too many of my friends died. That was painful. It was a way that I could wall off the pain. Just easier to believe it didn't exist."

I thanked him for the point.  "Believe in the afterlife" - not because there is or isn't one - but the act of opening yourself up to the possibility there might be one, takes the onus and pressure off the wasted energy worrying about it. (to paraphrase Harry.)

Old pals, Jack and HDS (and Luana)

(I didn't mention Harry's other friends, that we eventually spoke of, as I didn't want to inject bias into my questions to Jennifer about Harry.  But later, he had some wry comments about Marlon and Jack which I'll include in the chapter.) 

I will be transcribing the session verbatim.  It was thrilling for me since Jennifer didn't know anything about this trip.  I didn't know anything about the trip either until a few months ago, when the third fellow in the car told me about it.

I said "Harry, show Jennifer where you were going in Monterey.  What did you guys do up there?'

She said "He's showing me big screens and people sitting around.  Luana said it was a 'free love' event. (We had not discussed a year or time when this event happened.)  I said "What's happening on the screens, what are people doing?"  Jennifer said "It's like a concert of some kind, listening to music."  I said "Harry, show her who is performing at this concert."  Jennifer looked into the deep distance and said... "Prince?"  

Did not play Monterey.

I chuckled.  I said, "Okay, you can see a guy playing a guitar who could be Prince. Look more carefully. Is that Prince?"  

After a long pause she said "Is it Jimi Hendrix?"  

A chill came over me as she said it.  This of course, was the famous concert where Jimi lit his guitar and the world on fire.  I spoke to the third person in the car yesterday and he confirmed that they did see Hendrix, and no, they did not have a flat tire that he could remember. Jennifer said she saw Harry and Luana smoking pot together, getting high, but this third fellow said he's never touched the herb, but couldn't rule out they may have been getting stoned.

Did play at Monterey

At some point, my friend Bill Paxton showed up in this discussion.  (Bill was an old friend, he's shown up a whole bunch of times, including when I'm interviewing other mediums, and his visits will be included in the next book).  Bill did a number of "we're not worthy" bows towards Harry, as he was and remains a big fan.  

Harry Dean and Billy P. in "Big Love."

But then, Bill knew both Luana and Harry, so it's not out of the ordinary that the three of them would be hanging out.  Bill joked "Harry's the new guy here, so Harry's gotta sit at the end of the row in this crew." (I'm paraphrasing, but in typical Bill fashion, made light of what we were doing.)  Harry also made a number of jokes, bad puns, and when I have the time to transcribe, will share them as well.

Bill Paxton directing

If you've never come across my page, welcome.  And a warning:

I am reporting what I filmed verbatim.  Jennifer works with law enforcement agencies nationwide on missing person cases. We've filmed other sessions where she's told me things about friends of mine (information from them on the other side to their loved ones over here) that turned out to be accurate, true, and not what I (or Jennifer) knew or could know. Verifiable details.

I've been cataloging what people say about the afterlife for about a decade now - I've examined the work of Michael Newton (7000 cases over 30 years), Dr. Helen Wambach (2000 cases a decade earlier), and filmed over 40 between life sessions.  (I've done 5 myself, four with Scott De Tamble (lightbetweenlives.com)  

I've interviewed scientists about consciousness and near death events, and have had a number of near death experiencers do between life sessions to gather further information.  I have worked with a number of mediums, including Jennifer, to access "new information" from people no longer on the planet. 

All of this is cataloged in my books "Flipside" "It's a Wonderful Afterlife" volume one and volume two and "Hacking the Afterlife."  I'm currently crowd funding my next book "The Afterlife Expert."

I offer this information merely as a reporter (I'm a filmmaker, have written and/or directed eight theatrical feature films, some documentaries, and been a journalist for a number of magazines).  

I'm not trying to alter, adjust, change anyone's beliefs, or reroute their journey or path in any way.  I've found that the people who are drawn to this research come because of some reason only they know.  It may be part of their path or journey, or they're trying to understand someone else's path or journey. This research is not for everyone, nor should it be.  Not everyone needs to know "what happens at the end of the novel" and it's infinitely more fun to not know the ending to the play when you're in the play.  But for whatever reason, it's been my passion for the past decade.

