It has struck me that as we slow down and we have more time available for going within, that now is a perfect time to hear from our deceased loved ones and consciously connect with them. The reason for this is that when we slow down, it makes it easier for the deceased to make their presence felt. Plus, in my experience, the dead are more likely to visit us at times of adversity. So if you’re someone who has more time (and mental bandwidth) on your hands right now and you’d love to have a visitation from your deceased loved one(s), read on (or watch the video below – both the article and the video contain the same info)…

In this article, I’m going to give you some tips on what you can do to draw your deceased loved ones closer to you, and I’m also going to give some examples of signs that they are already communicating with you.

This topic has been on my mind a fair bit lately, mostly because I’ve been hearing a lot from my deceased grandparents in recent weeks, including one I’ve never heard from before.

The lady in this picture is my paternal grandmother, Frances Adams.

She died one week before I was born. My dad didn’t talk much about his mum when we were growing up. All I knew about her was that she worked in a factory and she played the piano. And when she died of a stroke when he was 29, he was devastated. I remember when he talked about her death, it was still a very painful topic for him and he looks very sad in my baby photos.

And then when I went to visit my dad (who lives in New Zealand) in February of this year, my dad confessed that after 40 years of being estranged from his older sisters (after an argument), he was hoping to track them down or at least find out if they were still around and if they would be interested in reconnecting. His mum (Frances), came through to me, loud and clear and told me where to look for them and how to approach getting in touch. She also told me what to expect in terms of whether they are alive or dead, and it didn’t take long to track one of my dad’s sisters down, using the info she gave.

Around this time, I also had a dream about Frances. In the dream, I was in a hospital (I’m not sure why) and she was also there to visit someone. She was wearing an orange blouse, the same colour as the dress she was wearing in the photo above, and she looked very smart. In the dream, she spoke to me, and although I couldn’t remember what she said, I remember she was very softly-spoken and seemed like quite a gentle person.

I woke up in the morning with her voice (that I had never heard before in real life) ringing in my ears. I felt so close to this person I had never met. I told my dad about the dream and he mentioned that she was very softly-spoken and a gentle personality, too. So, I do feel that it was possibly a visitation from her.

Do you want to know how your deceased loved ones might be communicating with you, too?

Next up, I’m going to give you a comprehensive list of how you can know if your deceased loved one (in this article, I‘m going to shorten this term to d.l.o.) is already communicating with you, and then I’m going to give you a full list of tips for encouraging communication with them, if you’re not seeing any communication or much at all.

So, here are all the common ways in which our deceased loved ones tend to communicate with us:

Flickering lights & problems with electrics

Yes, d.l.o’s can interfere with electrics. When I lived in New Zealand, I noticed I was getting a lot of flickering lights in my house, and it went on for about 3 weeks. A medium I saw around this time, told me that my great-grandmother, Ida Sayce, was around me, and that she said she was making my lights flicker to make her presence felt. I hadn’t even mentioned the lights to the medium, so that was pretty cool.

Feathers & Coins

If you’re finding feathers or coins on your path, especially in unusual places, then this can also be a sign that your deceased person is getting your attention. I was recently chatting online with a friend when I was in an airport waiting for a flight. She was telling me all about her partner who passed away several years ago. She told me that she sensed, she and him were going to meet again in a future life. I got the strong sense (intuitively) this would be the case, and felt tingles on my neck as I read the message (which is a sign Spirit is with me). Then in an empty (indoors) airport with no birds around, I had this feather blow past me and settle right at my feet in front of me. Feathers for me are a sign that Spirit is with me, so I felt like that was her deceased partner giving her a sign and I sent the photo of the feather to her.

You smell their fragrance

Maybe your deceased loved one wore a particular brand of perfume or they smelled like tobacco because they smoked. If you smell this odour around you and there’s no other source it could be coming from, that’s also a sign they are with you (by the way, this gift is called clairsalience.)

You have birds or butterflies around you that are behaving in unusual ways

Obviously not every time you see a bird or a butterfly is going to be your deceased loved one communicating with you. But if you are on a walk, thinking about your d.l.o. and you see a bird that follows you around on your walk, that’s a sign. Or if you see a butterfly and you’re thinking of your d.l.o., and butterflies have some significance for you spiritually, maybe that’s a sign, too. Basically, go on how YOU feel about it. If something feels significant, it likely is.

Physical sensations

A sign for me that Spirit is around is that I get tingling on my temples, near my eyes. This can happen on one side or both sides. I don’t just get this when a deceased spirit is around but also when I do readings and come into contact with other types of Spirit. This is a form of clairsentience and it is not uncommon for people to experience it when their deceased love one is hanging around. It can manifest in different ways – it isn’t always going to manifest as tingling or on the temples, like mine does. It could be on your back or on the back of your legs, for example (both common spots.) It could also be a physical sensation like pressure or feel like someone is touching you when there is no-one there.

You just get the sense they are with you

This one is hard to describe. Maybe you just feel like they are so close that they are in the room with you, or maybe you feel like you’re not alone and being watched (but not in a creepy way).

