Experience Description

It was just a week after a cesarean at age 23. I was diagnosed with a blood clot in my leg and was sent to bed for a month. Time is fuzzy but I think it was about 10 days into that bed rest that I floated out of my body to the space above. Looking down I could see me in the bed. I remember feeling completely emotionally detached from the situation; even calling myself 'her.' I remember saying, 'look, there 'she' is in the bed. I flew up, out of that room, to find the most unearthly magnificent light. I remember stopping movement to look carefully at the blades of grass. It was down and to my left. They seemed to be lit from the inside. I was in a giant open space like a field. No pain. No worries. I did see a tunnel but I decided not to take it. I don't know why. It was around that time that I was absolutely threaded through with love; it felt like big cables going through me. This love that was nothing like earthly love. It was a feeling I will never forget.

Where love is so hard to find and eke out on this planet, it was so abundant and fulsome there. I started to hear some glorious tinkling music. Sounded like the sound that colliding icicles would make. Then I heard the words, 'It's not your time.' No time to negotiate, as I understand some people get. I was shot back into my body, which felt very small and very confining.

I remember crying when I got back. I didn't know what happened to me but knew that something had changed. I remember hearing the big bees buzzing in the lilac bush outside the window. It sounded so much louder and more intense than anything I had heard before. It was so mystical. I don't even think I told my husband, who was in Medical School, what had happened to me. I just didn't have the energy or the words.

Background Information:

Gender: Female

Date NDE Occurred: July 1965

NDE Elements:


At the time of your experience, was there an associated life-threatening event? Childbirth 'Illness, trauma or other condition not considered life threatening' Phlebitis (blood clot)

How do you consider the content of your experience? Entirely pleasant

The experience included: Out of body experience

Did you feel separated from your body? No I lost awareness of my body

How did your highest level of consciousness and alertness during the experience compare to your normal everyday consciousness and alertness? More consciousness and alertness than normal As I said the grass, each blade, seemed lit from the inside! I could have looked at that forever.

At what time during the experience were you at your highest level of consciousness and alertness? I was at my highest level of consciousness and alertness when I was looking at the blades of grass. (I am an artist and a painter and was a professional photographer. I studied Braille when I was 13 and sighted (as I still am). I married an ophthalmologist. My second marriage was to an Ex-National Geographic photographer. Along the way, I tried to bring paintings to the blind using computers and interfaces and using sound to correspond in the brain to certain colors. I am now designing eyeglasses. You can see I am totally hooked into vision. No wonder the blades of grass were my moment.

Were your thoughts speeded up? Faster than usual

Did time seem to speed up or slow down? Time seemed to go faster or slower than usual I don't know anything about speeding up or slowing down. I was alone. Alone in the room on the physical plane so no one said to me, 'where were you' or 'you've been out for hours.' So I really don't have a speeding up or slowing down answer for this.

Were your senses more vivid than usual? Incredibly more vivid

Please compare your vision during the experience to your everyday vision that you had immediately prior to the time of the experience. Everyday vision seems dull, languid, methodical, something you just do. But that was a Treat!

Please compare your hearing during the experience to your everyday hearing that you had immediately prior to the time of the experience. I could hear huge sounds like the voice that said, 'it's not your time.' It was huge but not loud. A deep voice, but I could also hear and love the delicate tinkling of what sounded like icicles.

Did you seem to be aware of things going on elsewhere? No

Did you pass into or through a tunnel? No I saw it but didn't take it. I don't know why.

Did you see any beings in your experience? No

Did you encounter or become aware of any deceased (or alive) beings? No

The experience included: Unearthly light

Did you see, or feel surrounded by, a brilliant light? A light clearly of mystical or other-worldly origin

Did you see an unearthly light? Yes

The experience included: A landscape or city

Did you seem to enter some other, unearthly world? A clearly mystical or unearthly realm

What emotions did you feel during the experience? I felt joy, love, lightness.

Did you have a feeling of peace or pleasantness? Incredible peace or pleasantness

Did you have a feeling of joy? incredible joy

Did you feel a sense of harmony or unity with the universe? I felt united or one with the world

Did you suddenly seem to understand everything? No

Did scenes from your past come back to you? No

Did scenes from the future come to you? No

Did you come to a border or point of no return? No

God, Spiritual and Religion:


What importance did you place on your religious/spiritual life prior to your experience? Slightly important to me

What was your religion prior to your experience? Jewish Born Jewish but had no emotional affiliation with it. And certainly didn't practice it.

Have your religious practices changed since your experience? No I see everything now in spiritual terms, nothing escapes; bad times, sicknesses, money issues, bad relationships with a sister, everything. It's at once harder and easier to run your life on that basis.

What importance do you place on your religious/spiritual life after your experience? Greatly important to me

What is your religion now? Other or several faiths spiritual . NOT religious.