 Harry Dean was a friend, and remains one to this day.  While he had many more famous friends than me, our mutual pal Luana, one of his nearest and dearest friends was there to greet him on the flipside (along with others) and she orchestrated this session between me, Harry and Jennifer.  I know what it's like to hear and see Luana (and have visited her a number of times "over there" and the information is consistent and revelatory) know what its like to see her "over there" (appears younger than when I met her, but the same persona, sense of humor and deep insight.)



God rest ye merry gentlemen.  

It took me a few minutes after he said this outrageous thing "just believe in the afterlife" -- but now I feel I understand what Harry is saying: 

"Just allow that there might be an afterlife.  Even if you don't believe it, open yourself up to the possibility that it might be true." As if allowing ourselves to be "open to other possibilities" helps us navigate life on the planet. As if allowing that there's more to this journey than we can comprehend takes some of the stress out of experiencing it.  Good point Harry.  Thank you.

And finally, I'll end with a Harry quote from when he was still on the planet: "Heisenberg, Max Plank and Einstein, they all agreed that science could not solve the mystery of the universe." Harry Dean Stanton

Posts on Quora from the Afterlife Expert

So someone mentioned me on Quora and I felt compelled to respond.

And respond. And respond.

Have been responding for a few days, wondering "what am I doing responding?"  Chances are these questions are computer generated.  

But maybe the computers need answers too.

But since these questions may be universal, here's a sampling:  

Q: If there’s an after-life, is there an after-after life?

It’s a great question. First of all, when trying to define the ineffable, we spend a lot of time using words that we can’t define. So - what’s the definition of life to begin with? If you look it up, the definition of life is “not dead.” Okay, that’s nice. But doesn’t really help. Because the definition of dead is… wait for it… “not alive.”

So we have a conundrum. How do we “know we’re alive?” Our thinking on the topic stems from “I think therefore I am.” (Or as I like to paraphrase it for Buddhist philosophy “I think therefore I am not.”) But either answer really doesn’t get to the heart of the matter. What’s an afterlife, if we can’t really define what life is other than “not dead?”

I’m frequently asked “So then what happens?” in my public talks about the afterlife. (MartiniProds on youtube). I report what people consistently say about the afterlife either under deep hypnosis (as pioneered by Michael Newton, or Dr. Helen Wambach) or compare those reports to what people say about the afterlife during a near death event. 

And the way I parse near death events from imagination, or “cryptomnesia” (having heard, seen or experienced what you’re seeing during your past life memory or during your NDE) by examining “new information.” Information that you could not have known, did not know, but learned from your experience interacting with someone on the flipside, or “in the afterlife.”

These reports are consistent and they are replicable. What people say consistently is that “there is no death.” That your body may cease functioning, but who we are does not. Call it a soul, call it an energetic hologram, call it a cheese sandwich, people say the same things consistently and report the journey in a consistent manner. 

They claim that those who’ve “done themselves in” are startled to discover they haven’t “ended anything.” That they are then witness to all the stress, sadness and suffering their loved ones may or may not go through once they’ve “crossed over.”

Further that their consciousness doesn’t dissipate, or travel to a “pool of other consciousness” (as posited by Jung) but that our consciousness travels to a place they refer consistently as “home.” The place where they originated, a place where they reconnect with the “conscious energy” of theirs that was “left behind” and reconnect with their loved ones. (This is not my theory, opinion or belief in these reports - I’m just reporting them.)

So when we talk about the afterlife, we’re already using mistaken terminology. Because there is no “after” if you’re returning home. There’s before, then there’s during, and then there’s what happens next. But it’s never described as a finite place, nor are souls defined as “immortal.” 

What we learn back there is that we are always changing, always learning, always “filling in the blanks” (and for Buddhist theorists, not that there is no “finite soul”per se - because we are always evolving) - as if we are living lives so that we can earn a degree in consciousness. The degree just happens to be the journey of our souls.

So when we speak of the afterlife - think of it in these terms: we’ve gotten off stage. We’ve put away our costumes and props, and we now go back “home” where our pals and loved ones are. They may tease us about our performance, or applaud (usually applause), and at some point they’re going to start bugging us about coming back and “doing it again, but better.” 

