The Afterlife: Hereafter and Here at Hand is a nonfiction spiritual/supernatural work written by Giulia Jeary Knap. Knap is an experienced researcher into Near Death Experiences and an astral traveler who has worked with members of the Spiritual Assn. of Great Britain and the Spiritualist National Union. What happens after death? While many consider and eventually do seek the help of mediums to communicate with loved ones who have departed, Knap shares three techniques anyone can use to maintain communications with their loved ones. She bases her reasoning on the fact that everything is made of spirit and is thus connected. Her studies of those who have had Near Death Experiences confirm much of what she considers to be misconceptions -- that those who have died are inaccessible. She discusses the Summerland as described by many NDE survivors. She also includes a link to an audio file of a guided meditation and an extensive Bibliography for further reading.

The Afterlife: Hereafter and Here at Hand is a well presented and fascinating look at the author’s work researching the afterlife and her prescribed techniques that enable the bereaved to stay in contact with their loved ones. I was fascinated by her descriptions of those who came back after having been declared legally dead and their startlingly similar accounts of their Near Death Experiences. I also enjoyed learning about the Summerlands, a topic that was new to me. I’ve long had an interest in parapsychology and consciousness, and found Knap’s work nicely expanded my knowledge. Her work is well written, and her references and documentation are sound. The Afterlife: Hereafter and Here at Hand is is most highly recommended.

One of the great dichotomies (philosophical and religious) that seems to dominate human thinking centers on the question: Which is more real - this life or the afterlife? Apparently, most people throughout history have automatically presumed the first. But there have always been those mystical and spiritual thinkers who have thought the opposite. That is, that this world is in effect the dream, and our dreams are but a gateway to the expanded consciousness that awaits us on the other side. Giulia Jeary Knap very clearly, and with substantial reason, believes the spiritual realm into which we migrate after death is not only more real, more expansive, and transcendentally evolutionary, but that it actually permeates this “real” world and is therefore right here at hand. She makes this evident in her uniquely different, highly accessible book The Afterlife: Hereafter and Here at Hand.

In The Afterlife, Giulia Jeary Knap offers a wonderfully distinct, well-documented description of a rather ineffable realm, one she insists, however, requires no extensive training or rare gift in order to approach and engage. Desire, interest, and intent, as well as a somewhat disciplined use of imagination, allow the everyday man/woman to contact those already passed on. In fact, she offers us “three tried and tested methods to stay in touch with those who have gone before.” Written for the layman, this book nevertheless provides sufficient foundational material regarding Near Death Experiences, Out of Body Travel, medium contacts, and personal stories to support such strong beliefs. And then Ms. Knap keeps her promise to deliver three methods to confirm them. Her implied challenge: Please, prove it for yourself.

The Afterlife: Hereafter and Here at Hand by author Giulia Jeary Knap is a non-fiction spiritual book that I immediately had to read, having had my own Near-Death Experience, something which she also divulges about herself in her book. In fact, I felt that it was a sign that I found it since I have been searching for something physical to help me on my own journey. You honestly don’t want to stop reading it. Even when life becomes important and you must put the book down, you do, but you don’t want to. This book details personal accounts of her own Out of Body Experiences, known as OBEs, as well as others' accounts, and areas of other people’s automatic writing. Also, toward the end she gives exercises to help you connect with the Afterlife. One of the parts that I especially loved about the book was the historical references, and what other authors over the decades have written about the subject matter. The way that Giulia writes is personal and her writing style just wraps you around her little finger in the best way possible.

Giulia Jeary Knap’s The Afterlife woke me up in more ways than one. Here is my own experience after having read just a chapter or so. I was in a semi-wakeful state and I remember my eyes were closed and I heard this sound, but also still somehow saw every cabinet door in the kitchen as well as other doors, that weren’t even part of the house I was in, swing open all at the same time with this incredible creaking sound. The doorways all had this neon yellow light coming from their openings. I then opened my eyes and everything was normal again. But I felt as though I was the one that had made all the doors fly open. I have never experienced something like that reading any book. I’m not saying you will have the exact experience I had while reading it, but wouldn’t it be fun to find out?

The Afterlife: Hereafter and Here at Hand by Giulia Jeary Knap is a fascinating book that explores the topic of how it feels to communicate with our loved ones on the physical plane after they are gone. The author provides three proven methods designed to work at different times, different situations and states of mind to keep in touch with someone who has left their physical body. The three methods - contact while awake in a quiet meditative state, enhancing our awareness while falling asleep, and dreams and lucid dreaming - are tackled in three separate chapters and will guide us to connecting with our loved ones in this life or the next.

I found this book exciting and it increased my belief in imagination which the author states is a powerful tool on this earthly plane. The author's personal experiences make the topic tangible to readers and will give them the confidence to work on their intuitive abilities and help them understand Death and look at it with a different perspective altogether. The author has handled a interesting and difficult topic with expertise, and the personal experiences and stories shared in the book make it palpable to readers. This book will open our thinking to the afterlife, mediums, connecting with the dead and the skepticism surrounding it. It is a good book that opens up many possibilities about the topic of the afterlife and connecting with your loved ones even after they are gone.