The time and place of death is always known well beforehand by the Spiritual Hierarchy, as well as by the incarnated soul's own Higher Self. This is part of the agreement made with one’s spiritual self and one's Guides and the Spiritual Hierarchy before incarnation. Relatives and former friends who have already passed over to the Spiritual world are alerted to an impending ‘transition’, and will be on hand to greet the arrival on the new plane.

It is true that many souls are choosing to transcend into the realm of Spirit, by their own choice, to await a time when they will have a greater opportunity to fulfill their mission on Earth. You must begin to view death in a new Light. It is not an end, but a beginning. You have made the transition into the realms of Light many times; you have just forgotten. The mass consciousness mind set of "life at all costs" must be changed. For so many, the physical vessel has become a painful prison and brave souls are being kept alive against their wishes by physicians with a misguided sense of duty. Each of you must make your wishes known by taking control of your life and the way you wish to make your transition. Again, the mass consciousness rules, but you can move beyond and decide how you will live your life and how you will experience your transition.

Seemingly, each of you make your journey from the spiritual realm alone as you descend into the material world, for the veil is drawn across your memory as your Spirit merges with the physical vessel. The truth is that your guardian angels and guides are there as you take your first breath and are with you all the days of your many lives. For many ages it has been the belief that you must also make the journey back into the spirit world alone, but neither is this true. Many wondrous Beings are waiting to greet you and assist you into the realms of Light - your true home. Your living family and loved ones can also assist each other in the process of transition by sharing fond memories, and expressions of love. Assure your loved ones who are nearing transition that your separation is only an illusion and you can reach across the realms via your loving energy and intent. This is the key that opens all doors and transcends all levels of consciousness.

First stop - the Astral Plane
The vibratory level on which we first arrive after ‘death’ depends on the spiritual progress and attainment made whilst on Earth. Most Earth incarnates of moderate spiritual development arrive on the Astral/Emotional plane, the next vibrational level above the physical. Though this largely reproduces conditions as they appeared on Earth, there are some differences, reflecting the higher vibratory rate. The colors of nature are more brilliant, the scents of flowers stronger, while the senses of the soul in its now higher manifestation are sharper and more alert to the surrounding beauty. The body feels lighter, for there is not the heavy gravitational pull of Earth, and with experience one will soon be able to transport oneself through the air or eventually mould matter to any desired shape by the power of thought alone.

The newly arriving soul may be surprised to be conducted to his or her personal ‘dream home’. By constantly imagining an ideal whilst on Earth, we are unconsciously creating a ‘counterpart’ of thought material on higher Mental or Astral levels, where it registers as a concrete thought-form. Using this thought-form as a guide, spiritual assistants on the higher plane can shape the less dense and more malleable matter on that plane by mental power, reconstructing the ideal home in time for the newly arriving soul's ‘homecoming’.

The Akashic Review
When the fact of death has been thoroughly assimilated, the newly arrived soul is given access to the Akashic Records, a form of universal memory-bank which records all events that have ever taken place anywhere in the universe as well as every thought and action of every individual. Through this medium the soul can then review, in multi-dimensional sight and sound, significant episodes of the Earth incarnation recently completed. By reviewing the mistakes, personality faults and unkindnesses to others made whilst still on Earth, the various lessons still remaining unlearnt can be identified.

A time to acquire knowledge and skills
Having reviewed our past life and seen all our faults with the clearer and more objective spiritual vision available on higher dimensions, we are now able, with the help of our Spiritual Guides, to assess which failed lessons need to be re-learnt, and to review those further lessons remaining to be learnt.

But unless Karma requires an immediate return to Earth, such as after a life prematurely interrupted by suicide, most souls spend a considerable time residing on the Spiritual levels. This is usually up to two hundred years or more, and can sometimes be over a thousand years or more of Earth time.

During this period of spiritual refurbishment we can explore the vast Spiritual Worlds or attend the numerous Halls of Learning to acquire new knowledge and skills. There is also ample opportunity, for those of us ready to do so, to serve others such as by helping those who have recently arrived from the Earth plane to adjust to their new dimension, or by passing down spiritual strength to those on Earth who are lonely or in distress.

Following this period of spiritual refreshment, learning and service on higher planes, the soul, recognizing that further basic lessons have still to be mastered or learnt, feels the need to reincarnate yet once again on the dense physical Earth level. Here, through the hard and demanding lessons of physical Earth life, further useful evolutionary progress can be made at a much faster rate than possible on the Spiritual Plane. This then initiates a process of detailed planning with one’s Guides for the new incarnation ahead.

Adieu not goodbye
Life is indeed meant to be joyous. Spirit is joy and as you are all spiritual beings, then this is your natural state of being. Being Spiritual is to be joyous at all times and in all circumstances.  How can one be joyous when one is experiencing something tragic or sad? What is tragedy? What is sadness? These are emotional responses based on seeing life as limited and finite. On seeing oneself as powerless and without control over one's own destiny. You must get over this belief and change it.

