Divine Wisdom From Michele Livingston

Dear Sheila,

This is a question that I am frequently asked at seminars. First, congratulations on finally having your daughter. The loss of a child is one of the hardest challenges of earthly life. Many mothers experience a deep sense of guilt when there is a miscarriage or still born, or when the child lives only a few days or years. Those who experience the loss of a child ask, "Why me? What did I do wrong? Am I being punished?" Such experiences do not occur because of an error on the part of the parents. The reality is that the soul chooses everything.

If you have personally suffered the loss of a child, take into account that your child had a soul that chose a specific path. People often fear death, but it is much more difficult to be born into this world than it is to leave it. The soul leaves through the top of the head upon death, rises and goes through the tunnel into the fourth dimension. When we enter a new baby body we come from the light, through the tunnel and into the delivery room—watching (from an aerial view) our little baby bodies being born. We’re pulling masses of soul memory and knowledge in at that point, and we can even change our minds after we see our baby bodies being born.

When we are born on earth, we are leaving the beautiful, light filled realms of the fourth dimension where there is no crime, war, negativity, abuse or pain. When our soul elects to enter the third dimension we are actively agreeing to come into the material world to learn important lessons for growth and development. The decision is not easy, and complications in the transition can arise. There are occasions when the soul changes its mind, either just before or immediately after birth, or within the first few years of life.

In the case of a miscarriage, the soul chooses its mother before conception, and hovers around her during the period of pregnancy. If the soul changes its mind and chooses to remain in the spirit realms during the first few months of pregnancy, a miscarriage can result. The soul will then regroup and eventually select another time, place and possibly a new set of parents, in which to incarnate.

The soul doesn’t enter the body until the first breath is taken–the breath of life. A stillborn situation is when the baby body has come to full-term or development, and is delivered. The soul hovers above the body in the delivery room, looks down and decides, "No, I’ve changed my mind. I can’t, or don’t want to, be born now." Stillborn is similar to miscarriage, only the physical body is fully developed. We have free choice in our third-dimensional world, just as in the heavenly realms, because our souls are within us.

When a child dies inexplicably from Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS), it is evidence that the soul has withdrawn its opportunity, and has chosen to "go back home" to the spiritual worlds.

In Edgar Cayce’s* readings for bereaved parents who lost children, he never found fault or blamed anyone. He often said, "The soul has chosen to remain with its Maker." On other occasions, Cayce told the parents, "The soul only needed to be near the parents for a short time for spiritual awakening." The spiritual awakening occurs when the parents, beset with grief, begin a spiritual search to understand the nature of life and death. After a time, this search leads them to people, groups and philosophies that help them understand that death is only an illusion. Edgar Cayce also said that when life in the physical plane is cut short–when a child dies young–that soul has experienced an eternity of love during the short hours, days or years lived on the earth. In a few brief moments of time, the baby experiences a lifetime of love.

There are no boundaries of time where love is concerned. When death comes to a child, it has indeed experienced all the love and light that can be experienced over a lifetime. The soul takes the precious love received during its short time on earth to the other side. There is no fault or blame; the soul simply changed its mind. In other cases, the soul departs early from the earthly life because it is needed for important work on the other side.

This spiritual perspective of miscarriage, stillborns and premature death should shed new light on the process of the soul’s evolutionary journey. The above-referenced insights should help those who have experienced any of the situations to heal and move forward.

The answer in this month’s column is an excerpt from Michele’s newly revised and updated book, Messages from Beyond: a Spiritual Guidebook. It is available at her website or your favorite book store.