Your/their special song comes on the radio

Maybe there is a song that reminds you of your d.l.o., or perhaps there was a song that was ‘your’ song, that you both enjoyed listening to, when you were together. If this song comes on the radio (especially if it is not a song that comes on the radio too often, and it happens at a significant moment), this could also be a sign.

Objects are moving around and you’re not moving them

Perhaps a photo of your d.l.o. keeps getting knocked off the wall, or some other item that you associate with your deceased loved one is showing up in odd places or where it shouldn’t. And no-one else put it there. Deceased spirits do have the power to move matter (although not all spirits are capable of it) so if this is happening, it could also be a sign.

You see angel lights or things moving in the corner of your eye

Sometimes I see golden/white/blue/pinks lights that are a bit like fireworks, in my peripheral vision. They go off in a flash but if I look at them directly, they’re gone. For me, this is a sign that a spirit is nearby or trying to get my attention, and I call them ‘angel lights‘ because they are sometimes associated with angels, too. I go through phases with how often I see these lights, sometimes I can go months without seeing one, but if it’s been a while and I see one while thinking about someone who is deceased, for me that’s a sign that that person is with me.

Seeing things moving in the corner of your eye can also be a sign that a deceased loved one is with you. Equally, this could be a sign of an earthbound spirit. Seeing something moving in the corner of your eye should feel comforting, not creepy. If it’s comforting, or is accompanied by some other positive feeling, it’s likely to be your d.l.o.

Conversely, if it creeps you out, and you suspected anyway that you had earthbound spirits around you or in your space, you might need some techniques to clear them (see my book The Empath’s Toolkit for a technique to clear earthbound spirits from your aura, and my free space clearing e-course for how to clear spirits from your space.)

OK, back to signs that your loved one is with you:

It’s the anniversary of their death, or your wedding anniversary

All of the above signs are extra significant, if they happen on or around the anniversary of the person’s death, or on another significant date, such as their birthday or your wedding anniversary (if the deceased loved one was your spouse.) In my experience, d.l.o.’s are even more likely to communicate at those times.

So now I’ve gone into some signs that your loved one with with you. What if you don’t see any of these signs but you want to encourage them to check in?

Here are some ideas to encourage communication with them:

Pay attention most of all to your dreams

Dreams are the easiest way for our d.l.o’s to communicate with us, simply because channelling the deceased is like building a bridge. You live in different worlds. You’re in the earthly world and they are on the ‘other side’. To communicate with them, you have to (energetically speaking) build a bridge to their world, and they need to build a bridge to yours. When you dream, you visit the astral planes, which are like a halfway house between the earthly realm, and the ‘other side’. And so this makes it easier for your d.l.o. to get through to you, because they can pop into a dream more easily than they can, say move matter in the physical realm. And it also makes it easier for you to pick up a message because you’re in such a receptive state when you’re asleep and dreaming.

ASK them to make their presence felt 

This sounds really obvious but asking them to communicate with you can get the ball rolling. Speak their name, and say it out loud that you want to hear from them. If you’re someone who spooks easily, ask them not to knock your stuff over and startle you!

Develop your psychic abilities

Our deceased loved ones will use any available channels to communicate with us, including our clairvoyance, clairaudience, clairsentience, or claircognizance. Developing and sensitising these clairs gives them more opportunities to contact you. For example, if you develop your clairvoyance, you’re more likely to see the ‘angel lights’ I mentioned above as a sign from your d.l.o.

If you’d like some help developing your clairs, I have a free e-course at the top of my free resources page.

Play a song (or songs) that you used to listen to together, or that remind you of the person in question

This can draw your d.l.o closer to you. Doing this before bed may even bring them to you in a dream.

Keep their photo close by

If you haven’t got a photo of your deceased loved one on display in your house, get one up. Keeping a photo next to the bed, may also bring their spirit closer to you when you’re asleep and dreaming.

Hold something that belonged to your person and think about him/her (preferably while you meditate)

Doing that daily or a few times per week can call their spirit in to you.

Visit their grave

This might not be possible at the moment, depending on your circumstances, but they will know you have visited, and it will draw them closer to you.

Ask your friends/family to be aware

If your d.l.o. is not able to get through to you, sometimes he/she will take advantage of another person’s openness, so ask your sensitive or intuitive loved ones or friends to tell you if they have a dream involving your deceased person.

This happened to a friend of mine who lost her husband a few years ago. She was in a situation where she really wished she could talk a situation over with him, that was happening in her life at the time. She would have wanted his input. So, she asked him to come into her dreams or communicate with her, but didn’t get a message from him. I didn’t even know she asked him to communicate, but that night he came into my dreams. He didn’t say anything, I just had a dream where I felt his presence strongly. I messaged her about it in the morning and she felt it was meaningful, especially as she had particularly wanted to hear from him, at that time. Perhaps he hadn’t been able to get through to her for whatever reason and so tried another option.

So. make sure to ask any friends/family who are open to it, to let you know if they dream of your deceased person. Sometimes they won’t tell you if you don’t ask, and then you can miss a message right when you need it.

So, those are all the tips I have for drawing your dearly departed one closer to you. I hope someone found them helpful.

Please leave a comment below if you have anything to add or you’d like to share an experience you have had around communicating with a deceased loved one.