The Silver Cord and the
Near-Death Experience
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Babies
are born into this world with an umbilical cord connecting
them to the life-giving source of the mother which is
disconnected after birth. People die and enter the spirit
world with an "umbilical-like cord" connecting
their spirit body to the life-giving source of the physical
body which is disconnected after death. Many near-death
and out-of-body experiencers have described seeing this "umbilical-like
cord" connecting their spirit body to their physical
body. Many religious traditions describe this spirit-body
connecting cord which is commonly known as the "silver
cord." Just as the baby's umbilical cord must
be severed for the baby to experience life, the silver
cord must be severed for the spirit body to experience
spiritual life. It is believed that the near-death experience
does not involve the silver cord becoming severed; otherwise,
the near-death experience would then become irreversible
bodily death.
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Table of Contents |
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Return to
Top
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1. Introduction to
the Silver Cord |

The
silver cord has been described as being smooth, very
long, very bright, like an elastic cable made of light,
about an inch wide, sparkling like a tinsel on a Christmas
tree, and attached to one of several possible locations
on the physical body. During the dying process, as the
spirit body leaves the physical body and moves farther
away it, the silver cord becomes thinner as it is stretched
to its limit and becomes severed. When this occurs,
the spirit body is released from being attached to the
physical body. At this point, it becomes impossible
for the spirit body to ever return to the physical body.
For this reason, we can define "irreversible death"
as that point when the silver cord becomes stretched
to its limit and severed. This is the so-called "point
of no return." This boundary point may also be
accompanied by the appearance of a particular landmark
representing a boundary such as a river, a wall, a fence,
or a canyon. Once this barrier is crossed, the near-death
experience becomes an irreversible death experience.
Many experiencers have felt the
pull of the silver cord when it is stretched near its
limit. They often describe the experience as being instantly
retracted to their physical body - like stretching a
rubber band to near its limit and then releasing one
end of it.
This silver cord
is our spirit body's "lifeline" to our physical
body in the same way that our umbilical cord is our "lifeline"
to our mother's body during the birth process.
During the death
process, should the physical body be subjected to a
violent death, such as in a severe car accident, the
silver cord is severed before the impact preventing
the pain that is experienced by the physical body from
being felt by the spirit body.
The existence
of the silver cord is even mentioned in the Bible:
"Remember him
- before the silver cord
is severed, or the golden
bowl is broken; before the pitcher is
shattered at the spring, or the wheel broken
at the well, and the dust returns to the ground
it came from, and the spirit returns to God
who gave it."
(Ecclesiastes
12:6-7)
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2. The Religious Significance
of the Silver Cord |
From the notes of the
Episcopal Daily Lectionaries
Online website,
comes this translation:
"The golden
bowl suspended by the silver cord was
a symbol of life; the snapping of the
cord and the breaking of the bowl, a
symbol of death. The pitcher ... the
broken pulley: another pair of metaphors
for life and its ending."
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From the editorial
pages of the
Christadelphian Tidings
website,
comes this translation of the silver cord and
golden bowl:
"Verse
6 appears to use two metaphors to
speak of death. The first is of
a silver chord and a golden bowl
most likely the bowl was used as
an oil light, suspended by a chord.
Dying is compared to the breaking
of this chord and the crashing of
the bowl down to the ground, whereupon
it shatters and its light is extinguished.
Second, death is compared to a pitcher
used to draw water at a well. Death
is like the breaking of this pitcher
and the pulley which was used to
let it down. No more water can be
drawn; death has conquered.
"It
is interesting that both of these
images, the symbols of water and
light, are used elsewhere in the
scriptures as metaphors for life.
The consequence of this termination
of life is the decaying process
by which the dust returns to the
Earth. The spirit, in a reversal
of Genesis 2, "returns unto
God who gave it." This is what
death is all about: the shattering
of all man's hope, and the cessation
of everything that he was and stood
for."
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3. Near-Death Experiences
and the Silver Cord |

The following are insights concerning
the silver cord from NDErs profiled on this website.
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Edgar Cayce's encounter
with the Angel of Death:
While preparing to undergo one of his otherworldly
journeys,
Edgar
Cayce had lost consciousness and had a dream.
