Questions From Earth, Answers From Heaven: A Psychic Intuitive's Discussion of Life, Death, and What Awaits Us Beyond

Introduction

The Age of Awareness

We all have questions we’d like to ask God. Why is my life so difficult? Why did my loved one have to die? Why can’t I be successful? Why do I feel so disconnected? Why did I get sick? Why is there so much injustice? How can I be more connected with myself and my loved ones? What happens when I die? Will I know my loved ones on the other side? Is there an other side and what is it like? Does heaven exist? What about reincarnation and soul mates? And is there an infinite knowledge in the universe that I can connect with and use to help make my life better here on earth, or am I just a random by-product of the chemical processes we call life?

Human beings have been seeking answers to these questions throughout recorded history. Some of their answers are based on faith; some on scientific data; some on fantasy. But a few answers—very few—are based on the actual experience of tapping in to a realm beyond this physical world, where we can speak directly with energies we call spirits, and, more important, where we can connect directly with the highest level of universal and infinite love, wisdom, and light that we call God.

We connect with these other realms through our inborn sixth sense—our intuition. This God-given power is a direct connection between each soul and the universe. I was lucky enough to discover this intuitive power within myself at a very young age. As a child I was able to see spirits, read thoughts, and foresee events. At first my abilities frightened me because I did not understand them, but eventually I came to accept them as a gift from the universe. I learned (and continue to learn) from others, as well as through my own efforts, how to develop my intuition to its fullest extent. And ultimately, I learned how to teach others to develop their own intuition as well.

You see, I know with absolute certainty that, in the same way animals have instinct, every human being has intuition. It’s inherent in our makeup, in the same way we have sight, hearing, touch, taste, and smell. We use our intuition unconsciously all the time in ways too numerous to mention. But intuition can be so much more than something that just helps you find the jewelry you lost or tells you if your child is in trouble. Our intuitive sense is literally a channel between this world and the next. It’s an energy conduit through which we can connect with loved ones who have died, speak to our guardian angels and spirit guides, and even touch the highest level of universal consciousness and love.

My purpose for being on this planet is to help others recognize, develop, and use their God-given intuitive abilities to ease suffering and grow in goodness, love, compassion, and wisdom. My mission is to help take away fear—the fear of death, by proving that we don’t die and will see our loved ones again, and the fear of living, by showing how we can tap in to our wisest selves and make our lives much happier and easier. My desire is to help each of us connect to the love that is eternal, that is the reason for our existence.

Awakening to our own intuitive powers is more important than ever, because I believe that humanity is going through a metamorphosis—from a material world to a spiritual one. We’re moving into a new age of spiritual awareness, a whole new phase for the human race, a time when we must learn to balance the spiritual and material. I call it the Age of Awareness, because I believe it’s a time when we all will have to become aware of the enormous power we possess.

In the Age of Awareness, we each must take responsibility for our thoughts and our deeds. Human beings have the power to destroy or heal both themselves and the planet. We must learn that the choices we make will reverberate throughout the universe, affecting not just our own lives but the lives of countless others. We must learn also that our choices, thoughts, and deeds will affect what happens to our spirits when we die. And I believe we must finally awaken to the immense power of our own sixth sense.

As a professional psychic intuitive for the past twenty-five years, I have been associated with many people who were part of what’s called the New Age movement. Truthfully, however, I believe much of the New Age was really Old Age in disguise. People sought to return to humanity’s deepest roots of culture, religion, nature, trying to connect with the power they sensed in themselves and in the universe. But all too often it seemed that they got caught up in the forms they chose. They failed to recognize that all paths lead to the same place, and the best, most direct path to God does not rely on outer forms, but on a direct connection with the universe from within ourselves—a connection that flows naturally through our own intuitive channels, as long as we don’t block them with doubts, fears, and misconceptions.

I have written this book in the hopes people everywhere will read it and awaken to their own instinctive, intuitive abilities. I’m not here to convince anybody. I don’t have to. There are already thousands of documented cases of people who have had near-death experiences. There are many others who have seen and heard spirits, or been warned about something, or found their soul mates. I don’t feel I have to convince the world that intuition is real. But for those people who do have an interest, who have had an inkling of that inexplicable sixth sense, who want to connect with loved ones who have passed away, I hope this book will show them they’re not alone or crazy—in fact, they’re surprisingly ordinary, because everyone has a psychic/intuitive gift.

Intuition has enormous power for either good or evil. Each of us must choose how we will use this power in our own lives. My wish, my desire for you is that in reading this book you will recognize your intuitive gifts, utilizing them as your best guide to the Age of Awareness and thereby bringing peace, healing, and love to yourself and others. Trust your intuition; it can provide the answers you seek from Heaven.

