Artist: Jonathon Earl Bowser - Used with permission

I'll Always Be There

By Weatherwax

Hecate decided that my time has come

That my deeds on this Earth are finally done.

Still now your sobs and please stop your weeping

Don't think I'm gone, I'm merely sleeping.

I'll always be waiting, until we meet again

Where there's no more poverty, sickness or pain.

My love is now with you, so please don't despair

My armchair is empty, but I'll always be there.

Death

(based on the teachings of such Spritual Advisers as Derek Acorah, Sylvia Browne, Dannion Brinkley and James Van Praagh)

This section comprises my own views on the death process, compiled from many years of extensive research and compilation of acquired data.  A person’s views on death are a very personal issue and not all will agree with my views on it (which are based on the teachings of - among others - Derek Acorah, Sylvia Browne, Dannion Brinkley and James Van Praagh).  I feel I should therefore point out that this in no way represents the views of the Wiccan population in general.

THE LIFE PLAN

Before we can really start talking about death, we must begin with life – or even, the time before life …. Let me explain.  Before we are born we have a ‘conference’ with our other celestial brothers and sisters and decide on WHY we want to have an incarnation on Earth.  The most likely reason is that we have a lesson that we wish to learn, which will further enhance our celestial selves, allowing us to progress up the spiritual ladder nearer to the Creator.  We decide HOW we want to learn this lesson of patience, perseverance, forgiveness, etc – maybe we choose to deal with a child’s murder, disability, depression, illness, war, etc.  Sometimes the way that we choose to learn a life lesson is in the way that we die, eg. Cancer and other long-suffering illnesses.  As we make our plans, our celestial brothers and sisters may also be planning their own life lessons – or perhaps they’ve decided to skip a turn in order to guide you in your life lesson (these will become your Spirit Guides).  Your brothers and sisters may also decide to incarnate but not choose a life lesson – their purpose may be to help you achieve yours – and you thought that your brothers and sisters were just there to annoy you…..

Once you’re incarnated you, of course, have no recollection of your life plan and so it is up to your Spirit Guides to try to help you achieve it.  Have you ever had one of those days when EVERYTHING just seems to go wrong?  You’re late for work, your car won’t start, the lift closes just as you get to it and you have to run up the stairs, you snag your stockings on the desk as you sit down (obviously this last point only refers to women!)?  These are your Spirit Guides trying to tell you that you’re doing something wrong.  You may have strayed completely off the path and be nowhere near ever accomplishing your life plan, perhaps you’ve just started to drift off it, or maybe you’re just ‘vegetating’ and not even trying to complete your plan.  They’re gently trying to shunt you onto the right path so that you are again on target.  How about those days when everything is going right and you feel great?  You got it!  You’re on the right path, doing all the right things and on target for achieving your life plan.  And you thought it was all just fate ……

THE PURPOSE

As living individuals, we are made up of everything we have ever experienced in past lifetimes.  In other words, our present lifetime is a compilation of past thoughts, actions, and deeds, positive or negative, that we have brought with us.  Because of past karma, we find ourselves being reborn into certain family situations with a particular economic and social status that is necessary for our spiritual growth.

Before coming into an earthly incarnation, a soul prepares for its new life in the spiritual realms.  It is common for a soul to return to a field of work in which it had previous liftetimes of interest or experience.  This would explain 'child prodigies' such as Vanessa Mae and Mozart - they'd done it all before and were just 'remembering'.  Let's say a soul plans to experience earth life in the year 2021 as a medical professional.  It will spend time with its guides and teachers perfecting necessary skills and will look into medical breakthroughs and technologies that will be available at that time.  It may also become aware of new diseases or scourges that will affect mankind, and it will learn how to help spread knowledge and love to everyone through its potential work on earth.  As a soul becomes aware of this knowledge, it is integrated into a new personality.  It is vital the soul understands the value of its participation in the future of humankind and how it will affect the lives of many others.

As spiritual beings, we are forever learning, developing, and evolving.  We look at our future incarnation as sort of a blueprint of what we are attempting to accomplish and learn as we walk in the physical body.  Therefore, we pick opportunities and experiences on the earth that are optimum for our spiritual growth and awareness.  Our karma is intertwined with the timing of our next incarnation and our experience in it.