Usually, he would travel through a tunnel toward
the light. But in this instance, he met the
Angel of Death and learned about the silver
cord. The following is his experience described
in his own words:
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"As I went out,
I realized that I had contacted Death, as a
personality, as an individual or as a being.
Realizing this, I remarked to Death:
"You are not as ordinarily
pictured - with a black mask or hood, or as
a skeleton, or like Father Time with the sickle.
Instead, you are fair, rose-cheeked, robust
- and you have a pair of shears or scissors."
In fact, I had to look twice
at the feet or limbs, or even at the body to
see it take shape.
The Angel of Death replied:
"Yes,
Death is not what many seem to think. It's not
the horrible thing which is often pictured.
Just a change - just a visit. The shears or
scissors are indeed the implements most representative
of life and death to man. These indeed unite
by dividing - and divide by uniting. The cord
does not, as usually thought, extend from the
center - but is broken from the head, the forehead
- that soft portion we see pulsate in the infant.
"Hence we see old people,
unbeknown to themselves, gain strength from
youth by kissing there; and youth gains wisdom
by such kisses.
"Indeed
the vibrations may be raised to such an extent
as to rekindle or reconnect the cord, even as
the Master did with the son of the widow of
Nain. For he did not take him by the hand (which
was bound to the body as was the custom of the
day), but rather stroked him on the head - and
the body took life of Life itself! So, you see,
the silver cord may be broken - but the vibration
...'" (Edgar
Cayce)
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Dr. Dianne
Morrissey's NDE:
"I saw
a long silver cord coming out of my spirit body,
right through the cheese cloth-like fabric I
was wearing. The cord extended down and out
in front of me, and as I turned around, I saw
that the silver cord draped around and behind
me, like an umbilical cord. I followed it through
the two hallway walls and into my den, where
I saw it attached to the back of the head of
my physical body. The cord was about an inch
wide and sparkled like Christmas tree tinsel!
... As soon as I saw that silver cord was attached
to my physical body, my spirit was thrust into
a dark tunnel." (Dr.
Dianne Morrissey)
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Dr. PMH Atwater's
NDE research:
In
Dr. PMH Atwater's book,
Beyond the Light,
the near-death account of Alice Morrison-Mays
is given. Alice described her return to her
physical body from a near-death experience.
She remembers entering her physical body through
the silver cord:
"Almost instantly
I felt reentry into my body through the silver
cord at the top of my head. There was something
akin to a physical bump. As soon as I entered,
I heard someone near me say, 'Oh, we've got
her back.' I was told I had two pieces of placenta
as large as grapefruits removed." (Alice
Morrison-Mays)
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Susan Blackmore's
OBE:
Susan Blackmore, a former parapsychologist with
heavy skeptical leanings, is considered one
of the world's leading authorities on OBEs and
NDEs. She herself had an OBE while attending
Oxford University during the early 1970s. By
her own admission she "spent much of the time
stoned, experimenting with different drugs."
During her first year at
Oxford she had a OBE after several hours on
the Ouija board while stoned on marijuana. The
experience also occurred during a period of
her life when sleep deprivation was common for
her. She describes herself as having been in "a
fairly peculiar state of mind" when she
had the OBE.
During her OBE, Blackmore
went down a tunnel of trees toward a light,
floated on the ceiling and observed her body
below, saw a silver cord connecting her floating
astral body, floated out of the building around
Oxford and then over England, and finally across
the Atlantic to New York.
After hovering around New
York, Blackmore floated back to her room in
Oxford where she became very small and entered
her body's toes. Then she grew very big, as
big as a planet at first, and then she filled
the solar system and finally she became as large
as the universe.
Her experience with the silver
cord is right out of traditional occult literature
on astral projection. (Susan
Blackmore)
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Dr.
Sam Parnia's NDE research:
A patient of Dr. Parnia was 2 years
old when he had a seizure and his heart
stopped. His parents contacted Dr. Parnia
after the boy drew a picture of himself
as if out of his body looking down at
himself.
"It
was drawn like there was a balloon
stuck to him. When they asked
what the balloon was he said, "When
you die you see a bright light
and you are connected to a cord.
"He
wasn't even three when had the
experience," Parnia said.