Reportedly we can refuse their suggestions, for whatever reason, but inevitably our loved ones and guides will nudge us into seeing that we really do need to work on a few extra things. And then we choose to come back - perhaps looking over the groups we’ve already been here with, or the folks we’d like to be here with… and together make a plan.

Yes, the afterlife of the afterlife — is life. And after we’ve graduated from “all our lives” - might be a long time in earth time, but relatively short over there - we can choose to become a guide or a teacher or someone else of service. Perhaps sit on a council of souls and help guide and teach souls that come before us. 

These positions are reported consistently, both by people under hypnosis, but also, as of late, by people who are fully conscious, but are just being asked questions (by me, the trusty tour guide) of what and who is on their spiritual council. The results have been nothing short of astounding (to me and them.)


The afterlife of the afterlife is life - unless you want to stay back home, or you graduate into another level of service…not unlike a video game.

after a reply:

As noted, it’s not a theory, it’s just what people say consistently about the path and journey. People come to the planet by choice - learn the lessons they want to learn and “graduate” to another level. That each lifetime might be a particular lesson in some quality - compassion, love, charity, forgiveness - each person has the opportunity to learn from those lessons (or teach.) In terms of the “progression” - each person has their own journey and path.

In order to think of it in terms of “human evolution” we’re constrained by generational divides. People come to the planet - live their average lifespan, pass along as much information as they can, yet we continue to make the same “mistakes”or rehash the same lessons but in different guises.

The same is true in a university - each teacher comes with teaching and information, the students pass through the class, but in the next semester, or the next year, or the next four years, new students come without the knowledge and have to go through it on their own.

During one of these between life sessions, a woman (who had been a skeptic of the process) found herself in a library with one of her guides and asked “So, is the universe a machine?” He answered “The universe is a mechanism, however it’s sentient.”

If that’s accurate, then he’s making the point that the universe learns lessons, or perhaps we all learn lessons eventually. It’s the “100th monkey” discussion (which science has disproven) that a certain amount of a species learns something (how to extract food using a tool) that everyone learns it. Science has shown that to not be the case in humans - but if the knowledge and help of how to navigate the planet is also coming from another source - perhaps the consciousness left behind, as so many claim, then perhaps it makes sense how we can adjust and develop.

But finally, once we get to the concept of what “good” is - or what we all might agree the end result of being kinder or “more enlightened” is - or even more intelligent - it’s debatable what the collective is trying to accomplish or learn. Some people claim their entire soul group has numerous lifetimes where they explore or examine the”energy of addiction.” 

If that’s true, then each time they travel down that path, one could argue they’re not “learning anything.” However, they claim that we do learn more days of tragedy than we do from days of joy. As one person said under hypnosis “You can learn more on this planet from one day of tragedy than you can from 5000 years on some other boring planet.”

Perhaps that’s the reason behind incarnating on a “polarized” planet - good and bad - yin and yang. There are many lessons to be learned here, and it makes for a great university.

Q: What's the point of life?

First define life. What is it? Is it breathing? Actually the definition of life, if you can believe it, is “not being dead.” And the definition of death is “not living.” So we are already on shaky ground just asking the question. 

Because it assumes that there is a point or a time, or a stasis where we are not living. And I can tell you that does not exist. We are never not alive. We are never not existing. I can describe the process of coming into being - as reported by people who claim to have knowledge about such things - but suffice to say, once we’re in existence, we don’t blend out of it. 

We can’t get out of it. No matter how hard someone might try - the conundrum is that those who “choose to no longer be alive” can’t do anything of the sort. They find themselves chagrined to discover that they have not died. (They’ve stressed out everyone they ever met or loved, and they have to deal with that, but that’s another topic.) 

So let’s start there. You can’t not be living. Ever. Then the question becomes “So why am I here in this physical form? What am I doing here? What’s the point of going through all I’ve gone through to get to this point?” Now that’s a good question. Only one person can answer it. That’s you. 

So if you don’t know why you chose to come here, why you chose this lifetime, if you don’t know what the lessons are that you came here to learn or to teach; then now’s a pretty good time to start searching for that answer to that. And the first step on that path was asking the question. 

“What’s the point of my being here?” Only one person can answer it.