Ultimately, we all are here to learn love.  It may sound simple, but by and large, it is not easy.  Love has many aspects.  One of the first lessons we are attempting to learn is a love of self.  Without love and awareness of self, we will not know how to love others.  Once we have mastered such unconditional love of self and others, we become enlightened and have respect for the natural law of cause and effect - not because we want a better position in life but rather because we know it is the only way.  By understanding this law, and by living it, we come to respect other's uniqueness.  Then we can live in accordance with our fellow human beings for the betterment of all.

GOING HOME

One day we will all return to our spiritual home (known as the Summerland to a Wiccan), of that we can be assured.  However, the manner of how we leave this earth and where we arrive varies with each individual.  Many leave the body unexpectedly and tragically.  Unfortunately, many more die in car accidents.  But is this really what they are?  I don't believe that there is any such thing as an accident.  Such incidents are the direct results of the spiritual law of cause and effect, or karma.  For example, a person goes to a party and makes a conscious decision to drink alcohol.  After he is sufficiently intoxicated, he decides to call it a night and drive home.  At the same time, a couple are returning home after seeing a movie.  The inebriated individual's vision is blurred, and he does not see the oncoming car until it is too late.  Unfortunately, he rams right into the couple, and they die instantly.

In this scenario, the death is a result or effect of this man's decision to drink.  His intoxicated impairment is the cause of the accident, and he is responsible for ending two people's lives.  This is a karmic situation.  A balance will have to be played out in another lifetime because the couple have died.  In other words, all our actions are repaid in kind, positively or negatively, in this life or another lifetime.  The law of cause and effect is  natural, immutable law of the universe, and there is a resolution to every experience by way of karmic action of the grace of the Creator.

What appears as an accident, or even a natural disaster, is not always what it seems.  Nothing happens by chance.  Not only are things based on karmic obligations, but a soul, or a group of souls, makes an agreement in spirit before entering the physical world.  Everything in life occurs as part of the spiritual plan.  All about life is about learning from our experiences.  In order to learn the fullness of life, each soul has to experience it all.  Therefore, along with the positive, a soul must go through a negative experience.  One must learn the duality of nature.  It is through the negative that the positive is appreciated.

With this in mind, certain souls agree in spirit to experience a natural disaster, or a plane crash, and agree to leave their bodies in this manner.  Is this a conscious decision?  No, I don't believe it could be.  Our egos would not allow this type of harm to our bodies.  Another way to look at disasters and accidents is this:  These souls may be finishing past karma from another lifetime.  Then, too, is the question: Was this accident or disaster in some way a help to others?  In other words, how were family and close friends affected by this person's death?  Will they have a clearer insight into love and an appreciation of life?  Will the passing of a loved one be valuable to them in their spiritual growth?  We cannot understand these things with our rational minds because these matters are of a spiritual nature.  Suffice it to say that our lives are part of a much bigger picture than we can fathom.

Do Loved Ones Feel Pain at the time of a Fatal Impact?  In most cases, a spirit blacks out and does not remember.  Spirits frequently comment that they see the crushed vehicle and wonder what poor person has been killed.  Not until they recognize their own lifeless form do they realize that they have suffered the experience.

When spirits first realize their own death, they may be quite upset, to say the least, especially if they still feel very much alive.  When death by accident occurs, and a spirit is literally thrown out of its body, a relative, good friend, or guide will usually be nearby to assist the newcomer through the death transition.  The new-comer soon understands that there is life in spirit form.  It looks down at its spirit body and realizes it looks identical to its former physical body.  Sometimes a spirit may wake up in a hospital, which is not the same as a hospital on earth, and be greeted by a relative or dear friend who welcomes the spirit and informs it of its passing by way of an accident.

One must realize that with any death, especially a sudden one, a spirit might need further help and understanding to acclimatize itself to a new environment.  There are some beautiful souls to assist them in this.  On earth we would refer to these souls as social workers or therapists because, like them spiritual healers mentally assist the newly arrived into an unfamiliar environment.

UNRESOLVED SITUATIONS

Just like on the earth, when certain things bother us, we feel we need resolution.  In spirit, we are the same.  When we pass over to the spirit world, we exist based on thoughts and actions of our earth life.  If we did something of which we were ashamed when we were in physical form, our negative feeling or condition might stay within our consciousness for a long time.

If we die with unresolved issues, we cannot rest peacefully or spiritually progress until our earthly issues have been resolved.  Once the situation HAS been resolved (either by speaking through a medium, to the person in question - in meditation, a dream or apparition - or by some deed) the spirit is then free of its negative tie and can move forward in its growth on the other side of life.