(Dr.
Sam Parnia)
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Sylvan Muldoon's
childhood OBE:
Sylvan Muldoon's first conscious projection
occurred when he was 12 years old.
He awoke in the middle of the night to find
himself conscious, but not knowing where he
was, and apparently unable to move, a condition
he later called astral catalepsy.
Gradually the sensation
of floating took over, and then a rapid up-and-down
vibration and a tremendous pressure in the back
of his head. Out of this nightmare of sensations
the boy's hearing gradually began to return
and then his sight, by which he could see that
he was floating in the room above his bed.
Some force took hold
of him and pulled him from horizontal to vertical.
He saw his double lying quietly asleep on the
bed, and between the two of them stretched an
elastic-like cable which joined the back of
the head of his conscious self, to a spot between
the eyes of the body in bed, six feet of so
away.
Swaying and pulling
against the cord, Muldoon tried to walk to another
room to wake someone, but found that he passed
right through the door, and through the bodies
of other sleepers too, when he tried to shake
or clutch them. Frightened, he roamed around
the house for what seemed like fifteen minutes,
and then slowly the pull of the cord increased
and he found himself being pulled back to his
body. Everything went in reverse. He tipped
back to horizontal, again became cataleptic,
felt the same vibrations and then, with a jerk,
dropped back into the body. He was awake and
alive again. (Sylvan
Muldoon)
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Caroline Graham's
NDE: "I
was suddenly floating above my body, with a
strange cord attaching me and my physical body.
I had read about that and so I knew it was normal.
I started to float around after practice, mostly
around my basement. So I went upstairs to see
if any one was there, and I found my sister
in the kitchen, I touched her face and she looked
straight at me.
"I thought for a moment
she had seen me. But she walked right through
me and turned up the thermostat. That's when
I realized my cord was gone! Not even a whist
of it was left. So I thought about reconnecting
with my body to go back but nothing happened.
I knew for sure I was stuck. Gone. No one would
know what happened to me!
"I went back down to
the basement to see what I looked like from
the outside. There he sat. The most beautiful
man I had ever seen. He motioned for me to come
toward him and so I did. He told me to float
just above my body and he would help me. I laid
there and suddenly I felt as if I was being
pulled back down into my body. Before I could
thank him I woke up ... I knew I had met an
angel." (Caroline Graham)
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Divine Inspiration's
OBE Research:
A boy, woke up and got out of bed during the
night. Whilst walking along a hallway he became "aware
that something was amiss." On turning around
and looking back toward the way he had come
he saw what appeared to be a thin cord of light
leading from him back to his bedroom. Naturally
concerned, he followed the cord back to his
bedroom only to discover that he was still asleep
in his bed. He had no recollection of how he
returned to his physical body.
The above is a typical
example of an out-of-body experience during
sleep, which, happens to everyone. The one unusual
aspect of this case is that the boy woke up
whilst he was astral traveling and became alarmed.
(Divine
Inspirations' research)
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Debbie Doe's
NDE:
The silver cord protects us in many ways. At
the time of a violent death, like a severe auto
accident, the silver cord is severed before
impact so the person will feel no pain. That
really brought a lot of comfort to me to know
that my son did not feel pain at the time of
his death. During the dying process, the cord
becomes thinner to where it finally is severed.
The soul is released. (Debbie
Doe)
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Mrs. Walter's
OBE: "When
I had my first child I had the experience of
being out of my body and hovering above it attached
to a thick cord." (Mrs.
Walters)
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Joni Maggie's
NDE: "It
was literally so bright that I could not sustain
the gaze so I turned away. At that moment I
noticed a silver cord, attached around the navel
area going down, down, down to a person I saw
lying on my bed. It was me! I had a curious
non-interest in it." (Joni
Maggie)
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4. Locations Where
the Silver Cord is Connected |
During
an OBE or NDE, experiencers see
their silver cord attached to the
following locations on their
physical body:
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a. |
Attached to their
FOREHEAD:
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Edgar Cayce's NDE: "The
cord does not, as usually
thought, extend from the
center - but is broken from
the head,
the forehead
- that soft portion we see
pulsate in the infant. Hence
we see old people, unbeknown
to themselves, gain strength
from youth by kissing there;
and youth gains wisdom by
such kisses." (Edgar
Cayce)
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Sylvan Muldoon's OBE: "He
saw his double lying quietly
asleep on the bed, and between
the two of them stretched
an elastic-like cable which
joined the back of the head
of his conscious self,
to a spot between the eyes
of the body
in bed, six feet of so away."