Q: Why did God create some humans whom he knows previously that they will go to hell? Isn't being the most merciful a logical reason that he didn't create them?

Imagine yourself standing in a theater, watching a play on stage. No matter how bad someone acts in a play, we never chase after the actor after the play is over to rail at them. Actually sometimes people do, certain parts “ruin an actor’s career.” But in general, when watching a play that deals with good and evil, happy or sad events, we’re focused on the lessons that are learned on the stage.

What the reports show is that we choose our lifetimes after consulting with our loved ones and fellow travelers “back home” - and choose to play a particular role while here on the planet. 

During one deep hypnosis session I was filming, a woman who recalled a life which ended in Auschwitz found herself standing before her council of guides and asking them “Why did I agree to sign up for this lifetime? It was horrible and I lost everyone I loved.”

She then said (it’s in the book and film “Flipside”) “Oh, there showing me something that’s every hard to describe. I don’t know if I can describe it. But they’re showing me that it was harder to choose to play the role of a perpetrator in this lifetime, than a victim.”

Easily the most politically incorrect sentence I’d ever heard.(It was the first time for me filming someone under deep hypnosis - but now I’ve filmed 40 and hear the same kinds of reports often.) She said “every day that I spent in that camp was an intense, heightened lesson in life; the nature of forgiveness, of courage, of compassion, of anger, of hate… each more difficult than the last. But from my perspective, I see why I chose this life rather than the other option.”

Not to mitigate anyone’s pain or experience or journey. But when we truly examine the nature of what we’re doing here on the planet, we hear these stories over and over. We are responsible for choosing our journey here. We may get here and not fulfill the promises we made, we may fall short of what we set out to do. But that’s okay, because we do get off stage and go back home. We get to examine all of the other choices we made.

In the book “Memories of the Afterlife” one woman in Germany recalled a lifetime as a German soldier. She recalled seeing herself as a man, engaged to marry a beautiful girl in Berlin. 

But his parents discovered she was Jewish and forbade the marriage. Later, the soldier saw himself on the Swiss border; his job to stop refugees from escaping. He recounted stopping a truck, lining up all the passengers and having them shot. And he recognized his fiancee as one of the people on the truck - but didn’t stop himself from ending her life.

He said he was physically ill for days/weeks after, and eventually remembered being shot by a US soldier. And when he left his body and returned “home” - out of the grey mist came his fiancee, holding her arms open for him. 

And he said “I can’t, I’m so embarrassed, I’m so sorry for what I did to you…” and he/she reported that his fiancee said “Don’t remember? This is what we signed up to experience. We’ve had many lifetimes before, and we’ll have many in the future.” And at that moment recognized her as a colleague at work, and after her between life session, connected with her and they started a company together.

Might not be what you expected to hear as an answer, but it is what’s consistently in the reports.

Q: Could our consciousness indeed be our soul?

There’s every indication that it is. From a Catholic perspective, look to the original text behind the “holy trinity” - which was “father, son and breath.” If you think of father as being “source” and son as being “human” - then the thing that animates that human (and all sentient creatures) is consciousness.

If you think of it from a science point of view - people consistently say that our consciousness returns “home” after life. They claim that when we return “home” we reconnect with the part of our consciousness that we did not bring to this life. 

When asked why that is, people claim that “there’s too much energy, that bringing the whole package would “blow the circuits.” They further claim that when we return home we connect with the roughly two thirds of our consciousness that is always “back home.”

When asked what the two thirds of our consciousness is doing back home while we’re here struggling to get through life, the answers are consistent; going to class with fellow travelers, (these classrooms have been described in numerous places, including Michael Newton, Dr. Helen Wambach, Galen Stoller’s “My Life after Life” and other people). 

I know that sounds disturbing - as it first sounded to me. “Classrooms in the afterlife? Are you kidding? After 18 years of school I thought I was done with classrooms!”

But these classes are described as pretty unusual. I’ll leave it at that.

But to answer your questions, that appears to be the best way to refer to the soul, since it’s reported to be part of who we are. When we return to reconnect with our other energy back home, we get to see all the previous incarnations we’ve had, and reconnect with all the lessons we’ve learned (and not learned.) It’s who we are.

