Research on My After Death Communications
Excerpt of my interview with Gillian Holloway, Ph.D. of Lifetreks Center for the Study of Dreams.
Gillian Holloway, Ph.D.: Have you had a dream in which the dead seemed to communicate with you?
Alexandra Chauran: My favourite experience was, at the moment my dad died, I was having a
dream that he was at a small airstrip climbing into an airplane. All his
friends and relatives were with me cheering him on. He waved happily
and then took off. The Goddess Hecate was waving lights
to
direct his path on the runway.
Gillian Holloway, Ph.D.: Were you aware in the dream, of it's possible
significance?
Alexandra Chauran: In
dreams I am very
immersed, so I was experiencing the significance as emotions of both joy
and pain. I was awoken from my dream by my mother's phone call telling
me the news, and I immediately told her of the dream since I knew its
significance at that point.
Gillian Holloway, Ph.D.: Did you anticipate your father's passing? Was he ill or expected
to pass?
Alexandra Chauran: Yes, he had terminal prostate cancer and was in a
coma prior to his passing.
Gillian Holloway, Ph.D.: What age were you, roughly, when you had this experience?
Alexandra Chauran: 25. My earliest distinct memory of communicating with the dead in dreams is at age 9. I've had them fairly frequently since that time. [They often happen] around the time of death and continuing afterward. It fits in with my general belief schema of life after death.
Gillian Holloway, Ph.D.: Do you believe it came about because of closeness of relationship?
Alexandra Chauran: [In the example,] Yes.
Gillian Holloway, Ph.D.: Have other members of your family reported incidents such as this? Do you believe that this tendency runs in your family, or that discussion of such incidents might make them easier to remember or relate to?
Alexandra Chauran: Yes, though I haven't had occasion to discuss it much with extended family, my mother and I are close, and she has many dreams of those who have died.
Gillian Holloway, Ph.D.: Do you keep this type of experience largely a secret from people in your circle?
Alexandra Chauran: No.
Gillian Holloway, Ph.D.: In addition to experiences pertaining to a loved one, have you also had experiences of apparent communication from people you barely knew, or did not know at all?
Alexandra Chauran: Yes, in my volunteer work as a chaplain, I have had the opportunity to connect with dying strangers in a unique context. Also, in my work as a fortune teller, I often connect with the deceased friends and relatives of clients during the session, and sometimes this carries on in my dreams.
Gillian Holloway, Ph.D.: Are there any qualities you associate with these experiences that lead you to recognize them more easily? How you feel, how they look, etcetera?
Alexandra Chauran: They are certainly high-emotion when they involve loved ones of mine. Even if I am not aware in my sleep that the person has died, I usually have an emotional reaction to having missed them in my waking life.
Gillian Holloway, Ph.D.: Where do you put these experiences, how do you categorize them, or have you come to accept them as normal for you?
Alexandra Chauran: They are normal for me, and I suspect many other people if not most.
Gillian Holloway, Ph.D.: Have you ever had a friend or relative tell you of a similar type of experience, and if so, what did you tell them or advise them?
Alexandra Chauran: Clients talk with me about it all the time. I advise them to speak aloud to the dead relative and give them permission to talk with them in their dreams and verbally express that it won't cause a freak-out and that they are open to that kind of thing!
Gillian Holloway, Ph.D.: Have your experiences altered the way you think of death, or the things that run through your mind when you hear that someone has passed?
Alexandra Chauran: I think I was surprised at how quickly it happened after the death of my father, but other than that, these experiences have been pretty normal parts of life and my understanding of life and death growing up.
Gillian Holloway, Ph.D.: What, if anything, has been most meaningful or beneficial to you about these experiences?
Alexandra Chauran: In dreams I am able to experience a hug from a loved one that has passed, which is very valuable to me.
Gillian Holloway, Ph.D.: What if anything, has been challenging or difficult for you about these experiences?
Alexandra Chauran: I think coming to terms with my own mortality, and sometimes having disturbing dreams about those who have died in tragic ways or who appear to me in skeletal, decomposed or injured forms.