(Sylvan
Muldoon)
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b. |
Attached to the BACK of their HEAD: |
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Dr. Dianne Morrissey's NDE: "I
followed it [the cord] through
the two hallway walls and
into my den, where I saw
it
attached to the back of
the head
of my physical body."(Dr.
Dianne Morrissey)
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c. |
Attached to
the TOP of their HEAD: |
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Alice Morrison-May's NDE: "Almost
instantly I felt reentry
into my body through the
silver cord
at the top of my head."
(Alice
Morrison-Mays)
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d. |
Attached to their CHEST:
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Alfred Ballabene's NDE: "Out
of the body, at a distance
of about 1m or 1.5m I turned
around, face to the physical
body. As usual in near-body
distance I was without visual
perception and in absolute
darkness.
Feeling a touch on my breast
I reached out for it and
felt something with smooth
surface formed like a cone,
diameter at the basis (breast)
ca. 15 - 20cm,
getting smaller to a diameter
of about 5cm at a body-distance
of about 30cm. At this diameter
(5cm) it transformed to
a cord, leading in direction
of the physical body. In
all other OBE's of the type
of "stepping-out-in-trance"
I paid no attention to the
silver cord, but at a certain
distance (ca. 50m) I felt
a pull. Then I was stopped
as if tied and fixed at
my backside. Instantly I
was retracted to the physical
body. This happened very
often and reduced my expeditions
to a short duration, frustrating
me."(Alfred
Ballabene)
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e. |
Attached to their ABDOMEN: |
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Joni Maggi's NDE: "At
that moment I noticed a
silver cord,
attached around the navel
area
going down, down, down to
a person I saw lying on
my bed. It was me! I had
a curious non-interest in
it." (Joni
Maggi)
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f. |
Attached to their BACK: |
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More experiences coming
soon.
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NOTE:
Although this is not a complete list, these
are the locations that I have come across
in my research.
5. Locations
Where the Spirit Re-Enters the Body |
Many near-death and
out-of-body experiencers have described
leaving and entering their physical bodies
at a particular location on their physical
body. Not everyone leaves and enters their
physical body at the same location. These
are the main locations on the physical body
that I have across in my research:
a. |
Experiencers who left and/or re-entering
through the Top of their Head |
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Jayne Smith's NDE: "At
that point I felt something
leave my body. It was a
whoosh. It went up through
the top of my head.
I could feel it and I could
hear it. Just a gentle whoosh.
At that point I found myself
standing in a kind of gray
mist. Then I knew I had
died." (Jayne
Smith)
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Arthur Yensen's NDE: "I
felt as if I were coming
loose from my body! While
I believed that my body
was me, I knew instinctively
that if I separated from
it, I'd be dead! My soul
and body started separating
again and continued to separate
until I felt a short, sharp
pain in my heart, which
felt as if something had
been torn loose. Then slowly
and softly I rose out through
the top of my head."
(Arthur
Yensen)
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Pam Reynold's NDE: "The
next thing I recall was
the sound: It was a Natural "D."
As I listened to the sound,
I felt it was pulling me
out of the top of my head.
The further out of my body
I got, the more clear the
tone became. I had the impression
it was like a road, a frequency
that you go on ... I remember
seeing several things in
the operating room when
I was looking down."
(Pam
Reynolds)
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MaryJane's NDE: "I
was up all night using drugs.
I overdosed and went into
convulsions. Just before
it hit me,
I shot out of the top of
my head
and lingered only moments
while everyone freaked out.
Then I was in a dark cobblestone
tunnel that seemed wet.
I was a sphere illuminating
everything around me."
(MaryJane)
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b. |
Experiencers who left and/or re-entering
through their Chest |
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Betty Eadie's NDE: "I
heard a soft buzzing sound
in my head and continued
to sink until I felt my
body become still and lifeless.