It also explains how when people have an out of body experience, or a near death event, or some other consciousness altering event, they can see or observe, report things that they shouldn’t have been aware of, couldn’t possible have seen. (See Mario Beauregard PhD’s “Brain Wars” where he describes a person telling his doctor about his orange shoes, but this patient was blind from birth; had never seen orange.)

Or Dr. Greyson’s hour long talk on youtube “Is Consciousness Produced by the Brain?” for numerous cases where people should not have been able to communicate (death, brain malfunction, loss of brain matter, atrophied brain, etc) but still were able to communicate.


If we think of the brain as a receiver rather than a broadcast unit , complete with filters and volume control, regulating what gets in and out while we’re on the planet, we have a closer picture to how consciousness works.

Q: How can I reconnect with God?

"Open your heart to everyone and to all things.” This was the response given by a “spirit guide” to a skeptical film producer who was under deep hypnosis that I filmed for my book “It’s a Wonderful Afterlife.” 

She had gone into this session not believing that she could access a previous lifetime or anything to do with the afterlife, and on her list of skeptical questions “In case I get anywhere” she included “What or who is God?”

Eventually, after a memory of a previous lifetime (details which I was able to verify) she found herself in a giant library with her spirit guide (for lack of a better term.) The guide seemed annoyed by the question about God. His full answer:

“You humans feel like by naming something you get a better handle on it. Let me put it this way; God is beyond the capacity of the human brain to comprehend. It’s just not physically possible. But you can experience God. To experience God; open your heart to everyone and to all things.”

If you think about that for a moment - how do you open your heart to all people? We live in a conditional love world - “if you love me I’ll love you. I love you until you do something I don’t like.” What people claim is that over there - “back home” it’s an experience of unconditional love. 

That’s what “god is.” Unconditional love. So that means opening your heart to everyone - even the person who cuts you off in traffic (or builds a wall.) Easy to say, but obviously hard to do.

But he added the last part - “and to all things.” What does that mean? I take it to mean that atoms exist in objects in some form of agreement - after all, what’s a pencil but a bunch of wood and lead atoms vibrating together? 

What keeps them together? Well, they have this right to exist in this space as well, so if I can open my heart to all things - including a pencil, which is composed of the same vibrational energy we are all composed of - then I’m that much closer to “experiencing god.”


So to reconnect with God, I recommend start with mirror. Open your heart to that person first. Unconditional love. Then move that focus to those around you, that you do love on a daily basis, then spread it to those you meet on a daily basis, and finally to those you avoid or hate for reasons you can’t quite elucidate. 

Because they too come from the same source, and are merely playing roles (perhaps annoying ones) for our benefit. And then… voila, open up that radius of unconditional love to include the pencil, the tree, the car, the book - the earth, this thing we exist on while we’re here. Give the earth unconditional love, and it will repay you a thousand fold. (I made up that last sentence, because it sounds good.)

Q:"Is it realistic to believe in reincarnation?"

Do you believe in gravity? It’s a mental construct to explain something that occurs. Why believe or not believe, and just focus on the data?

What’s the data show? Well, if you look at Ian Stevenson’s 30 years of work at UVA, Dr. Jim Tucker’s research at DOPS or Carol Bowman’s research (“Children’s Past Lives”) you’ll find evidence. Detailed examples of children (for the most part) who remember previous lifetimes and their cases are verifiable.

Then if you expand your research, you’ll find notable cases of reincarnation in eastern literature, specifically with regard to lamas who remember previous lifetimes. However, I’m happy to add, they remember the previous incarnation for a few years, and then that memory fades. (i.e, the Dalai Lama, who remembered the items he owned as the 13th, but since then, not so much).

Why is that? The reports show that children appear to be able to remember previous (verifiable) lifetimes up until about the age or 7 or 8. Some argue that’s when the filters in the brain no longer allow new information, I’ve noted its the age when the skull hardens, perhaps altering the ability to “receive” information that is accessed somehow - the brain acting like a stereo receiver.

How do we know there are filters? In Dr. Bruce Greyson’s youtube talk, “Is Consciousness Produced by the Brain?” (reproduced in my book “It’s a Wonderful Afterlife”) he cites the 70% of cases in the UK where Alzheimer’s patients suddenly, spontaneously regain access to their memories “minutes, hours,sometimes days” prior to their death. They somehow have a full memory of their lifetime and can access those memories. However, autopsies of their brains after death show they’d atrophied and should not have been able to access memory. As if the “filters” in the brain had “died” or ceased to function along with other parts of the brain, and yet consciousness returned in those incapable of it.