When you hear of somebody dying you immediately think "how sad". When you hear people are starving and going through hardship you say "how sad". Feeling another's pain is to experience compassion. Reacting negatively to another's pain is a direct result of forgetting that you are infinite and powerful spiritual beings. When you see yourself as separate from God, then you feel pain and grief - be it for yourself or for another. But when you see yourself as an infinite and joyous spiritual being who is eternally connected to the source, then you can say "well this may be unpleasant, but I choose to experience it from joy". So, when a loved-one departs the Earth plane, choose to wave them off with joy in your heart, not sadness. Say "adieu" rather than "goodbye for ever" because adieu is only a temporary farewell, not a permanent one.

Remember - you are all undergoing experiences that you have chosen for yourselves. Death is not something to be sad about, regardless of how it occurs. Any kind of tragedy is but a challenge to the people who are involved - a challenge to find the truth within the event. The challenge is to live life with joy in the heart, by finding something 'light' within the life experience. Joy brings enLIGHTenment and with enlightenment comes acceptance and acknowledgement of the truth.

There is no such thing as a victim of circumstance, because everything in your reality occurs exactly as you have decreed it. It may not seem pleasant at the time, but it is only a role you are playing on the gameboard of life. The gift of enlightenment is to have the conscious understanding of this. When you have the true integration of this belief, you will laugh and laugh and laugh at life's dramas. You will see each situation as it really is - not as you think of it at the moment. You must remember that within every dire and tragic action lies a wonderful lesson, and when you recognize the lesson's blessing, then you have joy.

Find your joy wherever it is and let it out. Find something to laugh about. Within the apparent seriousness of your daily grind, find something to laugh about. Look for the truth within the circumstances that surround you - and laugh. Even if these "appear" to be serious circumstances, try to see them in the broader context. Try to be detached from negative input - calm your emotions so you can see the 'lighter' side.

To achieve Ascension is to live life in a permanent state of continuous joy.

The fear of Death
Perhaps the greatest fear known to man is that of death. There is no horror comparable to that which numbs the mind when an imaginative individual contemplates the possiblity of total extinction. And there is no grief to measure up to that which comes to an un-enlightened soul when someone who was truly and tenderly loved ceases to breathe forever.

Death is not a tragedy to those who die; it is only a tragedy to those who are left behind. To go from darkness to light is not something over which you should grieve.

If you grieve, you are in reality grieving over your loss and not for one who has in truth become enfranchised. He is better off. He will no longer suffer all the ills of the human body. He will not be subjected to the ravages of wasting diseases. He will unfold all the gifts with which he has been endowed, and will express them free from any thwartings and will be able to give a larger service to those who require it.

You miss the accustomed presence, you sigh for the physical body that you no longer see, but the reality is always there, although it is not palpable to you. Look beyond the five crude, clumsy windows of the senses, and try to gather some of the wisdom that comes with the knowledge of spiritual reality.

Should you be sad because the recently departed are freed from pain, from old age, from tiredness and weariness? Should you be sad because they have escaped from darkness into the light? Should you be sad because they can now unfold the talents with which they have been endowed? Should you be sad because they are now free to enjoy the pursuits that are natural to them?

Any sorrow is selfish. You are mourning your own loss, you are thinking in terms of what you are missing and what you will have to endure - a life of loneliness, bereft of a love that has enriched it. But you are wrong. There need be no loneliness if you would but make yourself familiar with the truth and allow the scales of ignorance to drop away from your eyes so that you could behold the radiant form of the one you love.

Death cannot part you from the one you love, for love will always claim its own. Your sorrow is based on ignorance. With knowledge you could be sure that the one you love is closer than ever he or she has been before. You could taste some of the joy that comes with the appreciation of an understanding of spiritual reality.

Do not mourn because the caterpillar has become a beautiful butterfly. Do not weep because the cage has been opened and the bird has been set free. Rejoice, and know that the enfranchised soul has found liberty and, if you would but unfold the powers that the Creator has given you, you could share some of the new beauty and joy which is theirs. You could understand the plan of death and realise that death is but a stepping-stone, a door through which you enter into the larger freedom of the realms of the spirit.

Think of the 'miracle' of the seasons, the eternal circle for ever revolving with unbroken constancy. The cycle is repeated in every human life. The pageant of nature is duplicated in every human soul. First there is the spring, with the awakening consciousness; the summer, when man's powers rise to their highest; autumn, when life begins to wane; and winter, when sleep comes to the weary, tired soul. But even after the winter of the physical life, spring comes to the spirit as it awakens in another world to continue that eternal cycle. Take from nature this message, and be assured that the laws which have never failed will continue to operate in your case and in the case of every human life.