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Finding Peace in the Afterlife How Grief Can Transform Into Healing
39 Plays5 days ago
What if the healing you’ve been chasing for years… could happen in a single moment?
In this episode, Jennifer Muldowney sits down with Dr. Irene to explore something deeply human, the need for closure, connection, and peace after loss. Irene shares her work around the psychomanteum, a quiet, sensory-deprived space designed to help people feel close to loved ones who have passed. But what unfolds in that space isn’t always what you’d expect.
What makes this conversation powerful isn’t just the idea of connecting with the afterlife. It’s the reminder that so much of what we carry, grief, anger, longing, is waiting to be released. And sometimes, all we really need is the space to face it honestly..
Key Topics:
-Processing grief and emotional pain through immersive experiences
-Letting go of the need for validation from loved ones who have passed
-Creating space to express unspoken words and unresolved feelings
-Understanding how inner healing can happen without external confirmation
-Exploring alternative ways people seek connection, closure, and peace
Quotes from the episode:
“There is no white knight on a white horse coming to rescue you, you have to rescue yourself.”
— Jennifer Muldowney
I spent my whole life trying to be good enough… and in that moment, I realized I already was.
— Irene Blinston
Timestamps:
[01:05] The Research Behind Contacting the Dead: Irene explains how her work in transpersonal psychology led her to study the psychomanteum, a sensory-deprivation chamber designed to help grieving people connect with loved ones who have passed.
[02:20] 92% of Participants Felt Their Grief Reduce: The astonishing research result behind the book, showing that most participants experienced meaningful relief, and that the change lasted over time.
[03:12] What Actually Happens Inside the Chamber: Some people felt a presence. Others saw colors, symbols, images, or even apparitions. This is where the episode moves from theory into the truly fascinating.
[09:08] The Father Wound That Healed in One Session: Irene shares the deeply personal moment that changed her life, releasing a lifelong need for her father’s approval and replacing it with something far more powerful.
[13:11] No One Is Coming to Rescue You: A moving reflection on self-worth, healing, and the hard truth that real peace begins when you stop waiting for validation from other people.
[14:10] Who This Experience Is Not For: An important and grounded discussion on safety, mental health screening, and why this kind of work must be handled with great care.
[19:06] Becoming Your Own Medium: Irene explains what makes this work so different, and why having the experience yourself can be more powerful than hearing messages through someone else.
[21:05] Can This Become a Real Healing Practice?: Irene shares her vision for rebuilding, training facilitators, and turning this rare work into something more available for people who are grieving.
Connect with Irene Blinston at:
Websites -support@portaltohealinggrief.com
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Instagram - / jennifermuldowney
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LinkedIn - / jennifermuldowney
Facebook Page - / muldowneymemorials
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Transcript
Introduction and Personal Anecdote
00:00:00
Speaker
my entire life was healed in 45 minutes. I'm not kidding. That's how I knew. It's like, this is really profound. So
00:00:20
Speaker
Hello everybody and welcome to another episode of the Glam Reaper podcast.
Guest Introduction: Irene, Author and Researcher
00:00:24
Speaker
I'm your host Jennifer Muldowney aka the Glam Reaper and today's episode we are diving into the afterlife.
00:00:32
Speaker
I'm actually very excited about this episode. Please welcome Irene, author of an incredible new book. Irene, welcome to the Glam Reaper podcast. How are you? hi I'm good. Thank you.
00:00:43
Speaker
Tell us. OK, so let's start at the start. Tell us a little bit about you. We've got and our audience as funeral professionals and then lay people or Joe Public, as I call them. So, yeah, do give us a a little bit of a synopsis as to who Irene is.
00:00:57
Speaker
Okay. um I earned my PhD in transpersonal psychology. And instead of going the clinical route, I am more interested in research. So I'm an independent
Research on Psychomantium and Grief Reduction
00:01:09
Speaker
researcher.
00:01:09
Speaker
Earning my PhD while I was at the Institute, I was part of a research unit that we were studying the psychomantium. It's a sensory deprivation type of chamber that was developed by Dr. Raymond Moody Jr., psychiatrist, and and he's got a PhD in philosophy too. And it's based on Greek, like the oracle of the dead. And so he developed it for common use and called it the psychomantium.