The word “believe” implies that there isn’t evidence of something. The idea of “faith” is to put your mind and heart around something that isn’t verifiable. However, consciousness existing outside the brain is verifiable, and further, points to the answer to the question. “How does reincarnation work?”

According to people who claim to have experienced a “memory” of the process - (that is through the research of Dr. Helen Wambach (2000 cases) and Michael Newton (7000 cases)) people under hypnosis claim that the process is the same, has always been the same, and continues to be the same. That once our consciousness (or soul) leaves the physical realm we inhabit, it “returns home” where it sorts out why and how and with who to make the choice to return.

They further claim that “this isn’t the only playground.” That people can choose to incarnate elsewhere, in other worlds, but that we like to return to this “difficult polarized realm” because “we can learn more spiritually from one day of tragedy on earth than we can from 5000 years on some boring planet.”

Again, not a theory, not a philosophy, not an argumentative supposition about how things should work; just reporting verbatim what thousands have said while either under hypnosis, during a near death event, or in some other consciousness altered mode where they claim to be able to access this information. And their replies are consistent and replicable. (Which by definition, is what science requires when examining data.)


What’s not realistic is to “believe” we don’t reincarnate. That unrealistic premise leads to people living on a planet they don’t think they’re going to return to, therefore leave it in a state of decay. That would be a “belief” as it is contrary to what these thousands of folks have said consistently.

Talking to the Flipside

People often ask; "So if it's true my loved one still exists on the flipside, why don't I hear from them?"

There's a few reasons.

One is Mechanics.

Did you know that a rainbow is different to every person that sees it? (This factoid from Neil deGrasse Tyson). "The exact Rainbow any of us sees in the sky is entirely our own -- a personal, yet communal gift from the laws of optics."

Double Rainbows: Science.com

Because of the nature of optics, light moving through water droplets, every person sees a rainbow differently. 

How many of us are old enough to remember rabbit ear antennas?  (Raise your hand in the back row; I SEE YOU.)

Endless standing in front of the television trying to get a "clearer signal."

When the Sears Tower went up in Chicago (later the Willis Tower) people in the northern suburbs (cake eaters in Chicago parlance) had to deal with ghosting images on their tv sets.  It was time to either get on the roof and move that antenna, or run to the tv and move the rabbit ears.

So let's say Aunt Betty wants to connect with you.  She sees you sitting in your church pew on Sunday like you always do (in this fantasy anyway) and she "sits down next to you."  Only you can't see her.  She's amused by the fact that you can't see her, but she wants you to know that she's keeping an eye on you, so she thinks of some way to communicate with you.

She might send you a smell.  Maybe it's perfume.  It's the old Chanel #5 perfume that you bought her every year for Christmas.  And she knows that once she wafts that perfume in your direction, you're going to know that she's visiting you.

Now, hang on a second.  Is Aunt Betty actually putting on perfume?  No.  But what is perfume?  It's a smell that we smell with our noses.  But hang on a second, is that accurate?

No, it's not. 

The smell is a wave of information that drifts through the air to your nostril which then translates that information into an ELECTRICAL SIGNAL which goes from your nose hairs to your brain and hits the corresponding filing cabinet where "Chanel #5" is located.

"Your ability to smell comes from specialized sensory cells, called olfactory sensory neurons, which are found in a small patch of tissue high inside the nose. These cells connect directly to the brain. Each olfactory neuron has one odor receptor. Microscopic molecules released by substances around us—whether it’s coffee brewing or pine trees in a forest—stimulate these receptors. Once the neurons detect the molecules, they send messages to your brain, which identifies the smell."

It's the same with visual stimuli.  You're not "seeing" anything - as we know, light and images hit your eye UPSIDE DOWN first, and then are translated RIGHTSIDE UP into your head, so you can watch out for that basketball coming at you.

"Duck!"

But back to Aunt Betty.  