1

I Talk to Dead People for a Living

What do you say when someone asks, What do you do? If you’re a truck driver or CEO or artist or teacher or manager or ditch-digger, it’s easy. But what do you say when you’re in a profession like mine?

Occasionally I’ll say, "I talk to dead people—and what’s more, they talk back to me. Some people just never know when to shut up!"

For the past twenty-five years, I’ve given readings for thousands of people, mostly in private sessions, sometimes on TV and radio in front of millions. The media usually calls me a psychic intuitive, but I like to think of myself as your most affordable long-distance carrier to the other side, since I connect people with loved ones who just happen to be dead!

I’ll never forget the time I went shopping for carpeting, and I was chatting with the salesman. He was a nice man but a character: tall, thin, and with a really obvious toupee. He asked me what I did and I told him. He was a little taken aback, so I said, Let me give you an example, and I proceeded to spell out his grandfather’s name, Chaim (a rather unusual name). The reading convinced the salesman I was genuine—and from then on he wouldn’t leave me alone! The whole time I was looking at samples and ordering my carpet, he was asking questions about his family, his health, his business. He even followed me out to the parking lot. He was literally running after my car yelling, Wait! Wait! Should I sell the diamonds? Needless to say, I got a great deal on my carpet.

Through the years I’ve made a name for myself because I pick up specific names, facts, images, and relationships that no one could possibly know other than the person I’m reading for. On live television and radio, I’ll tell people about their mother, father, spouse, fiancée, boss. Some of the most touching messages are from departed relatives who want to let the living know that death has not obliterated the love they feel for those who are still here.

I recently shot the pilot for my own television show, where I did readings on camera for people I’d never met before. Let me give you a sample of my session with Lois, which we did in front of a studio audience. As with all of my readings, I asked Lois not to lead me in any way but simply to confirm the information I was giving her.

Char What’s your name?

Lois Lois.

Char Is there somebody with a J or G?

Lois J.

Char A J? Deceased? Or living?

Lois Living.

Char Is this J a male?

Lois J male.

Char Is there an N or M in his name?

Lois In his last name.

Char In his first name is there an E? Like Jeff, or J-E, or Joseph? Joseph?

Lois Yes—that’s his name.

Char Is this family to you?

Lois Ex.

Char Is this your ex-husband?

Lois Yes.

Char Did either of you, did you have a problem with a child? Did you lose a child? Was this his child as well?

Lois (Nods throughout.)

Char You know what? I have a feeling this child’s here, but I just can’t hear the name. But this is Joseph’s child and your child. Is there an R in the name, it starts with R, or it’s in it?

Lois In it.

Char Is there an E in it? Start with E? Or is it E-R, or R-E in the name?

Lois (Nodding.)

Char I can’t hear the name. This person isn’t used to talking to me and I’m not used to talking to them. Maybe…was there somebody else deceased that’s a J, like on Joseph’s side of the family? Did he have a grandfather or father?

Lois His father.

Char Was his father’s name Joseph, too?

Lois Yes!

Char That’s who I think is in here. Was he a strong personality, his dad?

Lois I didn’t know him.

Char I feel him as a strong personality. He wants you to know…I don’t know how you got along with this man. Did you like him?

Lois I didn’t know him.

Char Because he’s with your child. But this would be his grandchild. And he wants you to know that your child is okay. For some reason…there’s not a B or D with this name, is there?

Lois D.

Char Starts with D and there’s an R in it? Is it D-E-R? (Lois shakes head no.) But D-E and there’s an R in it. Is it Deborah? It is Deborah?

Lois (Nods yes, crying.)

Char It’s taking me awhile to hear her. But she wants you to know she’s all right. Oh, now I’m seeing the balloons. Did you send balloons up for her? She’s saying somebody put balloons on her grave site?

Lois (Nods yes.)

Char She’s showing me the balloons. Did somebody also send a balloon up in the air for her?

Lois I don’t know.

Char You don’t know. But she wants you to think of her as free, that her spirit is free. Are you…are you wearing anything that was Deborah’s?

Lois (Nods yes.)

Char She’s saying, Mom, you’re wearing my jewelry! Let me see! (From underneath her turtle-neck shirt, Lois pulls out a ring which is on a chain around her neck.) Was that her class ring?

Lois She never got to wear it.

