Ever since I was a young girl, I have always been fascinated by life’s great mysteries, especially death and the afterlife. I started reading about near-death experiences when I was a teenager. When I was 9 years old, I began experiencing strange phenomena, including sleep paralysis. At the time, these felt confusing and frightening, so I tried my best to avoid them. Eventually, when I grew up, I learnt how sleep paralysis could lead to astral travel.

When I was 27, something happened that shook up my life completely. My grandmother passed away. Her death was a great shock for me and it brought up deeply troubling thoughts and emotions. For the next 5 years, I had frequent nightmares about her. My mind was in pain. I simply could not believe my grandmother no longer existed. But if she was still alive somewhere, I had no idea where that might be, or what she might look like. This event made me question the whole concept of physical death, but there was no one near me who could answer my questions. Growing up in Italy, we were discouraged from thinking too much about what happens after death. Moreover, we were taught that trying to communicate with those who have passed on was considered morbid – or even sinful.

Then in 1993, I visited the Spiritualist Association of Great Britain, based in London. There, thanks to a very good medium I met, I broke through my mental prison, and realised that my grandma was not dead, but still very much alive. At first, it was almost inconceivable, and my own mental filters prevented me from seeing her clearly. But as I gradually let go of my preconceptions, I had vivid contact not only with my grandmother, but with many others who had left this world.

As soon as I made this breakthrough, all my nightmares ended and I also realised that I could use astral travel for specific purposes. I grew bold, and my mind opened to a new world of possibilities. I started studying everything I could find – in Italian and in English. I learnt about the philosophy and mechanics of mediumship.

The following year, I started working as a translator at mediumship training events in the UK and Italy. I attended hundreds of private sittings, as well as dozens of lectures, workshops and public demonstrations of mediumship. I studied with many certified mediums, and did volunteer work in the field of bereavement support. I also teamed up with other afterlife researchers, experimenting with after-death communication and how it works.

Over the years I found out that many people who are interested in the subject of mediumship are, themselves, deeply bereaved. They have lost someone important in their lives, and are full of questions, just like those I had been asking myself. In their hearts, they don’t want to believe their loved ones no longer exist. But in their minds, they want practical evidence of life after death.

Seeing and feeling their pain and frustration, I felt a powerful urge to do something to help answer their questions, so people suffering from loss could find some peace. That’s why I wrote my book, The Afterlife: Hereafter and Here at Hand. Three Tried and Tested Methods to Stay in Touch with Those Who Have Gone Before Us.

In this book, I show you how death is not the end of life, but the reawakening from an illusion. I explain how and why it is possible to stay in touch with those on the other side, and how the departed find it easier to stay in touch with those they love than with people they never knew.

Finally, I show how your departed loved ones are closer to you NOW than they have ever been, and how they are only too willing to reassure you, watch over you and guide you.

The book teaches three different approaches to being in touch with our departed loved ones:

• while we are awake,
• while we are falling asleep,
• and while we are asleep.

‘Being in touch’ means different things to different people. Some might physically see or hear those on the other side. But your unique way of ‘being in touch’ could be a flash in your mind’s eye, a fleeting thought, or an intuitive feeling. Or it could simply mean knowing your loved ones are always with you. This book will give you the spiritual understanding and practical skills to find your own individual way of gently and lovingly reconnecting with those you thought you had lost.

What’s more, these skills will help you deepen your connection with living loved ones. After all, we are all made of the same essence (spirit) and there really is no difference between the living and the dead.

The Afterlife: Hereafter and Here at Hand and Looking Beyond the Fishbowl: A New Comforting Perspective on Reincarnation by Giulia Jeary Knap are available from http://amzn.to/2Em3JnS and http://amzn.to/2E4fQmb. Find out more here: http://fracieloeterra.org/en/ and https://amzn.to/2jKO8SW