It is important to understand that we continue to have opportunities to change our attitudes and behaviour once we leave our physical bodies.  If someone was mean and unkind when alive, that person may have a new awareness of themselves on the other side.  With this realization comes understanding and a wish to be forgiven.

WHY DON'T SPIRITS TELL US THE FUTURE?

One must understand that spirit people can only tell us what they know and only what is spiritually correct to report.  Although a spirit has attained a keener sense of awareness and an expanded consciousness, it can give information only from the level of its enlightenment.

Earth is our schoolroom.  We come here to learn various lessons, and these lessons vary for every person.  Each of us incarnates at a different level of growth, and each needs to go through different experiences in order to gain wisdom and expand our awareness of the bigger picture of life.  There are various spiritual levels of existence.  When we die, we enter a spiritual level that matches the thoughts and deeds of our earthly life.  A spirit can give us knowledge only from the spiritual level it has attained.

Moreover, in the spirit world, spirit people respect and adhere to spiritual laws.  If they defy these laws, they would be going against the natural state of harmony and balance and would not be able to spiritually evolve.  So instead of giving us answers to what might happen, they abide by spiritual laws and allow us to make our own choices.

For example, if someone asks his deceased mother a question regarding whether or not he will marry, there are two possible responses.  First, the mother might be aware of the requested information and give him her answer (in apparition, meditation, dreams or through a medium).  On the other hand, if a marriage is a karmic lesson for her child, the mother will not want to compromise the child's spiritual growth by giving an answer to an upcoming karmic test.  An individual must go through the human experience alone.  Even with our guides and angels, we must make our own decisions based upon our own awareness.  One could say that each of us is constantly being put to the test.

SUICIDE

This earth is a place to experience elements and aspects of the human condition we cannot experience anywhere else.  It is a place of growth, and growth is never easy.  Most people alive today are constantly challenged with worries of survival.  We are bombarded by financial, employment, emotional, or health concerns.  Many times these worries are associated with feelings of self-destruction.  We think, I can't get through this, or I would be better off dead.

It is quite common for most people to feel suicidal at least once in their lives.  However, this feeling comes and goes as situations change.  The type of personality who is obsessed with the idea of self-destruction and makes several attempts to end his or her life usually belongs to one of the following categories:

1. A person with a controlling personality, and who feels out of control with his situation.

2. A person who has a very negative self-image.  She sees herself as worthless because she feels she contributes nothing to society.  She thinks that the planet would be a better place without her.

3. Those who are terminally ill and don't want to go through the pain and suffering of dying.

4. Those who are mentally ill or have a biochemical imbalance.

It is understandable that because of certain feelings, circumstances, and beliefs, one could find a perfect rationale for doing away with one's life.  However, from a spiritual point of view, it is not right.  We each have a destiny to which we are born.  Our karmic destiny may last for only one month, or thirty-five years, or eighty years.  Before we return to this earth, we fill ourselves with a strong desire for birth and physical experience, and we enter this world with a timing mechanism built into our psychic web.  When life is cut short, our physical body ceases to exist, but we must understand that the magnetic ties we have to the earth are still active.  These ties are severed only when we have completed our preordained time on the physical plane.

When a person kills himself, one of the first things he realizes is that he is not dead.  He had an overwhelming feeling of being very heavy because the earth ties are still part of his nature.  In a way, we can say the soul is not totally free.  The mortal personality dies, but not the immortal soul.  The soul remains stuck between the physical world and the spiritual world - alive but unable to communicate with loved ones or anyone else.  The soul feels guilt, pain, and anguish for a life cut short.  He learns of his destiny and how beneficial and meaningful his life would have been if he had stayed alive.  In the spiritual state, he becomes aware of why he had to go through the particular experiences that drove him to suicide.  He also senses the grief and anger of those he left behind.  The most unfortunate circumstance is that he find himself in a limbo state.  He is not able to go to the heaven worlds, nor is he able to return to the physical world.  He is stuck in "no-man's land" with the constant memory of his horrific act.  He sees his death over and over again, and it plays like a bad movie.  He is trapped, and there is no way out of the theater.

Behind any act there is a powerful force known as motive.  It is this motive that is the determining factor, not only for a suicide but for every action in our lives.  Through motive comes action, and we create actions based on motives.  As I have stated many times, there is a natural law of cause and effect.  In other words, action is a direct result of motive.

