Messages & Miracles: Extraordinary Experiences of the Bereaved

In a question and answer format, Louis LaGrand, a grief counselor and Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus at the State University of New York, provides a wealth of information about bereavement apparitions. Many and varied are the ways in which the living on earth and the living in spirit dimensions can communicate. LaGrand's collection of stories is both engaging and informative. Direct after death communications (ADCs) may occur as auditory, visual, tactile, dream, intuitive, olfactory and out-of-body perceptions by a living person. Indirect ADCs may include symbolic, third-party, fourth-party, bird and animal, olfactory and dream communications. As an example, a case is described in which Gina's mother gave her an African violet as a gift, at a time when her mother was ill and not expected to live much longer. Gina had not been successful in keeping similar gifts of her mother's prized African violets alive previously, and tended this one carefully. Its flowers died, but it survived several months, and was still alive when her mother passed on. Two weeks later, blooms suddenly appeared one day - without the prior development of the usual buds. Gina took this as a sign of her mother's communicating that all was well with her in the spirit world. (p. 69) This is an excellent introductory book that explores and explains a helpful spectrum of spirit awareness experiences.

LaGrand is one of the most experienced ADC researchers, and his previous book (Final Farewells) is well worth buying. He also has solid academic credentials. This book is in the format of 100 questions and answers pertaining to all aspects of the ADC phenomenon. I was a bit put off by the format at first -- but once you get comfortable with it, it is really quite helpful. The answers tend to run 2-4 pages; they are not superficial. The experiencers' accounts of their ADCs are woven into the answers. The answers also include a number of references to books that I was not familiar with in a variety of related fields. LaGrand seems to have a very sane perspective on the phenomenon and what it may mean. He is candidly skeptical about certain types of purported ADCs, but he is solidly in the believers' camp. This book would be equally worthwhile as an introduction to ADCs or as a thought-provoker for someone who is already very familiar with them.

Shirley, my soulmate and the woman I was to marry, passed away in July of 1994. Shortly after that I experienced various forms of communication from her. Since, at the time, I was not aware of the phenomenon of After Death Communication, I felt that I was losing my mind. I went to see several grief therapists regarding these experiences but their responses only seemed to confirm that something was not right with my state of mind. Recently, however, I happened to receive a copy of MESSAGES AND MIRACLES and the book re-assured me that I was not going crazy. According to Dr. L. LaGrand's intensive research in this area, thousands of people have had similar ADC experiences...and all of a sudden I did not feel so alone. The information that the author presents definately supports the comment that was once made by Dr. Wayne Dyer: "We are not human beings having a spiritual experience...rather we are spiritual beings having a human experience". Understandingly, those who have never experienced the transformational power of an ADC may be quite skeptical. But then how do you describe the smell of a rose to someone who has never smelled one? On the other hand, if I am going crazy given my ADC experiences, I am proud to be in such great company as Dr. LaGrand and the people that he refers to in his book.

The new book -Messages and Miracles- by Dr.Loius LaGrand is the result of a 35 year quest for the questions and answers to after death communication. I believe that at one time adc was considered to be a rare and paranormal experience,however, after reading Messages and Miracles, my thought is that adc,s are really a fairley normal and frequent experience. This is based upon the fact that the story of my Son,s adc to me is in the book and I have distributed over 186 copies to friends, relatives,grieving persons,nurses,critical care professionals, and interested people who have had adcs themselves. Over 150 people have told me of their adcs - many of them overwhelming-yet told in great detail and told for the first to an outsider- because of reading the visit of Eric Zimmerman to me ,his Father,Fred Zimmerman. Many of these people were friends,aquaintainces,customers, or people still in the grieving process with many questions yet to be answered. And Messages and Miracles answers many of these questions in an informational and eloquent style. Thank you Dr.LaGrand for the time,research,dedication,and effort to help thousands who have questions but could not find any answers to this age old mystery of after death communication.This book is an integral piece of the puzzle that helps complete the picture that everyone has in their mind when the bereaved faces trials and tribulations in the death experience. I did not ask for the death experience to happen nor wish it on anyone else but did receive tremendous support from reading Messages and Miracles as I and many people did find the answers to our questions and thereby helped to complete the grief cycle with assurance that we were not out of our minds when these extraordinary events occurred. A must read for every living and breathing person in this dimention.