Char She’s a good soul. Sometimes different people come into our lives as teachers, and I have a feeling Deborah was here as a teacher, to teach us about love, and to teach you about the relationship between a parent and a child. And there’s nothing that I can say that will ever bring her back or make this better. The only good news is, when you pass over to the other side, she’ll be there with you. She’ll be waiting for you. She says, Mom, I came to you in a dream!

Lois (Shakes her head no.)

Char Who did she come to in a dream? Someone had a dream about her. Think.

Lois A cousin.

Char Your cousin. Okay. Maybe it wasn’t your dream, it was your cousin’s dream. And the cousin gave you a message from Deborah. What did Deborah say in the dream?

Lois That she’s okay.

Char She is okay! I promise she’s okay. Her grandpa is keeping an eye out for her on the other side, which even if you’re not with her dad is okay, because I think Grandpa was a good guy. You know, when we don’t try so hard is when the spirits can come back to us. And you will feel her again, you will dream about her, you’ll see her.

After our reading, Lois said, It was breathtaking—more than I expected. I came here hoping I would hear from Debbie; that’s all I wanted. Now I feel like my daughter’s in a better place. When asked about the balloons, she revealed that for the three years since her daughter’s death, on Debbie’s birthday every year she had gone to her grave and put a balloon there. No one could know that but me, she said.

I do this work because I believe it’s important. My clients tell me that the information they learn in our readings helps them make decisions, cope with losses, discover undetected health problems, avoid disastrous accidents, or even just get through the bad times because they know good times are just around the corner. Those are some of the concrete results. But it also means a lot to me when I see a smile on the face of a man whose beloved grandmother speaks to him after years of being separated by death…or feel the healing of a mother who is reunited with her child who died of cancer…or experience the confidence almost everyone feels when they don’t just hope, but know, that they are still connected with those they love, even after their physical forms are gone.

I call myself the most affordable long-distance carrier in jest, but when I read for people, I actually see and hear their loved ones very close by. The spirits communicate by putting thoughts into my head—thoughts that just plain feel different than those produced by my own mind. But the actual process of tuning in psychically is very similar to the way we all get impressions that don’t come from a logical place. Have you ever thought about someone you haven’t heard from for a while, and then they call you a short time later? Or had a bad feeling about a particular trip or route, only to have your car break down or some other obstacle arise? Or felt the presence of someone you loved, either living or dead? We get information all the time which simply can’t have come from our logical minds yet which turns out to be true. Because I’ve been tuning in for most of my life, I’ve gotten very good at using my intuition—but we all do it. Throughout this book, you’re going to hear stories of people just like you who are using their intuition simply and easily, just like tuning in a radio or opening a book. And by the time you finish reading, I hope you will have had similar experiences yourself.

My dear friend and fellow intuitive Mark calls this ability instinctive intuition. Animals have instincts, right? And those instincts are primarily used to survive. Most animals can somehow sense danger even when the cause is out of sight. Humans have a kind of survival instinct, too, but in our case it can help us with a lot more than simply staying alive. When we use our intuition regularly, when we pay attention to the information that doesn’t come from our logical, left-brain side, we can pick up on energies and frequencies that are being broadcast by the universe itself. We can tune into the great field of possibility described by physicists, which extends beyond the physical universe into other dimensions, other levels, even other times.

Out of the Blue…

It was one of those phone calls anyone would hate getting. I was staying with my good friend, Diana Basehart (actor Richard Basehart’s widow), in Beverly Hills. It was March 1987, and I had been dividing my time between L.A. and my home in Michigan for the last several years. When Diana called me to the phone and I picked up the receiver, the voice on the other end sounded desperate. Char? This is Scott Sandler. Shirley MacLaine suggested I give you a call. I don’t know if you’ve been reading the papers about Dean Paul Martin….

Of course I had. Everybody in Los Angeles knew about the disappearance of Dean Martin’s son, Dean Paul. Dean Paul had been on a training flight with the Air National Guard and the F4 Phantom jet he had been flying had simply disappeared. The air force had been looking for him for five days but had found nothing.

Dean Paul is my best friend, Scott said. His family is going out of their minds not knowing what’s happened, so they decided to take matters in their own hands. Dean Paul’s mom called Shirley MacLaine and someone recommended you. Would you help us?

I said yes immediately. I’d been using my psychic gift professionally for about ten years at that point, and had already been called in (quietly) on several missing person cases by police agencies in Michigan and California. That afternoon Scott Sandler and Dean Paul’s brother, Ricci, came to Beverly Hills to pick me up, and we drove out to March Air Force Base in Riverside, California, about an hour and a half away. Dean Paul’s training flight originated at March AFB, and his last radio transmission was sent from an area about thirty miles into the San Bernardino