In the case of terminally ill or elderly persons, some are sick and want to save their families time, money, and heartache by committing suicide.  These persons are unaware of the spiritual side of their actions.  Perhaps before coming into the physical plane, family members set up certain conditions and situations in order to work out their group karma.  Or they needed to experience being of service to the one who is ill.  Furthermore, some argue that assisted suicide is best - it stops suffering and gives death some dignity.  But who can play God/dess?  How do we know that a soul didn't choose to go through an experience of a fatal illness in order to burn away karma?  If we cut short someone's natural time on earth, we never know whether something valuable could have been learned or whether such an experience was necessary to reach a new spiritual plateau.

In any event, when suicide occurs, a soul will have to go through and learn the experience again, having to return in another lifetime with the same or similar ailment.  The ailment may not be as extreme as it was in a previous life because part of it has already been lived out.  Usually, a soul has to exhaust a disease so it can never be affected by it again.

There are two exceptions to the wrongdoing of suicide;

1. If suicide is brought about by individuals who are mentally ill or have a biochemical imbalance.  In such situations, these persons are not completely conscious of their decisions.  When they pass over, they find themselves in sort of a hospital "ward" where they are helped to heal their mental conditions and their soul nature is restored to its proper state.

2. The second exception to suicide is a soul who comes back to the physical world before its proper time and is not mature enough to handle the lessons it thought it could.  Even though a soul thinks it has certain strength, it arrives on earth and does not feel comfortable.  Those with this sort-coming have often said prior to their death words to the effect: I don't fit in, or I don't think it's the right time for me.

CAPITAL PUNISHMENT

One of the worst things imaginable is one human being taking the life of another before his or her time.  It is a devastating and horrendous act, and one that seems totally unforgivable.  In the case of murder, there is the added gravity that justice must be served.  There is an incredible sense that by ridding society of the villain, such a brutal act will be vindicated.  But that is not really true.  Add to this the arguments that tax money can be saved by a  speedy execution, and capital punishment becomes acceptable.

Yes, it is wrong for one to take the life of another, and it is true under any circumstance, including capital punishment.  Our universe is much larger than we can conceive, and we need to start looking at this situation and every act through spiritual eyes.  The Creator, in such incredible wisdom, has created a rhythm to all life.  The sun rises and sets, the planets rotate around the sun, the tides ebb and flow, and so, too, each soul has a rhythm of dawning and ending.  Because of this rhythm, there is a natural time for a soul to leave this world and return once again to the world of the spirit.  And only the Creator knows the whole plan.

When a person is violently taken out of the physical body before the pre-ordained, natural time for the soul to leave, there are spiritual consequences.  As in suicide, the magnetic tides of the soul must stay within the earthly atmosphere until its natural time  to leave.  When a spirit of an individual is forced out of the body by capital punishment, the personality of the criminal remains exactly the same as it was prior to execution.  When it reaches the other side, it is usually scared and angry because more than likely it is not highly evolved and is ignorant of spiritual laws.  In most cases, such a soul roams endlessly throughout the lower astral world with other like-minded souls.  Because these tormented souls carry a mind-set of anger and hatred, they often seek revenge for their untimely deaths.  They search the earth for weak-minded humans who they can mentally influence to kill or hurt others.

The best thing we can do is to rehabilitate and educate those in our prison system about the sanctity of life, because if we destroy someone before his soul's time, we take away all chances for reformation and rehabilitation.  I takes an instant for someone to see the Light of Divinity and be transformed.  Such a rehabilitated individual may one day help to prevent someone else from destroying another life.  The door to growth and enlightenment must always be kept open. 

Please understand, I do not condone murder.  A person who takes the life of another does so because he has not yet fully evolved to an awareness of his own divine self.  If one is in full awaerness of his divinity, he would know that killing someone is not even an option.  Who are we to judge one another?  Do we know enough about the laws of life to play God/dess?  You probably already know the answer to this .....

LIFESAVING MACHINES

There is a time for the opening and closing of life.  When the time is right for the soul to withdraw from the body, it will.  Science cannot stop the great universal time clock, as much as it thinks it could, or no matter how hard it tries.  Remember, a soul attempts to experience every situation it possibly can.  By being attached to a life-saving machine, a soul may be in effect helping science in some way to discover yet another great invention for future generations - not only medically but perhaps in other ways as well.  Perhaps a soul made an agreement before its incarnation to go through such an experience.  It could be a situation that assists family and friends in lessons of love and compassion.  Let's not forget that a soul has certain lessons to learn about receiving love or appreciating the sanctity of life.