00:01:37
Speaker
And what we did is we were studying it We were taking people through a process we created to have them be prepared to go into the psychomantium, be in there to contact their deceased loved one, because our people were people who were grieving.
00:01:55
Speaker
And we wanted to see if their time and there and their experiences in the psychomantium would reduce their grief symptoms. And so after they would come out, we would debrief them about what their experience was. We recorded it. Plus, they also did field-in assessments saying the level of their grief before we started the the research, after they came out of the psychomantium and finished the debrief. And then two months later, and out of the 100 participants that we pulled from our know our pool, we had 92% that had their symptoms reduced, if not eliminated, and the reduction lasted over time.
00:02:35
Speaker
So I wrote a book about our research and about the psychomantium and it's called Gazing into the Afterlife. Wow. OK. Oh, my gosh. I mean, can you talk me through, i i guess, give give our listeners a little synopsis as to what people might experience going through this?
Experiences in the Psychomantium
00:02:55
Speaker
Well, there's a yeah there's a variety of experiences. i share um I share some of them in the book because it's just so interesting.
00:03:03
Speaker
um Some people would have an experience of just a felt sense of presence. But when you when they measured their grief, when they came out, they had a sense of peace.
00:03:15
Speaker
So even if they had no real experience, they still reduced their grief symptoms. How did it happen? We don't know. But it worked. And we showed that with our research, both using you know statistical analyses and also doing it from a qualitative perspective, looking at their lived experience going through it.
00:03:38
Speaker
And there are people, it's rare that it happens, but two people did see an apparition, one of the person that they were trying to contact, and the other was a family member, not particularly the one they wanted to contact, but a family member did come through and they did see an apparition. Those are kind of the two extremes.
00:03:58
Speaker
um Typically, people, when they're in there, they'll see like lightning bolts color like purple and green and sometimes kind of a fluorescent pink that they'll see coming out of the mirror.
00:04:10
Speaker
And others will actually see images coming out of the mirror. There's a mirror in the psychomanity and the way it's set up, on one end there's a chair. On the other there's a mirror and it's on an easel and it's bent in such a way at an angle that the person sitting in the chair cannot see their own reflection, but they can see into the mirror.
00:04:30
Speaker
And to me, the mirror is the portal to the other side. And so I always tell them, at the very least, they can communicate. So that that's like, that mirror is, that's the...
00:04:42
Speaker
the communication way into the other side. And so it's through the mirror that they're seeing these images, whether it be colors or lightning bolt things or dots or, or images like one person saw a, a wolf come through. Um, when was a, I think it was a Buffalo or something that came through.
Personal Reflections on Sensory Deprivation
00:05:03
Speaker
And so they, we have them,
00:05:06
Speaker
after they're done in the psychomantium to, I actually have them go step by step and talk about what their experience was from the time they sat down. The chamber is like sensory deprivation. So there's no sound, there's no light, there's just a dim light and there's a dimmer so they can make it a little bit brighter if they want. Some actually have turned it off, so it's pitch black in there. um But we have, there's, yeah, so no sound, no scent.
00:05:33
Speaker
and They can't see anything in there except for barely the mirror. So that's how they are able to usually go into a light altered state of consciousness, just simply because they're in a sensory deprived environment. And that actually lends to their experience.
00:05:53
Speaker
Yeah, so it can be pretty profound. Yeah. And I'm actually I'm just thinking of there was a time where I and went into a floating um i don't know what it was called. I wouldn't call it a device, but it was a room, a floating room. So like that, you were sensory deprived. There was only a dim light and you were floating on water. um And it was all about sort of meditative and coming back to yourself and so stuff like that. And I think i think you only did it for like a couple of minutes. Like, I don't feel like it was a long period of time that you were in this this room so how long is is this experience
00:06:30
Speaker
Well, the when we were in doing our research, we had to be uniform throughout. So everyone had one hour of you know, getting ready. They bring mementos and pictures and stuff to the person they want to contact. So we spent an hour having them focus just on that person.
