The Shared Death Experience - A Glimpse into the Spirit Realm

The Shared Death Experience (SDE) is an interesting phenomenon similar to the near death experience. The SDE occurs at end of life, usually when a hospice nurse or family member is sitting at the death bed or nearby when the dying person transitions. The hospice nurse or relative will experience a glimpse of the afterlife as if they are being taken as a passenger to the edge of the spirit realm and then they are quickly returned to their body. It seems that the nurse or relative can only go so far with the dying person before they are returned. They may see angels, other dead relatives, the light of the spirit realm and may even start to go toward the light but they never continue on into the light, it's as if they are stopped at a boundary. Below are people that have talked about their experiences in books and on podcasts:

William Peters wrote a book called At Heaven’s Door about his research of 700 shared death experiences. He had his own shared death experience when he was sitting with a hospice patient reading aloud to the patient. William suddenly found himself floating above his body, he turns and sees the patient outside of his body smile at him. William then returns to his body. The patient never regained consciousness and died shortly after. His book contains story after story of people that have had shared death experiences. Below are a few examples from his book:

Gail was with her dad having sandwiches in the hospital when her dad began to have a seizure. As the medical team descended on her dad, Gail was escorted to a small room down the hallway. Gail sat down and was suddenly in two places at once. She was sitting in the hospital waiting room but also outside on a beautiful day. She says that she had a feeling that she was on a journey escorting someone somewhere. She came to a huge gate with a gigantic mansion and heard voices, "Hurry! Hurry! Walter's coming!" She says that it felt like a big party where the guest of honor was on the way. She then feels a presence go through the gate and it's her father. She says she wanted to go with him but she knew that she wasn't allowed. Then she was back in the room of the hospital. The very next minute a doctor came in to tell her that her father had passed. She told the doctor, "It's ok. He went to the party!"

In some of the SDEs, the dying were greeted by loved ones. In one example, Sarah is with her dad in hospice care as he is close to his transition. She says that all of a sudden birds start chirping outside abnormally loud. She looks toward the window and she sees an image of golden light and her dad with his two brothers and mom with their arms around each other walking away. They were all young and in the prime of their youth. She said that he looked back over his shoulder to tell her it's okay, I'm good.

An SDE can also be a remote experience where the SDE experiencer feels what the dying person is feeling as they cross the veil. Elizabeth was living in France in 1991 when her son, Morgan went on a school trip to Tibet and then to Mount Everest base camp. Her son became very sick from the altitude and died on the trip. At the moment when he died, Elizabeth says that she felt him hugging her and she felt joy. She explains in the book that she's in contact with Morgan all the time. Elizabeth is a co-founder of the group, Helping Parents Heal. This organization provides support for parents with children across the veil. I'll quote what Elizabeth says in the book, "One of the main things that we talk about in our group is that our children are home, and we're still in school. We've still got something to learn here. We're still here for a reason, but they want us to be happy, and they want us to experience joy, because they're happy, they're joyful. That's a very important thing for people to understand. The children accomplished what they needed to do while they were here. In many cases, I believe that a lot of these kids are very, very old souls."

There are a multitude of experiences like the above in William's book and there are quite a few similarities in the SDEs. People that experience the SDE find that they still grieve the person but that they are more at peace with the death because they know that the person is in the place they need to be. The SDE also provides comfort and a confirmation that an afterlife exists. In the book there were some instances where the room became warped and the SDE experiencer could see another dimension opening up for the dying person to move toward. People also often mention that there is an energy and presence in the room. The energy is filled with peace, love, and joy. The presence was described as an angel or being of light that escorts the dying person to the next stop in their journey.

William also brings up an interesting topic in his book about beings of light orchestrating the death and transition. He says that he has heard enough about these beings of light that he gave it a name. He called the being, "the conductor". He provides examples in the book where people see a white being of light come in totally focused on guiding the dying person into the afterlife. He said that he felt and saw this coordination when his father died. William said that as his father was dying, his father's deceased relatives came to retrieve him. He also saw his father's relatives looking at the being of light for direction as if there was a plan to follow. This doesn't surprise me because the spirit realm is highly organized and souls have jobs like this across the veil.

William explains that SDEs tend to occur to people who are in some way open to them and available. The people are not distracted and are available in a literal sense. There were stories where people were sitting in an airplane, a passenger in a car, laying in bed with the person, and sitting bedside. Some of the stories were people who were spiritually open but there were also people that described themselves as science based and nonbelievers before the experience. In all the stories, the person explains that they are clearly changed after having this experience.

William ends the book explaining that we need humanity to be more aware of these end-of-life experiences. This especially includes the medical community. He says that oftentimes the medical community will discredit these shared death experiences as well as near death experiences and that needs to stop. Medical professionals need to come at it with more curiosity. I would definitely agree with William that the medical community needs to be better trained about consciousness.