Then I felt a surge of energy.
It was almost as if I felt
a pop or release inside
me, and
my
spirit was suddenly drawn
out through my chest
and pulled upward, as if
by a giant magnet. My first
impression was that I was
free. There was nothing
unnatural about the experience."
(Betty
Eadie)
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Margaret Birkin's NDE: "One
evening, I had an experience
of the most incredible feeling.
It felt as if every nerve
in my body was alive with
energy. This was accompanied
by the most wonderful feeling
of bliss. As the feeling
enveloped me, I found myself
leaving my body. I found
myself
in my own chest area
looking up at what I knew
was my crown charka.
I could see a light ahead
of me. All of a sudden I
became frightened to move.
I actually thought I was
dying, and for a few seconds,
I fought the sensation.
I was describing to Peter
what I was going through.
I was still physically there
in body, but my soul, spirit,
whatever you want to call
it, was no longer there.
I was within my own chest
cavity."
(Margaret
Birkin)
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Michael's NDE: "And
then
something
exited my chest.
Its hard to describe exactly
what it was or what it felt
like but it was a real presence,
a definite feeling. Perhaps
terms like "life force"
or "energy" come
closest to trying to describe
what it was, but it seemed
to contain my personality
as well. Again, its extremely
difficult to describe except
that it was a real sensation
of something immaterial
leaving my physical body.
This "force",
for lack of a better word,
then positioned itself in
the corner of the bathroom
ceiling (the bathroom was
in darkness) and I stared
down on my own motionless
body, skinny and frail and
apparently lifeless."
(Michael)
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c. |
Experiencers who left and/or re-entering
through their Abdomen |
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Donna Gotti's NDE: "The
nurse yelled, 'We're losing
her,' and at the sound of
distress I was propelled
upward. The farther up I
went, the brighter the Light
became. Two cherubs appeared,
one on either side of me,
and we slowly drifted to
the corner of the ceiling.
We communicated through
mental telepathy, which
is faster and more efficient
than mere words. They told
me they were Escort Angels
and had come to take me
Home. But before we could
go, I had to look at the
body I was leaving behind.
She was twenty-five years
old and in perfect health,
except for the loss of blood
and spirit. I determined
that the situation was not
serious enough, and
in
less than an instant I reentered
my physical body through
the navel. I was
back on Earth and suffering
from Homesickness."
(Donna
Gotti)
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Lynn Russell's OBE: "I
was intensely aware of an
atom in my mind. I visualized
the atom's nucleus with
the electrons spinning around
the core as though they
had a consciousness and
knew exactly what they were
to do ... Without warning,
my vision changed. I was
now viewing our solar system
with the sun in the center
and the planets spinning
around ... The visions continued
to expand until I felt as
though I was looking at
the micro and macro universe
simultaneously ... It was
so strong
it
hit me in the center of
my gut. 'Your being
is intricately connected
with the operation of the
universe!' ... I know when
it comes to the universe
I'm smaller than a speck
of dust. So how could my
being have anything to do
with the operation of the
universe? ... It is through
our connection with this
Oneness that we each play
a part in the operation
of the universe ... Next,
I felt as though
I
had an umbilical cord in
my stomach, connecting
me to the presence. It was
then I heard actual words.
The words were external
to me and seemed to come
from my right. The voice
said, "This is where
you came from and this is
where you will return."
(Lynn
Russell)
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d. |
Experiencers who left and/or re-entering
through their Feet |
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Susan Blackmore's OBE:
Blackmore described traveling
down a tunnel of trees toward
a light, floating on the
ceiling, and observing her
body below, seeing a silver
cord connecting her floating
astral body, floating out
of the building and then
over England, and finally
floating across the Atlantic
to New York. After hovering
around New York, Blackmore
floated back to her room
in Oxford where she became
very small and
entered her body's toes.
Then she grew very big,
as big as a planet at first,
and then she filled the
solar system and finally
she became as large as the
universe. This expansion
of consciousness which fills
the universe can be found
in many NDEs including that
of
Mellen-Thomas Benedict.
(Susan
Blackmore)
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Jack Foreman's NDE: "I
could look down on my whole
body," he later reported. "One
medic was applying electric
paddles to my chest to shock
me back and shouting Breathe,
you son of a bitch, breathe.'"