00:06:47
Speaker
Then they go into the psychomantium, and they're in there for anywhere from 45 to 55, 60 minutes. If they want to come out sooner, they just have to let us know. They would have to raise their voice so we could hear them and let us know. But typically, it was between 45 and 55 minutes.
00:07:08
Speaker
Okay, so this is very specifically focused on contacting the dead. so Yes. Yes. Their memorabilia, their photos, maybe, you know, some tactile things that belong to the deceased outside of the room.
00:07:24
Speaker
They don't come into the room. So they focus on that for a time and then go into this room. Right. And I'm just thinking when you were saying tactile things, um also, i take away their their watches.
00:07:39
Speaker
I don't want them looking at their watch going, uh-oh, you know, I've only got 15 more minutes, let's focus. You sneak their phones in the house. Yeah, well, that's, you know, that's like, okay, all this stays in the stays in the counseling room
Transformative Experiences and Self-Acceptance
00:07:55
Speaker
that we have. And then the psychomantium's in another area, was in another area.
00:08:00
Speaker
When I was doing it, I had a room and I did the the pre and post in the room just outside the psychomantium. But I left the room while they're in the psychomantium, unless they asked me to stay, but that never happened.
00:08:14
Speaker
They use it around the end the business. Have experienced this yourself as well as helping others? have, yes. Did you see anyone or what was your experience? I know I was i actually, um i had gone through, i think two or three times. We had to go through and when we were being trained as facilitators. This is when I first started then I eventually became a facilitator trainer. I trained everybody. But um I went through and wanted to contact my father.
00:08:41
Speaker
And I just wanted him to be proud of me. My whole life, my father was, I was never good enough. And so I spent my whole life just trying to be good enough. In fact, I made straight A's and I got an A minus.
00:08:57
Speaker
And he goes, what's this A minus? And so I was never good enough. And so here I am. I'm in a PhD program. I'm going through it really fast. and i'm just And I'm just doing really well. And I'm sitting on the edge of the seat. And I'm like, come on, Dad. you Seriously, i I'm not kidding. I was just like, come on, Dad. I want you to be proud of me.
00:09:19
Speaker
And all of a sudden, in it felt like these two hands were on my shoulder and shoulders and pushed me back into the chair. And in my head or outside, I really don't know, but I distinctly heard a voice and it wasn't my father's, but it was a voice that said, be proud of yourself.
00:09:39
Speaker
And all of a sudden, it felt like my chest had opened up. There was no pain and it was just in my mind's eye, but it was like my chest just cracked open. And this pink light was just flowing out of me and filling the whole psychomantium with this pink light.
00:09:58
Speaker
And all I could feel was, there's no other words to describe it, but kind of unconditional love. Like I just, nothing mattered anymore. yeah And it was phenomenal. and And it truly was ineffable. When um my facilitator came to get me out, I couldn't talk.
00:10:16
Speaker
And so we sat there and he was asking me questions. I kind of nod and it took me about 15 minutes to, you know, get normal again. Yeah. And I was completely transformed.
00:10:28
Speaker
And I am still to this day. I still, it was kind of like every desire I had for my father to be proud of me, to get acknowledgement from my father was absolutely gone.
00:10:41
Speaker
And it still is. It's like, it doesn't even exist. It was. feels. Oh, completely. Absolutely. 100% healed. Yeah, it was. And that was in a 45 minute time in the psychomantia. My entire life was healed in 45 minutes.
00:11:01
Speaker
I'm not kidding. That's how I knew. It's like, this is really profound. ah what this can do. And there was one other participant who went in for the same reason, only he I didn't take him through. He was someone someone else facilitated him. And i I just read the, you know, because we were doing research, I was reading the data. And I was just like, oh, my gosh, this guy went in for the same reason. So I'm reading through to see. And he didn't have the exact same thing, but he came out like, it doesn't matter.
00:11:33
Speaker
i really get it. I forgive my father. And he was healed. I mean, healed from that. So it was it's pretty amazing. Yeah. And oh, my. I mean, that's that's.
00:11:46
Speaker
but I mean, you're bringing a tear to my eye, which is easy, easily done. um a wife Never mind this podcast, but just when you're talking stuff like that, because as children, we do have the just this innate want to please our parents, no matter how abusive.