Like any moral judgment, each soul has to make this type of decision on its own.  For each soul is unique, and has different spiritual needs and must experience what is best for its soul's growth.  There are no right or wrong answers.  It is not our job to judge the decisions of others in these matters but to consider the experience and lesson from a spiritual point of view.

PETS

Animals also survive death.  When an animal passes into the world of spirit, they accept their transition very much as a natural occurrence.  We could certainly learn from them.  They share the same after-life as ourselves - with us.  When an animal passes, it is met by the human being(s) with whom it had a rapport while on earth.  If no one is available, or if an animal didn't share its earth experience with a human, it is often met by animal caretakers.  These keepers are generous, loving souls who watch over our pets until a family member with strong love ties to the pet joins it in the spirit world.  More than likely, animal caretakers are people who adored animals on earth.

It is fairly common for your newly departed animal to come back to its earthly place of residence.  More than likely it will sit on the same chair, sleep in the same spot, and watch you very closely.  it remembers the kindness and love it received from you. So please, don't ever take an animal, or any other form of life, for granted. 

ENTERING THE NEXT WORLD

It is the most natural thing to physically die and the one certainty in this earthly life.  I write not of accidental death or violent death (dealt with earlier) but of the predetermined physical death of our coporeal bodies.  Death is but a sleep and an awakening.  We close our eyes and wake up to another dawn in the world beyond the confines of this heavy land.  Imagine a world without pain and suffering where we are that which we are!  The next world is such a place and we prepare our future homes with every deed and thought of our daily life.

There will be those who have built themselves a paradise in the world beyond.  Yet there are others who must face the foulness of their wasted lives.  But as there is no death, only eternal life, for those whose recent incarnation was a negative journey, there is always tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow.  However, that tomorrow must and will contain karmic reparation; the scales have to balance.  So the next incarnation of a soul in serious karmic deficit could prove to be difficult indeed.

Passing from this material world to the next is, in the usual way, without trauma.  The soul recognises that it has left the body and is still alive.  Sometimes the soul or spirit refuses to leave the earthly realms where it lived while incarnated in the physical body. When this occurs, the spirit can become trapped between this world and the next.  In such cases we have a ghost, in the truest sense of the term.  This ghost will be similar in both looks and attitude to the person that it once physically was.  So if this was a big, angry, ignorant man, then you have a troublesome phantom that may refuse to accept that it is without form.

For most of us the transition between physical life and life in the spirit world will be rather like a short journey.  We may be met by those we loved who have passed to spirit before us.  When this occurs, we come to realise that we are beyond our bodies.  This will be a joyous experience and one that should be full of love.  Others may find themselves at a railway station or an airport waiting to catch a train or a plane to an uncertain destination.  This is a cultural matter, and someone whose earthly life has been spent somewhere like Lapland will probably experience transition by sledge.  The whole process of journeying between the material and the spirit world is created to enable the departing soul to feel at ease.  There is no fear between this world and the next.  Everything is calm and the timetables are always correct, even the trains run on time!

For everyone there is then a kind of spiritual reckoning in which we are invited to look at the meaning of our lives.  This cannot be avoided, though it can be delayed - but only if you like sitting in huge empty corridors for days on end.  Just accept that you are loved by those who meet and greet you; there is no need to be afraid.  Imagine you are being interviewed for a responsible position and the interviewing panel has your CV before them.  They know the absolute truth of your life and, though you may try, you cannot deny one iota of it.  The spirits you now face are evolved souls whose duty it is to guide you into the next phase of your eternal life.  Anger, remorse, sadness, self-pity or even joy, for that matter, carry no weight here.  Before these spirits only your truth my be spoken.  Yet they are in no way a threat to you, they are there purely to explain your position to you.  As you hear the serenity of their benevolent voices, you will instantly know that you have reached the antechamber of eternity.  Your soul will recognise te experience, for you have travelled this way many times before.

Your destiny in the world of spirit has been decided before you entered it.  You yourself created it by the way you conducted your life on earth.  As a general rule, the average individual has nothing to be concerned about.  If you loved your family and were decent, though no better than the rest, then look forward to more of the same.  From your brief interview with the higher spirits you will most likely proceed by some form of transport to your destination.  What you find there will be your own creation. It may be a beautiful villa overlooking a shimmering silver sea and inhabited by friends and family that you thought were dead.  But here is no death.