Did your experience include features consistent with your earthly beliefs? Content that was entirely consistent with the beliefs you had at the time of your experience don't know how to answer this

Did you have a change in your values and beliefs because of your experience? Yes Everything changed. I am totally different. I see life spiritually. I am trying to get off this planet not hurting anyone, not taking anything from anyone, not diminishing anyone. I have invented my own personal religion, which I stick to: 'to do a kind thing for another person every day; one thing.' I notice it and think about it and when that's accomplished, I think to myself, 'Phew. Glad to have the chance to do that.' Sometimes I thank people for allowing me to do that for them. It is an effort to spread the 'religion.'

Did you seem to encounter a mystical being or presence, or hear an unidentifiable voice? I encountered a definite being, or a voice clearly of mystical or unearthly origin

Did you see deceased or religious spirits? No

Did you encounter or become aware of any beings who previously lived on earth who are described by name in religions (for example: Jesus, Muhammad, Buddha, etc.)? No

During your experience, did you gain information about premortal existence? No

During your experience, did you gain information about universal connection or oneness? No

Did you believe in the existence of God prior to your experience? Unknown

During your experience, did you gain information about the existence of God? No

Do you believe in the existence of God after your experience? God definitely exists

Concerning our Earthly lives other than Religion:


During your experience, did you gain special knowledge or information about your purpose? No

Did you believe that our earthly lives are meaningful and significant prior to your experience? Are not meaningful and significant

During your experience, did you gain information about the meaning of life? No

Did you believe in an afterlife prior to your experience? An afterlife probably exists

Do you believe in an afterlife after your experience? An afterlife definitely exists No

Did you fear death prior to your experience? Unknown

Do you fear death after your experience? I do not fear death

Were you fearful living your life prior to your experience? Slightly fearful in living my earthly life

Were you fearful living your life after your experience? Not fearful in living my earthly life

Did you believe that our earthly lives are meaningful and significant prior to your experience? Are not meaningful and significant

Did you believe that our earthly lives are meaningful and significant after your experience? Are meaningful and significant

Did you gain information about how to live our lives? No

During your experience, did you gain information about life's difficulties, challenges and hardships? No

Were you compassionate prior to your experience? Moderately compassionate toward others

During your experience, did you gain information about love? Yes big and huge and unearthly love. nothing like it down here. better stop looking

Were you compassionate after your experience? Greatly compassionate toward others

What life changes occurred in your life after your experience? Large changes in my life Huge! I became psychic in degrees and over time. It first started with seeing car accidents before they happened, then seeing physical bodies at a distance, then seeing dis-eases, then hearing from identifiable spirit guides in physical distance healing, then hearing from animals (an animal communicator) then a medium. These things were all unbidden. It's like opening the front door in the morning and there's a gift for you on the doorstep. And you can open it, you can play with it. But your real job is to find out who to deliver it to. Who needs it and how to get it to them. That's been the hard part for me. I know not all these gifts are for me but how to get them out into the universe has been hard. I just did a 'workshop' called 'The Joy of Death' in our small town and it was heavily attended. They are trying to get the word out that death has a bad name in this society. We should call it crossing over (which some of us do) and that it is a joyous part of the circle of life.

Have your relationships changed specifically because of your experience? Yes Yes I got divorced a few years later. My x-husband found I was not the same person he married. He preferred the other one.

After the NDE:


Was the experience difficult to express in words? Yes I am checking yes not because it is difficult to explain in words but it is difficult for people to really imagine what I'm saying. I wish I could have photographed it.

How accurately do you remember the experience in comparison to other life events that occurred around the time of the experience? I remember the experience more accurately than other life events that occurred around the time of the experience These are/were life changing events. They are seared into me. I barely remember my marriage and my kids when they were young but i remember EVERY blade of grass I saw at my feet.

Do you have any psychic, non-ordinary or other special gifts after your experience that you did not have before the experience? Yes I became psychic in degrees and over time. It first started with seeing car accidents before they happened, then seeing physical bodies at a distance, then seeing dis-eases, then hearing from identifiable spirit guides in physical distance healing, then hearing from animals (an animal communicator) then a medium.

Are there one or several parts of your experience that are especially meaningful or significant to you? All of it. Actually, I'm anxious to cross again.

Have you ever shared this experience with others? Yes I shared after about 10 years. Their reactions were nothing thrilling. I don't think they were influenced by my experience, but then you never know.

Did you have any knowledge of near death experience (NDE) prior to your experience? No

What did you believe about the reality of your experience shortly (days to weeks) after it happened? Experience was definitely real

What do you believe about the reality of your experience now? Experience was definitely real

At any time in your life, has anything ever reproduced any part of the experience? No

Is there anything else that you would like to add about your experience? I wouldn't trade it for a sack of M&M's. It was fantastic. I'm the luckiest person in the world that I was somehow selected and singled out to take this mystical journey. It has made me fearless and I thank the universe every day for this gift.

Are there any other questions that we could ask to help you communicate your experience? I wish we could draw it, not that I would know how.