00:12:02
Speaker
Not that I have had a very good childhood, very happy and everything like that. But, you know, whether they've been abusive in, you know, physical or mental terms or whatever, um There is just always that child want to please. um And yet, exactly as whatever experience you had, and I talked about this in another episode, there is no white knight on a white horse coming to rescue. You have to rescue yourself. You have to be proud of yourself. There is It doesn't matter how wonderful a spouse you find, a partner, your children, your parents.
00:12:38
Speaker
There's only you who ultimately it the book stops and starts with you. Right. And right that's hard, I think, for us to sometimes... grass um and you obviously had this awakening so i mean and ah listen i have hundreds of clients who well i don't want to say hundreds that have experienced traumatic grief but i've definitely had experiences with um you know ah people who and even like when i think of back when i began and what kind of brought me into this business Is people who would absolutely love to connect with the afterlife and have talked to me.
00:13:16
Speaker
I've done all of that. Do you ever get. Those people who are manically they're traumatized and so they're manically wanting this and and what what does that look like in this realm?
Participant Criteria and Emotional Expression
00:13:31
Speaker
Simply because of the type of environment that we're, you know, sensory deprived. um And I mean, you're looking at the mirror as a portal just from the thoughts of that. So there are people who do not qualify right to go through. Right.
00:13:47
Speaker
And that would be um we, i I have assessment. We had an assessment. I use the same thing um that we use to find out if the person had a diagnosis of a psychotic disorder of any kind or even a psychotic episode or if they were on antipsychotic medication.
00:14:07
Speaker
um We were also, you know, depression, although that can be one of the symptoms of grief as well. So that that one, you know, we had to interview the person to make sure that they were a right fit for this. yeah But we did get, um I took two people through that were diagnosed with complicated grief or prolonged grief disorder.
00:14:31
Speaker
And they, like, One was sent by her therapist. And so that was, you know, I was fortunate to take her through because she had a complete transformation after like months and months of over a year of just severe severe, severe grief, ruining her life and her business and everything else.
00:14:49
Speaker
um And she was completely transformed in our three hour session, but just like less than an hour in the psychomantium. My gosh. And the other person had, you know, a reduction of grief symptoms as well.
00:15:03
Speaker
But that's something that we don't want to do is our whole goal was to do this research, but at the same time, do no harm. So, you know, that was, you know, safety first.
00:15:17
Speaker
And so there are some people that, I mean, if they need a ah psychotherapist, then that's what they need. Yeah. um And, but this, the psychomantium, I mean, like pretty much anybody that would go to a medium,
00:15:32
Speaker
you know, would be a fit probably yeah for this. Yeah. um That, and just as an example i had I took a person through that i she had anger issues with her father.
00:15:47
Speaker
i think it was her father. It's hard for me to remember because i i during the research, I took over 40 people through, and it's just hard to remember all of them because some of them are really profound, and you can don't forget. you know It's just like affected me. But um she had anger was her main grief.
00:16:05
Speaker
And when she went in she just let him have it And so she just wanted to communicate. I said, you can communicate all you want. This is directly to the other side. Go for it.
00:16:18
Speaker
And she went in and she just spoke her piece. And when she came out, she was just like, yes. And she was one happy camper because she was able to get that off her chest.
00:16:31
Speaker
And I think in a lot of ways, this is better than in psychotherapy. They have that. It's kind of a gestalt therapy where it's empty chair. So you're seeing a chair and there's an empty chair, but your therapist is there.
00:16:44
Speaker
And ah so it's this, I think, is no holds barred. Nobody's watching you. You know, there's so there's no inhi there's no um there's no holding back.
00:16:57
Speaker
You know, so they can be unattended. feet Did she see her father or no? She was just yelling at this mirror. She just, she was, she, to is she into the mirror? Yeah. She was, um, to my knowledge, I just, she was just talking about how she, um, she didn't even say what she said. She was just like, this felt so good. i feel so much better.