William also explains that most grief therapy and bereavement counselors have focused on the concepts of "letting go" and "moving on" from the deceased loved one. However, there is a new approach to grief called Continuing Bonds, that sets aside these artificial timelines. Continuing Bonds recognizes that while the death of a loved one ends a human life, it does not irrevocably sever the relationship. It opens the possibility for the surviving loved one to craft a new relationship with the departed. Essentially the bond will continue but with different form. The relationship is not severed but evolves.

I would definitely recommend William Peter's book. It was interesting, organized, and truly inspirational.

Here is the Helping Parents Heal website: https://www.helpingparentsheal.org/

Here is William Peter's website: https://www.sharedcrossing.com/

Julie Mcfadden is a well known hospice nurse because of her popular YouTube channel where she shares her experiences. She has a great personality and is really quite funny so I can see why her YouTube channel is popular. She also explains on podcasts that she had a shared death experience. She shares the story where she was a hospice nurse for a 40 year old man that was dealing with terminal cancer. He didn't have family or friends and had anxiety issues when the hospice team arrived but he allowed her and the hospice team to help him. He turned a new leaf and allowed her to invite family and friends over to support him through his cancer. She says that hospice services supported him for 9 months and during that time she got to know him well since they would talk during her visits. She says the last day she visited, she could tell he would die that day due to her experience as a hospice nurse. She said her good-byes and had to leave to go to her next patient. When she gets in her car she thanks him for his friendship and then she hears his voice in her head and could feel his excitement. He says, "oh my gosh Julie, if I only would have known" which she understood him saying, if I only knew, I wouldn't have been so afraid. She says that she felt how he felt... exuberance, excitement, freedom, soaring, and how amazing he felt. She says that he was fearful to die but now she could feel how free he was. When the experience is over she gets a text from the other nurse on site that he passed. Julie posts YouTube videos to help educate the public on the process of dying, that the body knows how to die, and that people have nothing to fear. Here is her YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@hospicenursejulie 

Dr. Scott Taylor is another person that had a shared death experience. He explains that in 1981 he was in love with a woman named Mary Fran and she had a 7 year old son named Nolan. They had just been out sailing and on the way home she didn't see an oncoming car when she was changing lanes. The car hit her on the driver's side and she was killed instantly and Nolan had a serious head wound. Nolan was taken to the hospital and was in a coma for 6 days. Mary Fran was one of 9 children so Nolan was surrounded by loved ones in the hospital room. On the last day, Nolan's nurse noticed that it was time. Everyone said their good-byes and surrounded him. When Nolan flatlines, Dr. Taylor is in the hospital room and witnesses Mary Fran coming across the veil and scooping up Nolan out of his body. They have a reunion and somehow Dr. Taylor participates and feels the exchange between them. The two of them turn to Dr. Taylor, embrace him and then the three of them together go into the light. He says the following, "The light is extraordinary. It was this exquisite place where you realize instantly that the universe is love and you are entering this place of profound love and acceptance. There's no judgement but you begin to realize that you are an intricate part of the love of the universe." Dr. Taylor, Mary Fran, and Nolan say their good-byes and how much they love each other. Then at some point, he says it felt like it was finished. Mary Fran and Nolan continue to go into the light and Dr. Taylor goes back into his body.

Dr. Taylor explains that during this time he had split consciousness so he was in his body but also having the experience with Mary Fran and Nolan. He calls it bilocation. Dr. Taylor also explains that he thinks Nolan sent out this invitation to him. He believes that the person transitioning is inviting the loved one to come into the light with them to get a quick glimpse. Dr. Taylor then goes on an exploration to figure out how to go back to that realm and to create a relationship with Mary Fran and Nolan. He travels the world to spiritual sites looking for the energy that can propel him back into that space. He realizes that the answer is not outside of himself but inside. He starts meditating and eventually goes to the Monroe Institute where he starts using binaural beats which open all the doors to reconnect with the spirit realm. Dr. Taylor became a trainer at the Monroe Institute, he also teaches a class on the Shift Network, and created his own hemi-sync collection to experience bilocation meditation and the spirit realm. I personally use his hemi-sync meditations and I like them a lot. I use the meeting guides, into the light, and embracing source meditations. You can find the links here on his webpage: https://neardeathmeditations.com/pagecd 

My thought is that this shared death experience is part of a person's soul plan. It totally changes the trajectory of a person's life because they experience first-hand that there is more than the physical. Once you experience this, there is no turning back. Also, the people mentioned above are all knowledge sharing and spreading truth and light about the transition from the physical back to energy. William Peters is a spiritual teacher and wrote his book, Nurse Mcfadden has a popular YouTube channel sharing her knowledge, Elizabeth became a co-founder of the Helping Parents Heal organization, and Dr. Taylor became a teacher on meditation and consciousness. This is no coincidence that they are all helping others. This was their soul's plan and these experiences in consciousness were integral to their path.

As these experiences are shared and become more common knowledge, I hope that someday people are less afraid of death and become more educated about the process of dying and the beautiful transition from the physical to the natural energetic state.