For those whose lives have been wasted, or worse, there will now be an opportunity to reconsider.  There are spiritual leaders in the next world who offer those souls who seek to repent and progress all the help they need to do so.  No one is excluded.  No-one is a lost cause. But no one can expect to be transformed by magick; spiritual progression is enarned by individual effort.  All that a spirit is required to do to atone for a wasted life is seek guidance and act upon it.  Mere words are useless.  Expressing sorrow is pointless.  There is but one way towards the light and that is through personal effort.  There is an alternative offered to those who decline the selfless help of the enlightened spirits.  There is the dark side, the kingdom of perpetual night.  There you will find the angry and disaffected souls who, in their mistaken pride, refuse to accept the truth.  Within these dark regions live the boastful who scorn the idea that the Creator loves them.  But she/he does.  And one day even the worst of these lost souls will look up from their self-perpetuating dungeon and reach for the light.  Only when they do this can they be helped.  Sound uncomfortably like the Christian Hell?  Not quite - no one is forced to go here - it is your own choice and you can leave at anytime, all you do is reach up and the help is given.

For the vast majority there will be a period of due and just reward following transition.  You have earned this respite from the struggle of human life by your actions on earth.  However, you are building your home in the next world with every deed and thought you create while living this physical life.  So the home you are heading for is yours in every sense of the word.  It is, in effect, you.   Imagine that you are now creating and building yourself a house that you are going to live in.  You actions on earth form the material of this, your future home.  If you use shoddy and inferior bricks and throw your house up in a slip-shod, thoughtless way, it will not be a place of comfort, but an insecure ruin.  You owe it to yourself to try to build the best house you can.  During this period of just reward, the spirit may rest and recuperate from a long and perhaps difficult life.  Time in this world does not exist.  A thousand years may pass and you remain untouched.

Should your destined home not be with your former loved ones, you will be told why by the higher spirits.  Each soul is made fully aware of the reasoning behind their spiritual location.  It may be that your friends or former family members are too highly evolved to join you, or vice versa.  For in the material world there are a number of extremely highly evolved spirits who have chosen to incarnate to lead humankind or otherwise influence events on earth.  In their corporeal bodies these high entities are unaware of their spirituality.  They are, however, fulfilling their earthly destiny and their presence on earth changes many things.

It is worth mentioning a little of the 'hierarchy' of the next world at this stage.  Obviously, the whole point of learning these life lessons is to rise up the 'promotion' ladder and eventually join the Creator at the pinnacle.  When I refer to you making your home, I am of course referring to how far up the scale you will be rising (if at all) as a result of this incarnation.  Although you cannot 'visit' realms higher than your own (think of them as rooms marked "Classified: Authorised Personnel Only"), any friends or family who reside on these higher levels can visit you on your lower level at any time they wish.  Conversely, should you wish to visit a lower realm, you are free to do so.  Just because you may not be permanently re-united with a family member who is more highly-evolved, it does not mean you will not see or receive visits from them.

Generally those you loved on earth WILL be joining you, or you will be joining them.  Like attracts like on earth and so it is in the world beyond.  In time you will be invited to welcome an incoming son or daughter who is ready to join you in the glorious spiritual home that you and they have created.  Your former pets will be there waiting, as they once did, for the loving touch of your hand.  Our lives are enriched both on earth and in the world beyond by the love of our friends and family.

There are many accounts of those who've talked through mediums of carrying on with their school studies, finishing their education, taking up a new hobby or starting to date whilst in the other world.  As Star Trek's Dr Spock would say; It's life, Jim, but not as we know it.

In due course you will be given the opportunity to consider your personal spiritual progression.  This may be through work in the next world.  If you are so inclined, this could be with the lost souls who are seeking guidance.  You may become a guide yourself, leading others, less evolved, towards the light.  Eventually you may decide that to progress yourself you need to reincarnate.  There are higher spirits in the next world whose duty it is to help you plan your next life in a physical body.  The lessons you need to learn will be discussed and you will undertake to learn them.  At this point you will agree to address the karmic responsibilities you have accumulated.  You may opt for a very difficult incarnation to counterbalance your negative karma - and, conversely, you may not need to balance karma but opt for a difficult life because this is the best way to learn the lesson you require.  This will be your decision.  You choose to progress at your own pace.  Before you can reincarnate, your life is planned, but it is planned BY YOU.  You have free will thoughout your life, be it on earth, or in the spirit world.

COPING WITH THE DEATH OF A LOVED ONE