00:17:22
Speaker
um you know, it was that kind of talking. It wasn't like I saw my dad or I saw something come out of the mirror. Because all she wanted to do was just unload. and um And I just thought, wow, this is actually a really good thing that, you know, we could use the psychomantium when the grief is that you weren't able to say what you wanted to say. Usually it's like if I only had five more minutes to say goodbye or to say what I want to say. There are those that what they want to say is not, you know,
00:17:52
Speaker
Yeah, not not happy stuff. But yeah, so that was that was pretty impactful as well. Yeah. Well, and it's it's kind of akin to, you know, that recommendation of, you know, go to an empty forest and scream or scream it right low and stuff, you know what i mean? And just sort of get the anger out in whatever way works for you, I guess.
00:18:16
Speaker
So it sounds like the psychomantia in this room, um it it almost it plays into a few different elements.
Becoming Your Own Medium
00:18:24
Speaker
So it's not necessarily like like the key to the afterlife as such. It's just it's what shows up for you.
00:18:31
Speaker
It's like when you go to a medium, you're not guaranteed who's going to show up or it' right the only right Right. The only difference is is that the person becomes their own medium. So instead of trusting a medium that they really, they're having their own experience. And I love mediums. My mother was like so hooked on mediums. So I have nothing against mediums at all. In fact, I think they do a really important service. They provide an important service. ah This is just for the person who would, who wants to make the contact themselves. Yeah. And, and the psychomantium, ours was a tent like structure.
00:19:11
Speaker
So it was, we use black PVC pipe. Mine had black PVC pipe, black covering so that there's, it won't reflect light. And so it would just stay really dark. And in that tent-like structure, there was a chair in the mirror, just a little table, tissues, because people need tissues, and a dimmer switch for the light, which was a really little light.
00:19:34
Speaker
And so we would have that set up specifically for the purpose. The mirror is the portal. And i that's how I put it across to the people, that it's important that they understand that in this environment, i would stay in there with them if they were scared.
00:19:50
Speaker
I'd sit outside, right outside the flap of the tent-like structure if they wanted. And typically, if they said that was what they wanted when they first came, I never sat. In fact, they're like, out of the room, please. you know They wanted to be in there by themselves. So you prep them enough that they feel comfortable enough to be in there and actually desire to be.
00:20:11
Speaker
So it's um it's definitely set up so specifically for them to contact the other side. OK. so, i mean, this just sounds so fascinating.
Certification and Participation Opportunities
00:20:23
Speaker
Is this the book? It's it's showing the research and everything that you've experienced. Is this an active business right now, as in people can contact you and do this? Or is this just a research project you did and believe in and all that sort of stuff?
00:20:39
Speaker
um Actually, I did. I i am going to have to hire somebody to build a psychomantic for me. I had one and I had it as a business, but I was in a fire and my psychomantic, well, actually everything I own got burned up. but um And so that's, that I have to have replaced. But the thing is,
00:21:00
Speaker
There's only one of me, and i refer now to one person who was trained by Dr. Raymond Moody, and she's in Oklahoma. And there might be one other person in the United States that does it.
00:21:12
Speaker
And she was as she was one of the research teammates of mine. And then Dr. Raymond Moody, but I don't know if he still does it or not. But um i I will do it.
00:21:23
Speaker
yeah Definitely. But what I want to do and what I've created is a certification program. So I can get some, usually it's women, not always, but women who want to do this kind of work. So that I want to certify them and train them in a way that they would be the best facilitators they could possibly be. And not only that, to be successful, to make this a lucrative business so that they can use this to make a living and do something so incredibly interesting. And also just it's really, um you feel honored to do it, to be honest with you. It's really an incredible way to work, I must say. But we do need more. And that's why I want to certify facilitators and have them here, at least here in the United States. Yeah. Yeah.
00:22:11
Speaker
Well, listen, um we'll leave the links to contact you below. If people are out there and they're interested in this, they can contact Dr. Irene and, and you know, see if there's some potential there or go and try it out. Honestly, after, you know, reading the book, i am I'm going to be wanting to try it out and see how we go.
00:22:29
Speaker
um So you can keep up to keep us updated on the rebuild. So um brilliant. Thank you so much for being on the podcast. This was really, really interesting. Thank you for joining us. Thank you. I'm so glad you found it interesting because I certainly do. I love I love this work and I love the research we did. Thank you a lot of and we'll be watching, watch this space as they say.