She's seeing you from a particular perspective - according to Aunt Betty's I've interviewed, she doesn't "hear the minister" droning on, she doesn't hear the choir belting out "Sons of God, Hear His Holy Word" or any other the other distractions in the church at the moment.

She's just focused on you.  So let's figure that Aunt Betty wants to "send you a signal."  How does she do that?  Is there a decoder up there? A flip phone for communication?  No.  What people report is that they have to "do a mathematical equation that results in the desired effect."

Sound loopy?  Well hell yes, it is loopy!  What class did you learn how to do the math that would effect a transmission of a signal of a smell to your loved one?

You forgot already?

As I've reported in "Flipside" "It's a Wonderful Afterlife" there are classrooms in the afterlife - let's not call it that, shall we, as it implies "ghostly figures" sitting in classrooms.  Let's call it what it is:

A CLASSROOM.

University of Wisc

When I say that word I know that everyone has a different visual in their mind.  Could have been your class, a friend's class, a classroom you saw in a movie, or even at school.  But you alone know what classroom means.  I don't know what your classroom might look like - I can only point to ones that I've been in. Here on this planet, and while under deep hypnosis.

Old fashioned class. Eames chairs.

So in this class you were taught this method - and again, try not to focus on the "when" part of this information since we're always going to class - prior to this life, during it, and a long time ago as well. And in this class, which might have just a few folks, might have hundreds, but often is reported to be about "20" individuals - you learned the process of how to "throw a smell."

A bit like throwing your voice. There's a trick to it and you have to practice to get the trick down.

So Aunt Betty is sitting next to you, does the complex math problem that creates the "idea of a smell" and sends it to your electrical grid so that you can smell it... and not perhaps, the Eau du Bieber on the person in front of you... and this wave of this wafting luxurious smell comes over you, and you instantly - directly - picture Aunt Betty.

And instead of giving her a high five, or blinking through happy tears - you look around.  "That's funny. Why am I smelling that old perfume?  I haven't smelled that since... since... oh my.  Is Aunt Betty here?"

Don't forget, there are dozens of other folks in the room, each has their own focus and energy, and your brain is constantly translating, passing along electrical charges to your mind to help you navigate the day... so not so easy to "see Aunt Betty" as it is to "smell her."

This is why they generally don't waste all that time and energy trying to reach out to you until you're asleep.  In that way you're blissfully snoozing, and Aunt Betty finds it all that much easier to present herself right smack dab in the middle of your dream. 

Sister Evangelina "Call the Midwife" Series

 And our friends on the Flipside claim that they do so in a fashion "not to frighten you" (unless they have a silly sense of humor) but to reach out to you to let you know something...

What are they telling you?  Well, that they're okay. That they're watching over you. That you shouldn't worry so much about all the nonsense that you worry about all the time. Because NONE OF THAT MATTERS.

What does matter?

Only one thing (they say, consistently).  If you don't know what the one thing is that matters, take the time right now to ask your loved one.

"WHAT'S THE MOST IMPORTANT THING, WHAT'S THE ONE THING THAT MATTERS THE MOST?"

Jot down the answer and send it to me.

On Amazon

Like I've said here before - when talking to people on the Flipside, they consistently say that we can communicate with them.  That all we need to so is "Say their name."

I asked "Do we say it in our head or aloud?"

They say "It doesn't matter."

In Ladakh with some peeps.

I asked "So let's pretend that I'm able to reach out to you.  And I have questions for you.  How can I tell the difference between "making up the replies" and actually getting a reply from you?"

They answer; "When the reply comes faster than the question.  When the answer to your question is heard in your head before you can even formulate the question, then you'll know you have a connection with us."

So g'head. Try it.  I can wait.

No one will know that you're talking to a passed away relative.  It's not like you're talking to yourself in Church.

Per LaChaise, Paris

(You know the old joke - if you pray aloud to God while you're in church or temple, that's normal. But if God replies; then you're insane.)

Go ahead and try it.  No one will know that you're talking to someone no longer on the planet in your head.  Write down what they say. Ask questions you don't know the answer to.  Ask hard questions that you don't think they know the answer to.  Ask them for help. Ask them to guide you.

The worst that can happen is that you "hear them."

Then you're in trouble because you'll know "either I'm making this up, or that flipside guy is right."

Say hello to your loved one for me.