They stabbed needles into
his lungs to extract fluid
and injected adrenaline
direct into the heart. Foreman
says he saw his entire life
pass in seconds: being in
the womb, the ceremony of
his Christening, an embarrassing
incident as a small boy
when he soiled his pants.
He heard a loud rushing
noise and appeared to be
speeding through a dark
tunnel with a light of unbearable
brightness at the end. This
light took human form and
he received a message, though
not in words, "You
must go back." The
tunnel experience happened
in reverse. Because of its
radioactive status, Foreman's
body had been taken to a
cleaning room. He had a
feeling that
he
re-entered painfully through
his toes and when
he spoke, the medics were
totally shocked. (Jack
Foreman)
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Debbie Malec's OBE: "I
threw myself on the bed
and gave up. Tossing &
turning and wishing I were
of good health. Suddenly,
while still awake-not falling
asleep,
I
was zapped out of my body
through my feet!
Imagine a vacuum sweeper
on the soles of my feet.
Looking down I saw my body
still laying on the bed!
I felt no fear and no emotions
other than questioning why
I was up here looking down
there at my body."
(Debbie
Malec)
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6. The
Silver Cord, the Chakras and the
Afterlife Realms |
There is a correlation
between the following:
a. |
The location of the spiritual
centers within the body
|
b. |
The location on the body where
people leave and/or return to their
body during a NDE or OBE
|
c. |
The location on the body where
the silver cord is connected
|
d. |
The location of a particular
afterlife realm
|
NDE research reveals how
the
endocrine glands of the human body have corresponding
spiritual centers within the body which are
astrologically
connected to a particular
afterlife
realm by means of the silver cord. This endocrine
gland/silver cord system is our physical, mental
and spiritual connection with afterlife realms.

According to
Edgar Cayce,
Eastern mysticism,
and
NDE studies,
the human body is a receiver of cosmic energy (like
a radio) for which we are able to connect with
spiritual realms in the
afterlife.
This "receiver" aspect of the human body
is made up of a system of endocrine glands within
our body (see chart on the left) which are points
of contact to an associated system of spiritual
energy centers (called "chakras"
in the East) which are collectively called the "subtle"
or "astral
body"
(or simply the "soul").
The soul body is the "vehicle" by which
people have
near-death experiences,
out-of-body experiences,
and
lucid dreams
for example. Near-death experiencers such as Cayce
and
Mellen-Thomas Benedict
have described how our solar system is actually
a physical representation of our higher spirit body.
This revelation explains how
planetary-astrological
forces can influence us here on Earth.
The soul body is also
the energetic form of the physical body. The spiritual
centers of the soul body are points of contact where
the physical, emotional, and spiritual aspects of
the body come together. Each spiritual center associated
with an endocrine gland is also a point of contact
to a particular invisible afterlife realm represented
physically by one of the planets of our solar system
(see the chart below). Cayce identified a particular
afterlife realm by giving it the same name as its
corresponding planets in our solar system. For example,
the planet Jupiter is the 5th planet from the sun
and is the physical manifestation of an invisible
afterlife realm that is 7th in the afterlife hierarchy.
The
pituitary gland
- the "master" gland of the body - is
associated with the "third
eye" chakra
in Eastern religions and is the point of contact
connecting our physical body to 7th afterlife realm
represented physically by the planet Jupiter.
Each spiritual energy
center corresponds to one of the
seven notes on a musical
scale: C, D,
E, F, G, A, B. Each spiritual center also corresponds
to a color on the
light spectrum
of which there are seven: red, orange, yellow, green,
blue, indigo, violet (or white). The positive and
negative "vibes" a person is outwardly
exposed to in life can influence the inward functioning
of the endocrine glands and their corresponding
spiritual center. The dominant vibration - positive
or negative - within a person's body reflects which
spiritual center is dominant within a person's life.
It is the dominant vibration of a person's life
- body and spirit - which determines the level of
the corresponding afterlife realm they have attained.
Certain yoga meditation techniques (such as chanting
mantras) have been used in the East to raise the
quality of the spiritual energy vibration to help
heal the mind, body and spirit.

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